# Why is it called a restroom, anyway?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-a-restroom-anyway/514381>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [October 19, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-a-restroom-anyway/514381 "2009-10-19T19:42:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-a-restroom-anyway/514381/21 "2009-10-22T20:00:47Z")

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That may be true, but we are discussing an American idiom.

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**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-a-restroom-anyway/514381/22 "2009-10-23T13:33:21Z")

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When a young man asked where the public telephones were, Dorothy Parker was supposed to have quipped “He really needs the bathroom, but he is too embarrased to say so.”

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**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-a-restroom-anyway/514381/23 "2009-10-23T16:33:22Z")

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I’ve heard the Brits don’t use the term - Loo much anymore. Isn’t it considered vulgar like The John?

I watched Changing Rooms (a show on BBC America) a lot and they never referred to the restroom as The Loo.

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**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-a-restroom-anyway/514381/24 "2009-10-23T22:38:24Z")

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“Loo” has always been slangy, at best.

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**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-a-restroom-anyway/514381/25 "2009-11-03T11:55:04Z")

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> [@jock123](#):
>
> Why not just concede at this stage that bathing is unlikely to happen in either of these, and that they are toilets, not bathrooms? In this system, even reception rooms and kitchens in your house could be a “0 bath” bathroom…

Oh, yeah. It’s far better to not know the difference between the room and the porcelain throne.

And it’s not like toilet isn’t also euphemism. You guy took it from the French. From the [original article by Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/573/why-do-we-call-it-the-bathroom-even-when-it-has-no-tub), it would seem that it originally meant something close to dressing room. Your version makes _eau de toilette_ sound really nasty.

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