Hello everyone! I just love this thread and wanted to thank you all for actively participating in the discussion.
I have found it educational, instructive, entertaining and, the essence of what you all say, will definitely form part of my stand-up comedy act - if and when I find the time to indulge myself in this particular item on my bucket-list. Interestingly, I don't use any of the terms listed thus far: " bag, pouch,sack, appliance/accessory, waste disposal unit, sanitary napkin, recipient of waste, daiper, dress, purse or 'BADGE' (which is the concept I like most). Because I irrrigate, I tend to use a 'sleeve' for the actual process, which I fold up to make a temporary receptacle for the waste before flushing it. At nights I wear a sensura-mio device which is still just a small 'sleeve', which I can empty in the same way as the larger 'sleeve'. During the day I use a stoma 'plug' so, whenever anyone makes a comment about me having to wear a bag, I automatically and instinctively inform them that I don't wear a bag, but I wear a plug instead during the day. If appropriate, I then get into a humorous educational introduction to stomas, beginning with how much easier it has been managing the shit from the front, than it was when I was incontinent of faeces through my arse.(when I also had to wear anal plugs - which held it up and then let it all flush out at once down my 'drainpipe' trousers.) If, by this time, my audience remains with me, I will share some humorous horror stories about embarassing disasters from the past, which were not funny at the time, but in rerospect, can be laughed at in the same way that some people find 'candid camera' sequences highly humorous.
I find that much of human humour is at the expense of someone else's misfortune and it might be that people who laugh at this stuff are consumed with a complex mixture of emotions which motivate them to express (relieve) themselves by laughing as an alternative to crying, being embarrased or getting angry.
For me, I think that humour directed at myself, seems like an acceptable way of helping people to laugh 'with me' at tragedy, at the same time as being 'educated' into the unfortunate circumstances of their fellow human beings.
Thank you all once again for sharing your thoughts and experiences in this way.
Best wishes
Bill