I always liked this one:
“Excuse me. I need to see a man about a horse…and then I’m going to take a dump!”
Around our house, if somebody announces an intention to “pinch a loaf”, we remind them to light a match afterwards. Then again, I live in a very strange house…
TT
“Equal Opportunity means everybody has the same chance at being incompetent.”
–Dr. Lawrence J. Peter
I think it is strange that one has to even announce he is going to the loo. In my large family woe be it to the member that got up and headed off to the can without saying, I’m going to the bathroom. Not announcing it drew suspicion as if one were going off to behead neighborhood cats.
Here in japan they use ‘toire’ a bit of japanese/english. But the bathroom and washroom are always separate. Less than a direct request might get you in the wrong room. Or, you could ask for the ‘benjoo’ which would give you an air of a country boy asking for the shitter. Also, they think we are pretty weird for putting the john in the same room were we wash-up. However, they are pretty weird with there porcelin holes in the ground that you have to squat over (though they are pretty much fading out). Talk about all dressed up and no where to go squatting over one of those things. By the way if you come across one, face to the wall.
One of my friends does let everyone know he has to take a ‘daiben’ which means pitch a loaf, but this usually cracks up anybody in hearing range.
Doing it is a different matter. During water shortages officials pleaded with the Japanese, especially the ladies, to stop flushing the toilet numerous times to hide any sounds the naturally accur while relieving yourself. So if your in Japan just ask where the toilet is, but don’t make any noise!!
There is no course of life so weak and sottish as that which is managed by order, method, and discipline. -Montaigne
‘Powder my nose’??? I thought it was ‘Pack my nose’.
Pooch, I thought it was Japan where it is considered polite to fart and belch after a meal, a bit of a compliment to the chef. I may be confusing it with another Asian country.
So do we have a accurate word for the room we are talking about? Everything so far is a euphamism. Now we have a practical understanding of what we are talking about, but what is something that the TM can agree on. what we have so far:
bathroom: we do alot more than bathe in there
washroom: again not just washin’
Water Closet: yeah right, thats not even sensible
restroom: while we may be resting, i don’t know that it applies
Cloakroom: what are we vampires and superheros?
loo: huh?
toilet: well, shit, even the thing we call a toilet isn’t
Mensroom: OK, but not real descriptive
Ladiesroom: Yeah, but so is the Mall
Lavatory: thats the sink
Powderroom: I suppose that fit in the Coke days of the 80’s
Now maybe its the engineer in me, but I need a term that describes the room as a whole without entrenching the phrase in obfuscating terms to sanitize the issue. Lets whip something together here.
The facts expressed here belong to everybody, the opinions to me. The distinction is
yours to draw…
Omniscient; BAG
My aunt used to be an air hostess and a passenger once asked her for ‘the loung’. She was horrified when she was told that only the first class passengers had that privelege.
I find the use of bathroom very strange, as I’ve only ever heard it used when someone is going to take a bath/shower.
Loo is probably the most popular term, although most people I know announce that they are ‘dying for a piss’ and disappear for a couple of minutes. Well, my mam and dad don’t ususally do that, but my friends do.
Is it? I thought it was the loo.
My aunt used to be an air hostess and a passenger once asked her for ‘the lounge’. She was horrified when she was told that only the first class passengers had that privelege.
I find the use of bathroom very strange, as I’ve only ever heard it used when someone is going to take a bath/shower.
Loo is probably the most popular term, although most people I know announce that they are ‘dying for a piss’ and disappear for a couple of minutes. Well, my mam and dad don’t ususally do that, but my friends do.
Is it? I thought it was the loo.
Goodness, that was exciting. I’ve never double posted before.
At least I know how to know.
I am making the assumtion that the second definition is the original and most accurate one, and that the other two are euphamisms that have stuck to broaden the meaning.
The facts expressed here belong to everybody, the opinions to me. The distinction is
yours to draw…
Omniscient; BAG
True story, slightly off the topic, I once got taken to a fancy London club, which has a special cloakroom designated, “Peers only.”
Nobody’s mentioned Little Boy’s Room or Little Girl’s Room yet. 