# What do you call this? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 3, 2016, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this/753737 "2016-05-03T00:31:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this/753737/41 "2016-05-03T15:22:08Z")
Skipped over the entire thread to post: Around here, those are called “portalets” by everyone. Stress on the “-lets”. A jokey/kiddie name for them is “porta-potties”. Use of any other name for these items is not likely to be understood by many locals. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this/753737/42 "2016-05-03T15:27:24Z")
Several places online (including [here](http://pzrservices.typepad.com/advertisingisgoodforyou/2008/04/great-toilet-co.html)) I’ve found the following list of portable toilet brand names: > [@](#): > > Happy Can Portable Toilets, Atlanta, GA > Drop Zone Portable Service Inc., Frankfort, Ill. > Blackmas Best Seat In The House Inc., Bradley, Ill. > Plop Jon Inc., Port Saint Lucie, Fla. > A.S.A.P. Port-A-Pots Inc., Hampstead, Md. > Ameri-Can Engineering, Argos, Ind. > Bobby’s Pottys, Joppa, Md. > Johnny On The Spot Inc., Old Bridge, N.J. > LepreCAN Portable Restrooms, Chicago > Loader-Up, Inc., Sarasota, Fla. > Mister Bob’s Portable Toilets, Vero Beach, Fla. > Royal Throne, Washington, D.C. > Tanks Alot, Tomball, Tex. > Pee Pee Inc, Roseville, Mich. > Wizards of Ooze Ltd., Anacortes, Wash. > Oui Oui Enterprises Ltd., Chicago > Gotta Go Potties, Tobyhanna, Pa. > [UrinBiz.com](http://UrinBiz.com), Chicago > Willy Make It? Oregon City, Oregon > Doodie Calls, New Orleans One I’ve seen personally, and chuckled at: [Midwest Pottyhouse](http://www.kempermidwest.com/midwest) ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this/753737/43 "2016-05-03T15:47:48Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Where I grew up, they were called Kybos, because the word “KYBO” was prominently embossed on the side. I still use that word and people say 😕 . I haven’t heard that term since I was in boy scouts, over 50 years ago, at which time it referred to any temporary latrine, usually while camping so there was no structure, just a hole in the ground and a place to sit. ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e47774/32.png) [@quiltguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this/753737/44 "2016-05-03T17:29:37Z")
Years ago there was a port john company whose logo included the words “Heeeerrrre’s Johnny!” Mr. Carson got wind of it, sued them, and they had to drop the line. SOME people are SO sensitive. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this/753737/45 "2016-05-03T18:29:54Z")
I’ve called it port-o-john, but I’ve also called it a plastic outhouse. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this/753737/46 "2016-05-03T19:09:46Z")
Port-A-Potty or Port-O-John ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this/753737/47 "2016-05-04T03:58:20Z")
port-o-potty ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this/753737/48 "2016-05-04T07:42:02Z")
Portalet ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this/753737/49 "2016-05-04T07:49:22Z")
> [@quiltguy](#): > > Years ago there was a port john company whose logo included the words “Heeeerrrre’s Johnny!” Mr. Carson got wind of it, sued them, and they had to drop the line. SOME people are SO sensitive. 😃 Earl Braxton, to be specific. He tried again in 2006 to register the name, after Carson’s death, but the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ruled that the rights of publicity to “Here’s Johnny” had passed on to Carson’s estate and that Braxton was still bound by the original injunction. > **[Man Still Cannot Use “Here’s Johnny” for Portable Toilet Business, Says...](https://www.loweringthebar.net/2010/04/man-still-cannot-use-heres-johnny-for-portable-toilet-business-says-trademark-board.html)** > > Some men's dreams do not die easily.  Earl J. Braxton is such a man. In 1977, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan ruled that Braxton could not use the phrase &quo… ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this/753737/50 "2016-05-05T01:40:49Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > OK, Spidey… who won the argument? I did. Thanks to a bunch of you. JR thought that they were porta-pottys & I was the only one who called them porta-johns. It’s not that I wouldn’t know what you were talking about if you called it a porta-potty but I tend to not use the latter word if I’m not talking to a toddler. Porta-john is also not as alliterative & therefore easier to say. (Try saying them both fast & see which one becomes a tongue twister.) ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this/753737/51 "2016-05-05T02:32:46Z")
Yay! What’d we win? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this/753737/52 "2016-05-05T02:37:07Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I haven’t heard that term since I was in boy scouts, over 50 years ago, at which time it referred to any temporary latrine, usually while camping so there was no structure, just a hole in the ground and a place to sit. Were you informed what the acronym stands for? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this/753737/53 "2016-05-05T02:41:19Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > I did. Thanks to a bunch of you. > > JR thought that they were porta-pottys & I was the only one who called them porta-johns. It’s not that I wouldn’t know what you were talking about if you called it a porta-potty but I tend to not use the latter word if I’m not talking to a toddler. Porta-john is also not as alliterative & therefore easier to say. (Try saying them both fast & see which one becomes a tongue twister.) WTF? Way more people are calling them port-a-potties than port-a-johns here? ---
**Author:** ![SigMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@SigMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SigMan)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this/753737/54 "2016-05-05T02:50:50Z")
Around here we called them Poo Boys. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this/753737/55 "2016-05-05T03:01:17Z")
So, no one has heard “Sani-kan”? Perhaps that is a brand name. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this/753737/56 "2016-05-05T03:23:42Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > WTF? Way more people are calling them port-a-potties than port-a-johns here? I was wondering about that myself. I’m guessing it’s the technicality that his friend said that nobody calls them “Porta Johns,” otherwise, it doesn’t make sense. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this/753737/57 "2016-05-05T04:20:00Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Yay! What’d we win? The privilege of saying, “I told you so. Tbhthbhtbhtttbhtbhhtbtttt” [del]:p[/del] > [@Leaffan](#): > > WTF? Way more people are calling them port-a-potties than port-a-johns here? > [@Spiderman](#): > > JR thought that they were porta-pottys & **I was the only one** who called them porta-johns. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this/753737/58 "2016-05-05T22:04:22Z")
I know several people here (Oregon) that call them Honey Buckets. When I first moved here it took me a while to figure out what the hell they were talking about. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this/753737/59 "2016-05-05T23:21:13Z")
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