THIS WEEKEND I WENT TO ... THE BATHROOM?

Actually, I went to the jade market, but wouldn't you know it, 浴室 and 玉市 sound exactly alike, even down to the tones. I have wondered before and shall continue to do so as long as I continue to struggle with this cruel and seemingly senseless language: when you have a word with such a strong connotation as bathroom, why would you allow any other word to come even close to it in sound? As a student, I feel darned uncomfortable announcing to the teacher that I bought some trinkets at the bathroom/jade market. Granted, context usually works to sort things out, but still. I mean in English I might say 'ass' and mean 'donkey' but I'm still thinking about the other kind, and I'm pretty sure the hearer is doing the same.

Do we have any word in English that sounds remotely like bathroom or toilet? Things like that are passed like precious gems across generations of 2nd graders and are the bread and butter of lazy comedians, but I don't know whether or not it is the same in Chinese. This language is chock-full of homonyms, but are they as easily made into punchlines? Do children giggle when their parents tell them they are going to the 'jade market'? If I happen to have a friend who has a habit of post-beer-drinking-sleep-peeing could I say that once he "went to the jade market all over the dishwasher"? I'm just asking. Hypothetically of course.

p.s. There was an earthquake here last night, but just a wee one. Apparently they are quite common, as are stormy/smoggy sunsets like tonight's...