Toilet or Loo?

[ILoveAfternoonTea]

Do you refer to the toilet/loo as the toilet or the loo?

My DP says that "toilet" is common. If I say toilet I get pulled up on it. IL's also say loo and I feel I have to watch what I say

It just seems strange as if you're in a shopping centre or restaurant the sign always says toilets, never ever loos

Fed up of being corrected

Loo is posh, toilet is awful, IMO – but I wouldn’t pull DP up on saying it, nor his parents who tweely say “pay a visit. The real point is you’re in a relationship with someone who constantly corrects you. Flush him down it, whatever it’s called.

If you want to upset them, you could say you’re going for a slash 🤣
Husband has just said the carsy.
Or if my kids are in the room it’s piddly peepee or piddly poopoo 💩

I tend to call it the lavatory... gets some weird looks sometimes!

"Loo is posh, toilet is awful, IMO"

Sorry, but I completely fail to see what is so awful about the word "toilet". It is in common usage everywhere.

What about:
Privy
Netty
WC
Khasi

I prefer the word ‘toilet’. Loo seems like a slang word.

I say loo but I think it’s snobby to pull people (who aren’t your children) up on any language which is isn’t offensive.

I say loo mostly but either is fine.

The one I don't like is lav.

It's usually the loo.

I'll adapt my vocabulary to suit where I am though. If out and about and in need, I might ask one of the staff where the nearest lady's lavatories are.

I say toilet but most of the people I know seem to say loo. For some reason I find it a bit awkward to say loo and the word grates on me a bit. I never say anything to anyone about it though.

The crappery.

Next time he corrects you, ask whether he means "lavatory", as loo sounds a little vulgar.

I say loo, but it is ridiculous that your DP pulls you up on it. I would never do that to my DP (who says toilet).

Loo

Fed up of being corrected

And rightly so, tell him you'll say what you want and don't want to hear anything more about it.

Loo or Lavatory.

Loo is slang so more common than toilet.
We say either here.
More important is why family deliberately make you feel bad over something so trivial and I’d be telling them they’ll need the loo/toilet for after I shove their snide comments up their arse!

@memberofthewedding

Spent a year working in the USA where they are even more precious about it than in UK. Most people called it the restroom, women's/mens room, washroom or bathroom. "Toilet" was considered embarasing. They would not have known what the loo was.

I worked in New York for about six months and was surprised about how oddly prudish some Americans could be about bodily functions - hard-nosed corporate types, who wouldn't think twice about ripping somebody to shreds in a board meeting, unable to say the word 'toilet'...

I say loo but I don’t have a horror of the word toilet like some people seem to. I’d say toilet to someone who wasn’t from the UK in case they didn’t know the word loo.

Jilly Cooper covers this at some depth in 'Class ' which is an old but fascinating book. I think 'lav' is favoured by the upper classes but I could be wrong. Toilet always makes me think of someone toiling away on the toilet which is a bit grim - that's just me though

Surely it's 'the cludgie'?

Lavvy-bog if in polite company.

@champions55

Maybe it's a Scottish thing but no one really refers to it as a loo up here.

I am Scottish and I call it the loo.

One can understand that one should not correct one's term for the lavatory, so one has sympathy for the OP being corrected and understands the annoyance.

I worked in New York for about six months and was surprised about how oddly prudish some Americans could be about bodily functions - hard-nosed corporate types, who wouldn't think twice about ripping somebody to shreds in a board meeting, unable to say the word 'toilet'...

It's not prudish, It's just what they are accustomed to. In Canada, (in my part, at least), we would say "bathroom" at home or in someone's house, as that is what the room is called. But we would refer to the " restroom" in a public place.

Tell him that decent people with proper manners wouldn't make anyone feel uncomfortable about what they called it.

Loo is not posh though, it just sounds a bit sad, like you don't want to use the correct word. It's lavatory if you want to be posh.
I say toilet.