November 16, 2008 @ 5:29 pm | 17 comments
Expressions by country
By: Mona
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Since I lived in USA and Canada, some particular expressions always pondered me. Why are public bathrooms or crappers called “washrooms” in Canada and “restrooms” in USA? What’s the difference?
I know there are people who use both terms interchangeably, but this is the general usage of the terms.

Also, what do you call it? And where you from?














lol crappers…
I say bathroom around family and friends and restroom to people I don’t know very well. I didn’t realize I do this until this question made me think about it. For some reason restroom sounds a lot better to tell someone than bathroom.
Washroom sounds European and a lot more formal.
I’m from Iowa in the United States. We also say pop and not soda in the Midewst.
The loo.
Or even better, the laddies and the ladies, which after several pints are a right bugger to tell apart
Toilet or loo
I say either bathroom or washroom..even though calling a public washroom a “bathroom” isn’t correct at all since there is no actual bathtub haha
“Washroom sounds European and a lot more formal.”
lol, that’s how I feel about restroom. When I was at a New Years thing in Indiana my cornbelt freinds from Chic-ah-go kept getting me to say C-ehanada and Hahhckey. (hockey) Actually people I know from Ontario say Canada like that too.
The loo rules the roost.
In Ireland, we call it “the Jacks”, I believe the equivalent in the US is “the John”.
I live deep in the heart of Texas
and I say restroom for a public place
and bathroom for one in a home..since it
has a bathroom
but my boyfriend calls them all toilets lol
idk why I say restrom I guess I was taught
that it was the more appropriate thing to
say when out in public…
Humm…. okies… we don’t use those sorts of terms over here. jus simply bathrooms.
I’m from Australia and it’s called so many things over here;
* The Loo;
* The Crapper;
* The Outhouse;
* The Toilet;
* The Shithouse;
* The Shitter
I’m sure there are others. In Australia a bathroom is not the same as the toilet. A bathroom over here is where our showers and baths are, not toilets.
Dwayne.
http://probablysucks.com
the porcelain throne
My father calls the restroom the water closet when we have guests and the toilet when it’s just the family. He picked it up when he learned English. Like Dwyane mentioned, though, these terms (at least to my father) do not include the actual shower or tub. Most of the time our family just calls it the hammam.
My mom called it the Facilities. I call it Restroom, but I don’t get much rest in there.
“bathroom” when it has a tub in it..and “restroom” for public bathrooms
We NEVER, under any circumstances, say “washrooms” 
NYC
I call it “toilet” when I’m outside a home/house, or the bathroom when I am a home… or plain and simple “the loo”.
I don’t understand why in North America they call it a restroom… where do you REST exactly??
Well if it was my dad saying it he would call it the “head” but he’s an old salty dog and they call it that in the Navy. Now if it was me I’d call it the “pisser” kind of catches people off guard and thats probably why I like to say it.
I have to explain the term “restroom”. Early in the 1900’s in the U.S., many women and children worked long hours in factories and their health was suffering. Labor laws were passed which kicked children out of the factories altogether and gave women short breaks during the day. Cots were provided to help women get off their feet, especially if they were pregnant or frail. (In those days, women tended to faint a great deal because of full length and tightly waisted clothing.) These cots or couches were put in their bathroom areas, transformed them into “restrooms”.
Men have never had “restrooms”, although I’m sure there have been a few who were invited into the women’s restrooms.
True original restrooms are dying out very quickly. The space is being converted for handicapped access and infant diaper changing stations.
This is called an anachronism.