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honey bag
DCHP-2 (Nov 2016)
n. — Euphemism, Outdoors, Territories, especially Northwest Territories
a plastic bag used to line a receptacle that serves as a latrine (see Image 1).
Type: 5. Frequency — The term honey bag is a euphemism for a green or black plastic garbage bag placed inside a sewage bucket to hold human excrement (see the 1977 quotation). Thus, a "honey bag system" (see Image 1) describes a type of bagged sewage setup (see City of Yellowknife reference) in which plastic garbage bags are used instead of flush toilets (see the 1979 quotation). As seen in Chart 1, the term is most frequent in Canada's Northern areas, notably the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Yukon. Activities such as the "honey bag toss" or "honey bag hockey" are played alongside other northern pastimes (see the 1988 and 2013 quotations).
See also COD-2, s.v. "honey bag", which is marked "Cdn (North) informal" and Gage-5, s.v. "honey bag", which is marked "Cdn. Slang".
See also COD-2, s.v. "honey bag", which is marked "Cdn (North) informal" and Gage-5, s.v. "honey bag", which is marked "Cdn. Slang".
See: honey bucket
Honey bucket is the container holding the honey bag in place (see Chart 2).
Quotations
1977
While more and more houses are receiving utilidor service, the majority of people in the Keewatin still cope with the awkward water tank and honey bag system. "Honey bag" is a euphemism for a large green plastic bag used as a liner inside a sewage bucket fitted with a seat. When they are full, honey bags are tied and tossed outside to freeze beside the garbage cans. Sometimes they are picked up. The ones that are forgotten, or the ones that break open create an odor which northerners have come to identify as one of the first, indisputable signs of spring.
1979
Plastic garbage bags, known here as honey bags, are used instead of flush toilets. Since all but a few of the newest houses have toilets of this type, almost every household has a supply of black or green plastic bags . . . which are used for everything from their original purpose to carrying groceries, auxiliary suitcases, storage containers for skin clothing (which must be kept frozen), curtains, Halloween costume material and so on.
1985
As a legacy of earlier solutions to water and sewage problems, some Broughton houses still have what are euphemistically known as "honey buckets": portable toilets lined with heavy plastic bags. A hamlet truck picks up the honey bags from 45-gallon waste bins outside the house with the same regularity as the sewage pumper.
1988
Events now span 10 days, combining traditional Arctic events - seal-skinning, caribou and ptarmigan hunting, dog team races, harpoon throwing, and igloo building (they are built from the inside - the igloo architect then cuts his way out and walks across the roof to prove its soundness), with "fun" events like the children's massed banana-split-making competition, talent shows, tug-o-wars, and "honey bag" toss (a shotput event for latrine liners).
2008
At the outposts, there is no plumbing or mess halls or air conditioning, and daytime temperatures now top 40 C. Soldiers use a urinal and outhouse, complete with honey bags - plastic bags filled with waste.
WO Ramos said the isolation is hard for many soldiers. "There are not a lot of visitors. This place isn't really on the tour," he joked.
2013
Sunday brought more pancakes at the Anglican church followed by the 16th Annual 10-mile Mary Firth Women's Dog Team Race, which is undertaken with toboggans. Prizes were also awarded later in the day for the best in the traditional dress parade. More community games commenced, from tug of war to harpoon throw, honey bag hockey, gunny sack relay races and toboggan pulls.
References
- City of Yellowknife • "Sewage System"
- COD-2
- Gage-5
Images
Image 1: A latrine using a honey bag. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Photo: CambridgeBayWeather
Chart 1: Regional Domain Search, 14 Nov. 2012
