Comments on: Expressions by country

By: history teacher

history teacher — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:53:44 +0000

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.

By: The odds of finding one is slim to none | Rebellious Arab Girl™

The odds of finding one is slim to none | Rebellious Arab Girl™ — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:56:49 +0000

[...] threw out the chicken and I spent the past hour in the washroom. Yah… I use the term washroom. So Canadian like! Anyways, my stomach is still turning like a blender. So if I don’t post or [...]

By: juneyor

juneyor — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:02:00 +0000

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.

By: Kiwi_Canada

Kiwi_Canada — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 04:16:20 +0000

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??

By: NY Arab

NY Arab — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:46:07 +0000

“bathroom” when it has a tub in it..and “restroom” for public bathrooms We NEVER, under any circumstances, say “washrooms”
NYC

By: Kevin

Kevin — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:36:08 +0000

My mom called it the Facilities. I call it Restroom, but I don’t get much rest in there.

By: Mrs.S

Mrs.S — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:43:59 +0000

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.

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:53:14 +0000

the porcelain throne

By: Dwayne from Probably Sucks Blog

Dwayne from Probably Sucks Blog — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:22:38 +0000

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

By: Rahul

Rahul — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:20:09 +0000

Humm…. okies… we don’t use those sorts of terms over here. jus simply bathrooms.