# What's Your Usual Term For a Bathroom? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 3, 2013, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866 "2013-03-03T01:18:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866/21 "2013-03-03T03:52:44Z")
I call it the “loo”–I have been for as long as I can remember, and it’s just habit now. I’m not British, I just like the way it sounds. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866/22 "2013-03-03T04:10:15Z")
I usually say restroom although when I’m on the boat we call it a head. ---
**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:** [March 3, 2013, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866/23 "2013-03-03T04:16:34Z")
> [@apollonia](#): > > The common term in Canada is “washroom.” Yep. That’s how I voted. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866/24 "2013-03-03T04:53:01Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > It does vary on circumstance- > > At home I say bathroom but at work or at someone’s house or at a restaurant I’ll say restroom or ladies room. This is my answer too, so I can’t answer the poll. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866/25 "2013-03-03T05:06:51Z")
I take it that by “bathroom” you do not mean the room where you go to have a bath, but the room where you go to piss and shit. While living in America, I trained myself to say “bathroom”, despite the inaccuracy. Now I am back in my native England I am retraining myself to say “toilet”. If I said “bathroom” I would be misunderstood. In certain company (male friends that I have known since I was at school), I might say “bog”. ---
**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:** [March 3, 2013, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866/26 "2013-03-03T05:12:41Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > I take it that by “bathroom” you do not mean the room where you go to have a bath, but the room where you go to piss and shit. In the US this is one and the same, anyhow. Even if it was just a hole in a closet, it’d probably still be referred to as a “bathroom”. Though I’d be tempted to call it the “shithole”. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866/27 "2013-03-03T05:16:40Z")
My bathroom consists of a bath, shower, two sinks and a HWS. No toilet. 😉 If I was traveling and needed a toilet, I would ask “Where are the nearest public toilets?”. If I’m at a friend’s house, I would ask, “Where’s ya dunny?” If I am visiting an acquaintance, or for whatever reason a guest in a household that I am unfamiliar with, I would ask, “May I use your bathroom?” (even though it is unlikely that the toilet is IN the bathroom). It is understood that bathroom means toilet, but the term is only used in the most genteel of circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866/28 "2013-03-03T05:19:05Z")
Inhouse ---
**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:** [March 3, 2013, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866/29 "2013-03-03T05:22:57Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > My bathroom consists of a bath, shower, two sinks and a HWS. HWS? ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866/30 "2013-03-03T05:24:28Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > HWS? Hot water service. Big tank thing, in its own little cupboard, powered by gas. Forgot to add and missed the edit window…I’m Australian. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866/31 "2013-03-03T06:09:11Z")
Bathroom at a home, restroom otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866/32 "2013-03-03T09:15:36Z")
Terlet. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866/33 "2013-03-03T12:29:07Z")
Shit house. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866/34 "2013-03-03T12:29:55Z")
The Throne Room. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866/35 "2013-03-03T12:42:29Z")
Depends. At home I have a “bathroom” on the second floor, plus a small “lavatory” downstairs. Out in public, I might ask where the “restroom” is. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866/36 "2013-03-03T12:43:30Z")
If I’m talking about a room with a bath or shower in it, “bathroom.” It it’s a room with a toilet in it, “toilet.” ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866/37 "2013-03-03T12:50:38Z")
At home: **bathroom** At a restaurant: **ladies room** or **mens room** Anywhere else in the US (client’s, attorney’s, or accountant’s office): **lavatory** Other countries: whatever the local term is for **lavatory** ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866/38 "2013-03-03T12:54:09Z")
I’m British so I call the bathroom the bathroom. I call the place for spending a penny the loo. Very USocentric poll. ---
**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:** [March 3, 2013, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866/39 "2013-03-03T13:28:19Z")
“WC” seems to be quite common for signage on the continent of Europe, including the UK. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866/40 "2013-03-03T13:34:25Z")
I always say bathroom. I have a buddy who _always_ uses the term “shitter”. Weird. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-usual-term-for-a-bathroom/651866.md?page=3)