# whats the big deal with the word "toilet" in the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 29, 2009, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329 "2009-06-29T10:55:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329/81 "2009-06-30T07:15:39Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > “Where’s the jacks in here?” Heh. The first time my parents came to visit me in Ireland, my mother was one of those Americans totally embarrassed to use the word “toilet”. So when we were in a pub/restaurant and she had to ask the server where to go, I suggested she use the word “jacks” instead. So she says to the server, “Excuse me, where’s the jacks?” The server puts her nose up and says: “The _toilet_ is …” ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329/82 "2009-06-30T09:35:20Z")
With regard to “restroom” being a place to have a rest, in older department stores, high-end malls and grand old hotels (as well as some places of work) the women’s rooms _do_ have sofas or chairs as a place to sit and relax, separated from the areas where the toilets and sinks are. One grand example is in the Omni William Penn in downtown Pittsburgh, where some women come and spend their lunch hour sitting in the lounge area of the women’s room just to relax. I’ve always had the sense that men’s rooms have never been so equipped. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329/83 "2009-06-30T09:49:08Z")
Some UK house have a “cloakroom”. This is generally situated just inside the front-door and consists of a toilet, washbasin and somewhere to hang your coats. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329/84 "2009-06-30T10:07:50Z")
Australian here, but I grew up with “lav”, or “lavatory” to describe the room in which one eliminates. The “toilet” was the bowl apparatus. But then I got used to using “bathroom” as an alternative, and so did most people I know. You can ask for the bathroom in any restaurant in Melbourne without anyone misunderstanding. Then I moved to Japan and learned a new set of euphemisms for everything. Sigh. ---
**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 30, 2009, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329/85 "2009-06-30T10:39:50Z")
> [@Rayne\_Man](#): > > Some UK house have a “cloakroom”. This is generally situated just inside the front-door and consists of a toilet, washbasin and somewhere to hang your coats. American houses often have coat closets, but that’s all they are. One is not supposed to pee in them. ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329/86 "2009-06-30T11:43:25Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > For women and public bathrooms, this might be true, but most men will pee in a urinal, not a toilet. Not all, but enough that if a man in the US asked a waiter “where’s the toilet?” thinking “he’s got to crap” is going to be a reasonable jump. See, in the UK we call urinals toilets. I may be completely off base here, but I wager whilst everyone here knows what a urinal is, it’s not a word that is really used unless you need to be specific about the kind of toilet being used (the other kind we’d call a ‘stall’ if being that specific). Euphemisms are used in the UK, if you’re in someone’s house you don’t know very well (or they’re a bit posh) you might ask where the bathroom is rather than the toilet. Bathroom is never used in public, neither is water closet, seems to be either loo or toilets. I notice you’d always ask for it in the plural too, maybe that makes it slightly less obvious? Toilets implies that you want to know where both the stalls and the urinals are making reference to the room they might be found in and not making reference to _exactly_ what you’ll be doing in there. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329/87 "2009-06-30T13:07:44Z")
If I’m in a pub and the location of the toilet is not immediately obvious, I’ll usually ask “Where’s the Gents’?”. That’s a common euphemism in the UK, although in more upmarket surroundings I’d probably ask for the toilet instead. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329/88 "2009-07-01T16:01:11Z")
Just to add confusion - some people call the porcelain fixture itself a “stool.” I know that one of the valid terms for fecal matter is stool, but if you ask me where the stool is, I’ll point you at that three-legged seat in the kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![tetranz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@tetranz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tetranz)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329/89 "2009-07-01T16:52:25Z")
This makes me wonder if one of the reasons why water saving dual flush toilets are pretty much non-existent in the US is because of the American reluctance to talk about certain things. Horror of horrors, someone might have to explain to a not very bright visitor or a customer buying one the obvious fact that most visits only require a half flush. They are standard in Australia and New Zealand and usually legally required in new buildings. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329/90 "2009-07-01T17:10:54Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > So on review of this thread I’m wondering if “washroom” is just a Canadian thing. It’s so polite and euphemistic. You’re not going in there to drop small mushroom clouds, you’re going in to wash up! That’s how “powder room” is used in the US, and usually indicates a half-bath. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329/91 "2009-07-01T18:06:51Z")
> [@tetranz](#): > > This makes me wonder if one of the reasons why water saving dual flush toilets are pretty much non-existent in the US is because of the American reluctance to talk about certain things. Horror of horrors, someone might have to explain to a not very bright visitor or a customer buying one the obvious fact that most visits only require a half flush. They are standard in Australia and New Zealand and usually legally required in new buildings. They’re making their first appearance here in eco-conscious Portland, Ore. But definitely rare. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329/92 "2009-07-01T19:46:57Z")
> [@tetranz](#): > > This makes me wonder if one of the reasons why water saving dual flush toilets are pretty much non-existent in the US… I’ve never seen one. Do they have two buttons labeled “#1” and “#2”? Reminds me of an old Dave Barry column: > [@Dave Barry](#): > > I wound up with this toilet as a result of a column I wrote last year, in which I complained bitterly about the new toilets that we Americans had been saddled with as a result of an act of Congress (official motto: “100 Senators; 435 Representatives; No Clues”). This was the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1992, which decreed that all new toilets had to use 1.6 gallons of water per flush - less than half the amount of water that the old toilets used. This was supposed to save water. > > Unfortunately, the new toilets have a problem. They work fine for one type of bodily function, which, in the interest of decency, I will refer to here only by the euphemistic term “No. 1.” But many of the new toilets do a very poor job of handling “acts of Congress,” if you get my drift. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329/93 "2009-07-01T20:00:14Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > I’ve never seen one. Do they have two buttons labeled “#1” and “#2”? > > : Here is a typical duel flush control :- [https://s3.amazonaws.com:443/cs-saskatoonstarphoenix/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00/00/00/69/96/Kohler-DualFlush-BR08-lg.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0TTXDM86AJ1CB68A7P02&Expires=1246489193&Signature=58iMUOErxLrljA8MIR4LuAX6w7Q%3d](https://s3.amazonaws.com:443/cs-saskatoonstarphoenix/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00/00/00/69/96/Kohler-DualFlush-BR08-lg.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0TTXDM86AJ1CB68A7P02&Expires=1246489193&Signature=58iMUOErxLrljA8MIR4LuAX6w7Q%3d) ---
**Author:** ![tetranz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@tetranz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tetranz)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329/94 "2009-07-01T20:10:26Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > I’ve never seen one. Do they have two buttons labeled “#1” and “#2”? The one in my house back in NZ had two buttons. They were each labeled with a circle, one fully coloured in and the other like a half moon. #1 and #2 would be quite appropriate. I don’t remember seeing any like what Rayne Man linked to. ---
**Author:** ![rock\_party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329/95 "2009-07-01T21:18:24Z")
“I gotta drop the kids off at the pool” “The browns are headed to the super bowl” “I’m turtleing” ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329/96 "2009-07-01T21:20:44Z")
> [@rock\_party](#): > > “I gotta drop the kids off at the pool” > > “The browns are headed to the super bowl” > > “I’m turtleing” “I’m prairie-dogging!” ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329/97 "2009-07-01T21:33:55Z")
It is not offensive to ask for the toilet in the US. It’s a little unusual; most people would say “restroom.” I’ve been known to ask for the lavvy or facilities, myself… the rudest I get is “the pisser.” But people would know what you meant and I’m sure you wouldn’t have too much trouble. You might end up the object of derision on an internet message board, though… ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329/98 "2009-07-01T22:19:27Z")
> [@rock\_party](#): > > “I gotta drop the kids off at the pool” > > “The browns are headed to the super bowl” > > “I’m turtleing” I just saw the Family Guy last night with “Milk, milk, lemonade, around the corner fudge is made!” Never heard that IRL ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329/99 "2009-07-02T02:15:27Z")
> [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](#): > > The reason why it sounds strange to non-Americans here is likely because we don’t have a word that we use to specifically refer to the toilet. All words refer to the room too. Well, apart from throne. Commode? ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329/100 "2009-07-02T03:14:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > ..plus another 1-2 rooms with just the toilet and sink. In real estate contexts…the latter as “half-baths”. So the half-baths actually have no-baths. Make sense. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329.md?page=6)