--- Just in case you read Lileks today and wondered what "micturation" meant, as in...
Of course, this hotel was vacant, and had been vacant for quite
some time. I used to walk past the front door once a week; the aroma of
micturation would burn the bristles off a boar.
Of course the next sentence gives you a clue, Then it stopped smelling, because everyone who lived there was kicked out, and they stopped peeing in the lobby.
but you don't know if that's what that means or if it means something
much, much worse. I went to the dictionary because I'm curious like
that.
Here's you're answer, courtesy of the Random House Dictionary of the English Language, 2nd. Ed. Unabridged:
micturition n. the act of passing urine; urination. {1715-25;
(L) micturi(re) to desire to urinate (see micturate and -tion)}
Lileks mispelled it, but---honestly---who cares about that? He went out
of his way to find a suitable euphemism for "taking a piss" and for
that I adore him. Well done. *Interesting bit of trivia for language
buffs: "micturate" is the only word in this behemoth of a dictionary
(which is currently sitting in my lap and is cutting off my
circulation) with "mict" as its prefix. So, it's not only obscure, but
linguistically unique as well.