The word toilet is French in origin and is derived from the word 'toilette', which translates as 'dressing room', rather than today's meaning. Toilette itself has its roots in another word; 'toile', which means 'cloth'. This cloth would be draped over someone while their hair was being groomed.
“Toilet” itself is what's left of the French “toilette,” a dressing room. In turn, “toile” was a cloth draped on someone's shoulders while his or her hair was being groomed. By the early 1800s in the United States, toilet had become a synonym for both the bathroom and the porcelain waste-disposal device.
Despite its British popularity for a slightly less crude way to call the toilet, the word “loo” is actually derived from the French phrase 'guardez l'eau', meaning 'watch out for the water”.
Why are toilets called a WC? To start, WC is an abbreviation standing for 'water closet', a name used in the 1900's for a toilet, due to most being fitted in a spare closet or cupboard. Over time WC has been used instead of bathroom to describe a room with a toilet but no bath.
A typical American bathroom contains one or more sinks, a toilet, and a bathtub or shower. Because the bathtub is there, it's called the “bathroom”. Most public places (restaurants, offices, government buildings, etc) refer to bathrooms as “restrooms”, because the do not contain a bathtub.
Why is The Toilet Commonly Known as the Crapper (or John)?
Do British say toilet or restroom?
In British English, "bathroom" is a common term but is typically reserved for private rooms primarily used for bathing; a room without a bathtub or shower is more often known as a "WC", an abbreviation for water closet, "lavatory", or "loo". Other terms are also used, some as part of a regional dialect.
The Loo. Loo is an informal yet polite British term for toilet. The word “loo” has interesting origins and can be traced back to Medieval Europe, when chamber pots had to be emptied from bedroom windows onto the street below.
Public toilets are known by many other names depending on the country. Examples are: restroom, bathroom, men's room, women's room, powder room in the US, washroom in Canada, and toilets, lavatories, water closet (W.C.), ladies and gents in Europe.
Why is a toilet sometimes refered to as a Water Closet in Europe? There are so many guesses, including: Long ago, the first plumbed bathrooms were no bigger than a closet. It references the small rooms connected to natural water sheds (rivers) that washed away waste.
'The loo' is generally a safe term to use and likely won't offendanyone. 'Lavatory' is a good option for people looking for a very formal word to use in very formal occasions. In the United Kingdom, some people will shorten lavatory to just 'lav' and when they do it becomes quite informal.
In the Scottish language, there are a number of words for toilet, such as bog and shunky, but cludgie is our favorite. This word is mainly used in and around Glasgow.
Loo or dunny - Thesea are slang term for toilet. If you are a guest in someone's house for the first time, it is usually polite to ask permission to use his or her toilet. 'May I use your toilet please?'
The name “John” was later derived from “Jake” and “Jack.” Secondly but most notable amongst historians, John was the name of the first man credited with inventing the first flushing toilet. John Harington was born during the time in which Queen Elizabeth reigned.
One of the first things you will notice when you make your way to a Dutch restroom is that the toilet is in a separate room from the shower or bath. The room housing the toilet will also most likely be the size of a closet, making the name "water closet" or WC - as it's called in the Netherlands - appropriate.
Difference in use of terms Washroom and Restroom across the World. American English uses washroom for public convenience facility in commercial and public places. The term bathroom is used for smaller and residential facility. Washroom continues to be used to denote public convenience in Chicago and Canada.
Also, despite David's, “bathroom” is common formal together with Men's/ Ladies'/ Rest Room. Honestly we call it the toilet or the 'loo' as a colloquial term. Some people call it the 'dunnie' that's a really old school country Aussie term.
A dual flush button features two buttons that can flush different amounts of water. The main purpose of a dual flush button is to save water. The dual flush button allows the user to control the waste water. The smaller button (half flush) delivers a smaller volume of water than the larger button (full flush).
The only difference between a 'Dutch' toilet and one typically used in the United States is that the 'Dutch' toilet, which is not actually called a Dutch' toilet and is common throughout Europe, has a different shaped bowl that allows the excrement (poop) to drop onto a little flat area (shelf) instead of dropping ...
The bathroom is the “Badezimmer” in German and the “toilet” is the “Toilette”. Both words work but if you're at someone's home, it's more common to ask for the “Badezimmer” while in public you would directly ask for the “Toiletten”.
The use of the term "head" to refer to a ship's toilet dates to at least as early as 1708, when Woodes Rogers (English privateer and Governor of the Bahamas) used the word in his book, A Cruising Voyage Around the World.
Toilets -- Public toilets are usually simply called "toilets" or are marked with international symbols. In the Republic of Ireland, some of the older ones carry the Gaelic words FIR (men) and MNA (women).
