I have a question to help ML even though she doesn't know I'm asking.

What would a person in Metropolis call the "powder room" or the "loo"?

How does the one in a public restaurant differ from one at home in terms of what it's called?

Would a man use a different euphemism than a woman?

gerry

Powder rooms have a particular meaning here in the states. Those are essentially bathrooms in a home without a shower or bath tub, usually on the main floor where guests can access it.

Most people I know just refer to bathrooms as bathrooms, even in a restaurant. The politer term that people use is restroom, which is what businesses and restaurants tend to call them. At home, it's always a bathroom.

With small kids, I tend to refer to it as the potty.

Nobody in the states uses "loo".

I second Roger. I learned the hard way never to use the word "loo" or "watercloset".

A lot of people also refer to it as the "ladies' room" or "men's room" if they're trying to be polite as a variation on "restroom". Also "use the facilities".

I've used the loo now and then because of my grandparents. However, I often find it not a very polite way of saying where you are going or I get blank stares of confustion - where I am from. **most popular in my circles.

-washroom**
-restroom
-bathroom**
-ladies/mens room
-powder room - just to be different mind you
-I'm going to use the facilities...LOL
-many ppl say "I'm going to the toilet!". I don't like that way at all in public, but I'll say it around the hubbie. It's way different at home....

Oh, I bet I know what this is about. Trying to make my bathroom scene funner, eh? I like that idea.

How about 'can'?
Or 'little boy's room'?
Or (of course) 'little girl's room'?

ML

Interesting. I hadn't realised until now that 'loo' and 'toilet' were considered such taboo words in the US. Or, at the very least, considered a little uncouth.

Anyone know why that is?

Here in the UK, both are used regularly, and never given a second's thought. Polite company or your maiden aunt wouldn't raise an eyebrow if you said "I'll just pop to the loo."

I also hadn't realised that powder room was so specfic. I'd always believed until now it was a general term. In fact, I thought it was an outside term and never realised it was used indoors. Wonderful how you learn something new every day around here.


LabRat

Hmmm... I'm not sure I'd call them taboo, exactly...

More like odd. Since we use the word 'toilet' for the actual... well, toilet, it seems weird to say you're going to it. Going to the room where the toilet is, however...

Now, if you're talking about the actual toilet - 'Make sure you scrub the toilet when you clean the bathroom' or 'Can you tell me which aisle has the toilet bowl cleaner?' - then (obviously! ) we say 'toilet'.

'Loo' is just sort of odd in the US. If you're somebody with a strong english accent, people who know the word probably wouldn't react much except to tell you where the bathroom is. If, however, you speak with a down-home twang, New York accent, midwestern drawl (etc.) then I imagine you'd get some looks .

And yes, 'restroom' is used a lot when you're out in public, and 'bathroom' is what it's called at home. 'Ladies' room' and 'men's room' are pretty common, as already mentioned - but I don't think I've ever heard those in a home. Of course, home bathrooms are unisex, so...

Then you've got your less "polite" term - 'Where's the john?'

And your standard armed forces term - "I need to use the head.'

Huh. Thought I outgrew "bathroom talk" Guess not.

~Toc

Or, in the cartoon world.. Wacko: "I've got a potty emergency!"

Darn those Animaniacs, getting into people's heads.

I agree, I've never heard anyone say loo around here. It's usually bathroom or restroom. However, if you want, I have some other... colorful... euphemisms heard from the brother-in-law...

See, that's interesting, too, because until today I'd always thought head was purely a Navy term or used by shipowners in general. I didn't know it was used more widely than that, by landlubbers in the armed forces, also.

This is cool. <G>

LabRat

Also don't forget the more playful designations -- "little reporter's room" or "little superhero's room"

PJ

Growing up in the South, I was taught to say "Rest Room" or "Ladies Room". "Toilet" would have been looked upon with horror. "Powder Room" was also used to refer to restaurant ladies' rooms. Euphemisms are big in the South.

Once one has had children, "Potty" becomes the preference and seems to remain even when the children are 40 and have children of their own. However, my genteel Southern upbringing still kicks in when I'm in polite company, so I would never use potty then. BTW, I never heard the term "Wash Room" until I left the South and went to the Chicago area. I've never liked it and don't use it. To my knowledge , "Loo" is never used in the U.S. Of ourse, in more remote areas, we have "Sanikans" and "Outhouses".

Signs on the doors of public restrooms are always interesting too. Sometimes, instead of "Women" and "Men", they say "Ladies" and "Gents". And in waterfront dives, there is the inevitable "Buoys" and "Gulls".

Jude

Adding to Rat's UK info, in restaurants and other public places, I'd ask for the 'ladies', and my father would ask for the 'gents'.

And expanding the subject a little, unisex public facilities aren't totally unknown. In fact, there's a unisex facility at the top of the stairs outside my office at work.

Yvonne

That's the more recent thing here in the US, too - especially in shopping malls.

Near the food courts, usually - you'll have the standard men's room and ladies' room, with the little wordless icons of a sort of stick figure for the man and a dress-wearing stick figure for the woman .

And then you'll have the "family" restroom. It's a single room, big enough for several people and/or a baby stroller, etc. Sometimes it has one toilet, one sink, and a diaper-changing shelf or counter. And sometimes it'll have a regular toilet and an itty-bitty one for the little kids, as well as a "big" sink and a "little" sink. It's nice if you've got multiple small people, or if you're a daddy with a little girl - my husband used to hate taking our girls into the men's room, but wasn't comfortable letting them go into the ladies' room alone.

...Also euphemistically known as "no indoor plumbing."

~Toc

I'm with Jude...Being a native Southerner all my life, my hubby laughs sometimes because I just cannot bring myself to ask for the toilet in public or even the bathroom...I seem to always call it the ladies' room or restroom. Mind you, I have no problem saying "y'all" in polite conversation, but God forbid I say toilet! LOL No one ever sat me down and told me that...it's like this southern instinct or something. <g>

Marcy

When I visited the U.S. as a 16-year-old, I was very surprised at the slightly embarrassed looks I got when I asked for the toilet. I was no less confused when I was told I should say "bathroom" instead. Honestly, where was the bath???

Ann