Is this a middle class saying?

I have never heard anyone in the aristocracy use the word WC ever. Certainly not the hereds, I suppose some life peers may even use toilet these days.

They mainly say lavatory in public, and loo, or 'going for a wee/pee' in private.

"Loo" crosses the class divide pretty well. "Bathroom" is particularly irritating. I said on another thread that it's on a par with other euphemisms such as "passing away" or "expecting".

That is entirely my experience, too.

Same. I’ve heard ex public school boys refer to the bog.

To be truly upper class you say whatever you damn well want with the supreme confidence that if it's coming out of your mouth it must be correct, and anyway who cares what the plebs think. 😂

Can't believe people are aghast at 'toilet' but talking instead about 'bathroom', 'restroom' and 'washroom'. It is none of those!

I'd frankly rather hear 'bog' than bloody 'bathroom'. 🙄

Anyway, there's only one correct moniker for it...

"Jemima dear, have you seen Pippa?"
"Yea, she's in the traps, Victoria"

😂

I think Americans can be made uncomfortable by the word 'toilet'. To Brits it's the room, to Yanks it's the actual WC, something like that maybe? To me both are THE LAV.

I grew up in the North East and we always said Lav. I first heard the word toilet when I was about 6 and a cousin used it. Bog is about as common as it gets unless you are student. Students, especially but not always male, always say bog no matter how ‘posh’ they are.

Head is the boating/naval term.

I agree it sounds pretty stupid if you are not either referring specifically to the toilets on a boat, or else are a member of the Royal Navy, but it isn’t a grim term in and of itself, any more than “galley” or “cabin” are.

Ha ha I say that too!

Yes!!

I was definitely aware as a child that "toilet" was discussed considered common and "loo" and "lavatory" were posh! Interestingly, at my school (small private prep school) we were only allowed to say "toilet".

I'm fairly well spoken but it amuses me to use slang words. Bog is quite common in our house. (Husband is poster than me and went to boarding school.) My teenage son has recently adopted "going to take a Pissington" which is a you tuber's expression I think. Now we all say it.

The most amusing expression I've heard for having a poo is "dropping the kids off at the pool".

I'm easily amused. Maybe one day I shall be a proper grown up.

Doesn’t matter that she’s 3, you can still talk to her using proper sentences. Yes, for me it’s the omisión of the ‘the’ that gives it (the class) away….

Yeah and you can ALSO speak in baby talk. 🙄🤦‍♀️

I used to look at my not very verbal 3 yr old if he was looking a bit uncomfortable and say " go loo ?"

And yea I also spoke to him in proper sentences. Well, he managed to learn to talk along the way.

I beg to differ.

That’s pretty much it. It’s an absence of affectation. That’s why Mitford had a “downer” on french words: because it’s fine for French speakers to speak French but if you are trying to posh-up your English with it it becomes affected. If you know you’re posh you don’t need to try that hard .

I’m not sure how I ended up here – somehow via Google – but as it appears that I’m the only man contributing to this thread I’m frankly horrified by the level of petty snobbery and insecurity displayed by so many posters, especially those who are so anxious to sneak in the fact that they went to boarding school, or that they regularly associate with what they would no doubt term the upper classes.

The one theme that runs through the dozens of messages I’ve read (which is only about half the thread) is the tragic sense of status anxiety, and the barely subdued desperation about how the various posters see themselves as perceived by others.

It’s as though feminism never happened - the thread might have been written in 1923.

It probably started out as a working class word but it transcended. In the 70s and 80s it was absolutely ubiquitous in schools up and down the country, no matter how common or posh. Then same at universities, often said in a kind of ironic tone. But I think it's probably been on the wane since, hence some of the confusion on this thread.

Disagree. Loo is best.

*I’m not sure how I ended up here – somehow via Google – but as it appears that I’m the only man contributing to this thread I’m frankly horrified by the level of petty snobbery and insecurity displayed by so many posters, especially those who are so anxious to sneak in the fact that they went to boarding school, or that they regularly associate with what they would no doubt term the upper classes.

The one theme that runs through the dozens of messages I’ve read (which is only about half the thread) is the tragic sense of status anxiety, and the barely subdued desperation about how the various posters see themselves as perceived by others.

It’s as though feminism never happened - the thread might have been written in 1923.*

YAWN

And how do you know you're the only bloke?

Yes, exactly that.

Me too. For some reason, my mum has instilled a subsequent sense of cringing when I hear the words "belly" or "pee", but not "tummy" or "wee". And just as she has made me feel it's not quite "right" to use these words, I am inflicting this upon my poor DC too. Buy of course, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with the words "belly" and "pee" per se, it's just for some reason, they seem more "common".

Of course,this is all totally subjective. I know my DM considers herself middle class and would probably be horrified if I said "My belly hurts, maybe I need to try and find a bog to be able to pee!" 😅😉

I'm easy-going when it comes to language but upbringing has definitely had a great impact on what I feel is "acceptable".

*but not buy

Sorry for the typos 😅

Feel free to leave us to it. We all like a bit of toilet talk. Or loo talk. Or bog talk.

I've no idea if you're the only man and this really hasn't anything to do with feminism but I agree with you about the desperation by some posters to tell us they went to private girls' schools, used the word "bog" and swore like troopers.