If you are in an English speaking country and you have to answer a call of nature, or are caught short, or need to take a leak, or relieve yourself, then you need to be able to ask for the correct facility.
THE TOILET. This term, is derived from the French word for a small piece of cloth which could be used to cover a table where bowls and jugs for washing would be placed. This mutated into the general word for washing and then in 16th century England into the meaning it has today.
THE LAVATORY. This word derives from the Latin —to wash. It used to refer to a vessel for washing such as a sink or wash basin. This word became synonymous with the room in which these vessels were kept. When the toilet itself was located in the same room it acquired the name lavatory.
THE LOO. This is possibly a corruption of the word — lee. The leeward side of a boat being the sensible place to relieve oneself, as opposed to the windward side. Or it is a possible reference to the 1815 Battle of Waterloo.
THE W.C. This stands for Water Closet.
THE KHAZI. This is from a slang word used in London to mean privy.
THE BOG. Not considered a polite word but it describes the open cesspit that the privy would have been connected to.
THE DUNNY. An Australian word meaning outside toilet but now used “down under” to mean any toilet.
PRIVY. The privy is an old fashioned term for the toilet possibly deriving from private place. It was applied to early and primitive toilets which would have been connected to open pits — see Bog.
JOHN. The term used in the USA for the toilet but why?
REST ROOMS. Also a term used in the USA and equally inexplicable. What are you going to do in there? Have a sleep?
If you are a guest in someone’s house, a relative stranger perhaps. It is always polite to ask if you may use their lavatory. One asks if one may use their lavatory, or the facilities or the toilet. Asking if you may use their loo is also acceptable. Requesting the use of the bog or khazi is not.
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