Loo v Toilet

[Theaspidistraiswilting]

We say loo in our house. Every time my kids ask to go to the loo at school the staff won’t let them go until they ask properly to go to the toilet... They are confused! I am probably being unreasonable but aren’t both acceptable?

'Loo' sounds very twee.
I'd rather say toilet

American here. I can't bring myself to say toilet, it feels way, way, way too specific to the related task.

But signs in public places (in the UK anyway) always point to the toilets and when you buy a bathroom suite you generally get a bath, sink and toilet. That is just what they are called, surely?

Mummyoflittledragon Restroom is the preferred term in the US, I believe. I'm not sure where we inherited bathroom from!

I suspect it's regional and generational. My grandmother called it a 'commode', I grew up saying 'bathroom', 'restroom' strikes me as slightly institutional.

Although either is way better than 'little girls room'

Although either is way better than 'little girls room'

Oh god. I had conveniently blanked this one from memory. I don't think I've ever heard it in the UK.

I once asked a security guard where the toilet was in USA, I felt like a right skank. I've never said it since then.

My mum always asks if she can use "your facilities"

Or just ask where it would be possible to shake ones lettuce

I had no idea about any of this! I say loo, toilet or bog interchangably at home and when out I’d say toilet if asking for directions in a restaurant, (or even ‘ladies’) as that’s the ‘official’ word for it. Or at home/with friends I might say ‘I’m going for a wee’. Didn’t think it was a class thing. But prob grew up lower middle as said serviette and pardon! I always thought napkin and sorry were less posh versions!!

I use loo. DC use loo at home and toilet elsewhere. I’ll accept anything except bog/bog roll which I hate

At my school we had it drummed into us that the correct request was:
“May I go to the loo?”

“Can I go to the loo?” was inevitably met by. “You can, but you may not!”

I hate the word "loo". It's a such a mimsy-wimsy, fussy little word and it puts my hackles up. It's right up there with "doily". However, I think the school are being a bit ridiculous. As long as they're saying "please" and not calling it the shitter, and it's clear what they mean, I don't see a problem.

I go to the bog* or, if I need to be a bit more polite, the lav. Occasionally lavatory, but more in an ironic way. Toilet doesn't trigger the hair on the back of my neck, but I don't like it. I can live with it though.

We have such a wealth of words for lavatorial facilities, I think we should make more use of them. Today it could be the heads or the house of easement. Tomorrow it could be the privy and the latrine the following day. There are some fab foreign words, too, I particularly like the German "Kackstuhl", although I'm not sure if it's polite. Think how educational that would be.

When I was at school, we had to ask to "be excused". I came home and asked my mum why having a wee was called being "excused".

*Having thought about it, if I'm in familiar company, I usually say I'm going for a piss/pee/wee according to who's present. I try very hard not to say piss in front of DGD!

Lakie I think the German equivalent of loo is Klo - I've never heard anyone say Kackstuhl, that sounds very rude indeed surely!

Klo is why DH immediately vetoed Chloe as a vague random suggestion for a girls' name when we were expecting DD... Mind you plenty of British girls called Lou seem to manage fine :o

Is it a posh school?

Our dses private schools all use the word toilet.

We say loo.

I think the German equivalent of loo is Klo - I've never heard anyone say Kackstuhl, that sounds very rude indeed surely!

Yes, you're right Evelyn!

Lots of German words sound rude or sinister imo. That's why I like them. Imo Kugelschrieber sounds like an instrument of torture and "besonders" like a euphemism for testicles ("I gave him a good kick in the besonders" - it sounds right, doesn't it?).

:o

I don't think kackstuhl is even a real word though, I rather think you made it up

We say lav usually but anything recognisable is acceptable. My working class upbringing told me that toilet was posh

In our local Co-op I asked a young male assistant where I could find the Bovril. He escorted me to a pile of Andrex and said,"There you go, bog roll Madam."
He was so embarrassed when I stopped giggling to explain, especially as an older assistant asked if there was a problem and I explained.
By the time I got to the till everyone knew and it is still smiled about by those in the know.

My kids say Toilette at school, klo to friends, the older two say toilet at home but the youngest inexplicably says loo at home. I thought I used toilet in English until the youngest started saying loo - as they only speak English in our house he must have got it from somewhere!

Either way it is very easy indeed to use different words in different places as appropriate - my kids have been doing it automatically ever since they've been out of nappies!

They won't catch common by saying a non U word at school

I think the school staff are being petty and pedantic and unreasonable, as they know exactly what the dh mean, the word loo is not rude, and is widely used and understood. I'd still say to the dc to use the word toilet at school, to avoid turning silliness on the staff's part into a big deal, but I'd think less of the staff for it.

'... the US ... “loo” is unheard of.'

Nope.

britishisms.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/only-in-portlandia/

(which suggests the OPs DC could say "John" )

Very occasionally you'll hear it used on TV too.

What on earth? People cringe when they hear the word ‘toilet’? Good grief.

Perhaps we should re-introduce the word lavatory ?
I agree with the poster who says loo sounds 'mimsy-wimsy'.
Toilet is definitely 'non-u' if anyone cares about that stuff any more.

It is so beyond me why so many in the UK think 'loo' is polite and posh ... as an Australian I've only ever known it as a gross and old fashioned, somewhat nonsensical word for 'toilet'. And lowet class would be 'bog', 'dunny', 'shitter', etc.