vomited in the toilet

Question

Can I write:She vomited in the toilet. She had a headache, fever and vomited.

Avangi · Accepted Answer

Vincent Teo She vomited in the toilet. Beautiful.

She had a headache, fever and ~~vomited~~ nausea / upset stomach. (I think you should keep all the items in the series as nouns. She didn't have "vomited.")

Best wishes, - A.

Vincent Teo · Answer

Thanks.

Can I say,

(i) She vomited in / into the (wash)basin.

(ii) She rushed to the toilet and vomited into the basin.

Vincent Teo · Answer

Are these following sentences correct?

(i) She vomited in / into the (wash)basin.

(ii) She rushed to the toilet and vomited into the basin.

By the way, my friends told me that I have to use the following sentence.

(i) She vomited into the toilet. (instead of "in the toilet")

What do you think?

Avangi · Answer

I'm sure there are various communities which will find each of your suggestions natural. Personally, I find none of them objectionable. The toilet is such an intimate part of life from the beginning that we all have a warm place in our hearts for the terms of our childhood - that our own families taught us. "I'm going to the toilet" can mean many different things.

For several years my late night radio station has carried an ad for "Super Prostate Formula." The well-known announcer personalized the ad, with something like, "Men, would you like to reduce those nighttime trips to the bathroom?" Last week he changed the line to "trips to the restroom." How stupid! I don't think anyone calls that room in his own house "the restroom." Maybe I'm wrong.

"To vomit" is an intransitive verb, like shave, shower and shi*. (Sure, all of them can be transititive.) Technically, "in" tells where I perform the act; "into" tells where I direct the products or byproducts of the act. When the bathroom is occupied I sometimes shave in the kitchen sink. That doesn't mean I sit in it or stand in it. I also shave into it, in the sense that that's where the whiskers and shaving cream go.

In my experience, most people accept both "in" and "into" in describing where the stuff goes. Actually, I think "in" is preferred. "Don't pee in the sink!", not "Don't pee into the sink!" (I'll have to look up my old notes from Potty Training 101. It's been a long time.) I've never heard, "Somebody shi* into the toilet!"

BTW, in my community, what you call "the basin" was called "the bathroom sink," or more elegantly, "the lavatory." To us, a basin was a free-standing large ( twelve to eighteen inches in diameter - usually metal) soup-bowl-shaped receptacle, reminiscent of the days before indoor plumbing. "Hasten, Jason, bring the basin! / Too late, Pop, bring the mop." The elegant version of the flushing toilet was "the comode."

- Anonomous

vomited in the toilet

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