A What?

You can tell that something has been around for a long time if it has a name that you can’t say in polite company without smirking. One of the toilets has been running longer than it should after being flushed and I finally got around to investigating the cause. As usual for such household-problem situations, I started by pulling out my trusty copy of Black & Decker’s The Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair–a rather good reference if you happen to be a homeowner. Therein, in the 11-page section on toilets, I learned that the most likely cause of the problem was a faulty ballcock. Yes, the valve that controls the incoming water is called a ballcock. This is clearly a term coined in a kinder, gentler era. I mean, imagine walking into your local Home Depot and telling one of the orange-aproned employees that you need a new ballcock. Could you do it with a straight face? I couldn’t.

It turns out that I didn’t have to, however. As the Black & Decker guide suggested, merely taking the valve apart and cleaning the rubber seal was enough to get it to function properly again. NowI have to fix the laser printer. Its fault doesn’t seem to involve any provocatively named parts.