Talk:John Harington (writer)

message: Like Sleepyasthesouth I believe that the correct spelling of Harrington is with two r's not one.  If you Google the key words John, Harrington, and toilet you get 146,000 hits.  If you Google the key words John, Harington, and toilet you only get 706 hits.  The History Channel also recognizes the inventor of the flush toilet and godson to Queen Elizabeth I as John Harrington, with 2 r's.  Dancindoug 17:03, 12 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Harrington vs. Harington 

message: I think there's a lot more to be said about his Irish involvement. I would need to find out more, but let somebody contribute in the meantime.--shtove 01:18, 28 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ireland 

message: From Dancindoug: Because of copyright infringement laws I can't show you a picture of his flush toilet.  However if you go to http://www.sewerhistory.org/articles/privbath/toilets.htm and look on that page for Jon C. Schladweiler, "1300’s – Late 1500’s: Sir John Harrington’s New Ajax (The True Roots of the Modern Day Flush Toilet) with Impetus Provided to John Harington by Queen Elizabeth, 'The Schoole of Salerne,' and 'The Englishmans Doctor'," 2004 you will find a downloadabe PDF file called school_of_salernum.pdf.  That PDF file contains a 1595 drawing of John Harrington/Harington's flush toilet.
Good Luck to you with your research.  Dancindoug 04:45, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  RE: project 

message: I'm new to this too.  This is the first time I have posted at Wikipedia so, like you, I'm just getting my learner's permit.  I did what you did.  I just edited the page.  Dancindoug 05:00, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  RE: I'm sorry 

message: Harrington is the correct spelling. I am also a desendant like Reseacher1996 and my grandmothers maidon name was still Harrington which had been passed down right back from Sir John Harrington.
Harrington was made Queen Elizabeths godson but he got sent away to Ireland. My grandmother whos maidon name was Harrington, came from ireland because Harrington stayed there and married an irish woman.
jenzy
: Harington with a single "r" is in fact widely used by many present day descendants. Ian Grimble's authoriative book on the family uses one "r". Spelling was rather variable in the past so it is probably impossible actually to decide a RIGHT one. Op. Deo 22:18, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Harrington 

message: The paragraph about Harrington's children looks bogus, particularly its last part (added separately and marked in the history as 'looks like vandalism'). I believe it is worthy of more than the  tag, but should be deleted. If not for arguably being completely imaginary, then for substandard writing.
Danga 14:52, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree it looks false. It unlikely to be consistent with Ian Grimble's book which says on page 136 that according to a letter he wrote in in 1603 he had "nine children, seven  of whom had survived."  Six more children after 20 years of marriage to Mary Rogers seems rather unlikely. This whole article seems to often attract a lot of spurious additions, and it needs quite a bit of work on it. Op. Deo 11:21, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

text: The introductory section is very poorly constructed and does not follow style guidelines. I think a good way to proceed is to introduce additional sections then transfer material to these, and finally to edit the individual sections to improve their quality. I will suggest some section headings, but please edit them if you can see how to better organise the material.Op. Deo 11:56, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

text: I have made a start. Much more work needed on most sections. I have added a ref to ODNB article which contains useful info. I will do more later, but in the meantime others please have a go. -- Op. Deo 13:03, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Harrington's Children 

message: Currently, the article says:
Around this time, Harington also devised Britain's first flushing toilet – called the Ajax (i.e. "a jakes"; jakes being an old slang word for toilet) – installed at his manor in Kelston, and which was reputed to have been current with the queen herself. Indeed, the American utilisation of the word 'John' as a euphemism for toilet, or bathroom, derives from Harington's invention.
Is there any source for the claim that this usage of "john" derives from his name? Googling turns up many assertions of this, but nothing authoritative that I can find. In my experience, these sorts of etymologies are usually invented after the fact. In English, "John" (being such a common name) is used in all kinds of slang ways. Merriam-Webster Online (m-w.com) suggests "john" is shortened from "johnny house", and the "Online Etymology Dictionary" (whatever that may be) at dictionary.com suggests that this use of "john" is derived from "jakes".
I've put in a "cite needed" tag for now, but if someone doesn't come up with a source, I'll just remove this claim.
Oh, and by the way, I'm fairly sure his name was spelled with three Rs, and a silent Q. -- Narsil (talk) 17:39, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Hearing no objections, and seeing no substantiation, I'll remove that claim. -- Narsil (talk) 19:45, 5 August 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  'John' as slang for 'toilet' derives from his name--source? 

message: On the March 14, 2012 episode Reverse Cowgirl (South Park), a shady lawyer looks up the inventor of the toilet and finds the John Harrington page on a mock up of Wikipedia named "Wickie", complete with the same image and the lead section being "Family Life". --184.97.157.48 (talk) 23:36, 16 March 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: And here cometh the vandalism. Mbarbier (talk) 01:48, 20 March 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: A user keeps inserting a section about the appearance in South Park. The content has been reverted by multiple editors on the basis that the only information provided is that Harington's ghost appeared in one episode of the show and as such the content is mere trivia and does not merit mention in this article. The editor has repeatedly inserted and refused to discuss here, despite several notices on the users talk page. -- The Red Pen of Doom 14:45, 21 April 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: I've reverted it again; the only references being used are descriptions of what happened in the entire episode.  This verifies that it happened; not that it's relevant to this article, or that this detail is itself notable in any way. - SudoGhost 10:32, 6 May 2012 (UTC)

text: Reliable sources decide this, and this section is decidedly lacking in such sources, as explained above. - SudoGhost 13:06, 6 May 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Your two "reliable sources" are reviews of the South Park episode in question.  Just because an episode review exists (which, of course, episode reviews exist for every episode of every American TV show) doesn't mean that it's appropriate to include mention of that TV show in every topic that it mentions.  Wikipedia:"In popular culture" content, while it is not a policy, is a useful reference for what popular culture inclusions might be important.  Most notably, "If a cultural reference is genuinely significant it should be possible to find a reliable secondary source that supports that judgment."  In other words, if this cultural reference matters and deserves to be included, you should be able to find a reliable source that mentions it other than just an episode review.  For instance, Trapped in the Closet (South Park) is widely discussed by people who have nothing to do with reviewing TV shows - the relevance of Trapped in the Closet to the topic of Scientology is well established by reliable sources. --B (talk) 14:39, 6 May 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  South Park just referenced this page 

message: I deleted the "KCB".  The Order of the Bath was established after Harington's death.
signed James Dow Allen  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 110.77.210.85 (talk) 10:30, 18 January 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  KCB? 

message: In an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Feb 19, 2014, it was stated that John Harington is an ancestor for Kit Harington.  Can someone find out the truth of this?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.212.139.102 (talk) 05:53, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Jimmy Kimmel Live! 

message: Harington is also remembered for his book of epigrams, posthumously published in 1615 and 1618, and in scholarly editions since. This is principally because of one epigram, still often quoted: 'Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.' (Meaning that the successful traitor becomes ruler, and does not welcome any talk about how he got into power.) https://www.historytoday.com/archive/death-sir-john-harington See also JM and MJ Cohen, The Penguin Dictionary of Quotations, Penguin, London, 1960, ISBN 0-14-051016-8, p.183. Khamba Tendal (talk) 18:10, 19 October 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Epigrams 

message: As it happens, the term 'jakes' didn't die out in the seventeenth century. James Joyce, in Ulysses (Shakespeare & Co, Paris, 1922; The Bodley Head, London, 1936; Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1969, rev edn 1971, ISBN 0 14 00.3000 X, p.70), refers to the backyard privy at 7 Eccles Street, Dublin, Mr Bloom's house, as 'the jakes' -- 'He kicked open the crazy door of the jakes.' Khamba Tendal (talk) 18:10, 19 October 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Jakes