In the case of the USSR - which established a criteria . . .
criteria (krai'teeriah), n. Plu.
criterias.
[
CRY a. F. crie-r = Pr. and OSp. cridar, It. gridare, Sp. gritar; L. quiritare: to raise a plaintive cry, to wail, scream, shriek out, bewail, lament, orig. (according to Varro) to implore the aid of the Quirites or Roman citizens: "quiritare dicitur is qui Quiritum fidem clamans implorat":
to utter inarticulate exclamations, esp. of grief, lamentation, or suffering, such as are usually accompanied with tears; to weep and wail - which passes in later more vulgar use into: to weep, shed tears; used even where no sound is uttered. +
TEARIER OE. téar = OFris. târ, ON. tár (Sw. tår, Da. taar, taare), contr. from earlier OE. *teahr, *teaghr, teaghor, ONorthumb. tehr = OHG. zahar, zahhar (MHG. zaher, zâr, Ger. zähre), Goth. tagr; cogn. with Gr. dakr-u, OL. dacrima (L. lacrima, -uma), OPr. dacr, dêr, Welsh dagr tear. The medial h or gh, already lost in OE., is found as ch in 16th c. Sc.:
fuller of or more suffused with drops of the limpid fluid secreted by the lachrymal gland appearing in or flowing from the eyes; chiefly as the result of emotion, esp. grief, but also of physical irritation or nervous stimulus.]
An establishment for the use of those ladies (and not a few gentlemen) who when far from home find themselves unexpectedly come over all weepy. Most modern criterias are operated according to the "self-service" system: the affected persons queue up at what is called a "tissue counter," help themselves to an anticipated quantity of tissues, and tender payment for these before use. A per-centage of the payment is usually refunded in exchange for unused tissues.
Over the past twenty years criterias have multiplied; so much so that in Britain to-day every small town boasts at least one. The very first criteria was set up in Gothenburg in 1898 by Hermann Udunssonn, the famous Swedish philanthropist. We append an artist's impression of the interior of a typical criteria:
