# Ok, so...a commode... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 5, 2012, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-a-commode/624128 "2012-06-05T04:34:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-a-commode/624128/1 "2012-06-05T04:34:24Z")
Somehow I’ve gone the last 45 years knowing commode was another word for toilet. So I was surprised to find an advertisement for a 6-drawer commode. All I could think of was maybe it was a piece of bathroom furniture. Apparantly, it’s a 6-drawer chest-type thing, has nothing to do with the bathroom, and has never been a word synonymous with toilet. So… :smack::smack::smack::smack: How the hell did this happen? Any other words it took you decades to figure out? 😛 And why the HELL do I swear my grandmother regularly said she had to use the commode… WTF? Did I imagine that? Or was she really just rummaging around for socks? And, just to make me feel stupider, a search for a second opinion on the word reveals it DOES mean toilet…so I feel a little less stupid about the last 45 years, but doubly stupid over the last 10 minutes or so. :p:p ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-a-commode/624128/2 "2012-06-05T04:42:02Z")
[Well, would you look at that?](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/commode) I always thought of a commode as the second to third definitions, so it’s not wrong. It’s just not the only thing. Apparently it’s also a kind of hat! ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-a-commode/624128/3 "2012-06-05T04:42:24Z")
If I remember right, (and that’s a big if,) a commode is a curved chest. it’s also a toilet. Once in our writing group a guy was really proud of his science fiction story with the futuristic wording _com mode_ depicting a means of communication. I had to point it out for his own good. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-a-commode/624128/4 "2012-06-05T04:48:09Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > [Well, would you look at that?](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/commode) I always thought of a commode as the second to third definitions, so it’s not wrong. It’s just not the only thing. Apparently it’s also a kind of hat! Then meaning No. 2 (heh heh. heh heh.) explains how the word was transferred from wood to porcelain. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-a-commode/624128/5 "2012-06-05T04:48:56Z")
A hat!! And a science-fiction reference! I feel so much better, thank you 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-a-commode/624128/6 "2012-06-05T06:13:57Z")
Note that “commode” is from the Latin _commodus_, meaning “convenient,” and that a public toilet is sometimes called a “convenience.” ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-a-commode/624128/7 "2012-06-05T07:20:38Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > [Well, would you look at that?](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/commode) I always thought of a commode as the second to third definitions, so it’s not wrong. It’s just not the only thing. Apparently it’s also a kind of hat! Ah, yes…[_Motel of the Mysteries_](http://pannonica.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/scatagories/#more-2158). ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-a-commode/624128/8 "2012-06-05T11:06:46Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > Apparently it’s also a kind of hat! I no longer need to be embarrassed that I spent much of my Twenties with my head in a commode after a long night of irresponsible drinking. It’s a party hat! ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-a-commode/624128/9 "2012-06-05T11:15:58Z")
I understood the two connotations are related. The curved cabinet was originally developed to hold a chamber pot. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-a-commode/624128/10 "2012-06-05T18:57:55Z")
Welp, it’s time for my morning constitutional, care to join me? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-a-commode/624128/11 "2012-06-05T19:26:53Z")
Wait, that was some lady’s hat? Now I feel really bad. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-a-commode/624128/12 "2012-06-05T19:30:36Z")
Well, whatever you do, don’t get them mixed up. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-a-commode/624128/13 "2012-06-05T19:34:26Z")
I’ll try to keep that in mind in the future. _Slinks out of room, whistling the “I didn’t do it” song_ ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-a-commode/624128/14 "2012-06-05T19:57:26Z")
I seem to recall a couple of years ago, right after the economy tanked, a huge deal was made about the CEO of Merrill Lynch buying a $35,000 commode for his office, most people thinking of course, that it was a toilet. It turned out to actually be an antique chest of drawers. Ahh, here’s a story on it. [http://consumerist.com/2009/01/thains-35000-commode-on-legs-actually-chest-of-drawers.html](http://consumerist.com/2009/01/thains-35000-commode-on-legs-actually-chest-of-drawers.html) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-a-commode/624128/15 "2012-06-05T20:50:02Z")
Fun fact: If it’s large enough to have six drawers, you could call it a commodious commode. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-a-commode/624128/16 "2012-06-05T21:03:47Z")
> [@VunderBob](#): > > I understood the two connotations are related. The curved cabinet was originally developed to hold a chamber pot. Actually, it’s very hard to find a formal English word for the porcelain fixture that doesn’t have an original meaning that amounts to a euphemism. “commode” – the cabinet in which the chamber pot was kept “toilet” – the hygiene, beauty, and clothing regime or process that one goes through to prepare for the day or the entire room where that happens “WC” – the water closet is the curved-pipe-and-standing-water apparatus that blocks odors from drifting back into the room “lavatory” – is a washbasin, so it’s really the sink, not the crapper ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-a-commode/624128/17 "2012-06-06T09:16:13Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Actually, it’s very hard to find a formal English word for the porcelain fixture that doesn’t have an original meaning that amounts to a euphemism. I believe that Cecil did an article (maybe the one on Thomas Crapper?) in which he stated that the porcelain device had no name that was not a euphemism and therefore neither did the room that held it.