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?

I think you should accept that your children need to say "toilet" at school, as if is by far the most commonly recognised word and will be understood wherever they go, even by people who speak English in other countries.

I was brought up with "lavatory" or "lav," by parents who had been the first in their families to go to university and get "middle-class" jobs, and who were, I think, excessively worried about what other people would think about them so they always used the "proper" words. When I moved in with DH, who says "toilet," I couldn't bring myself to say "lavatory" in front of him because it sounded so pompous and hypercorrect to my own ears, so I soon adapted to say "toilet" and I taught my children the same word, because I knew it would be understood anywhere.

I would say "loo" is probably more widely understood than "lav(atory)" nowadays but I would still go with "toilet" as the universal, foolproof word.

I don't think many people worry about class any more, except maybe the very, very upper-class, and I'm assuming your children won't have to mix with them at school.

Loo is very crass where I come from ... sounds gross. We say toilet or bathroom.

Lavatory has always sounded positively Victorian to me.

Sometimes my Dad used to use it when we were small children in the late sixties and very early seventies. He is the absolute arch chip off the old block, and now in his eighties. Even he ditched it in favour of toilet over a very short time.

The only conclusion from this thread that I can draw is that whilst there are certainly some fairly crude ways of describing it (bog, shitter) which are better not used by children, there are several acceptable ways, such as toilet and loo. Horses for courses.

One would not say neither were one to visit the Royal Family. I hope that Meghan Markle said lavatory were she needing a call of nature.

Loo or toilet is acceptable to me.

LemonysSnicket

Loo is very crass where I come from ... sounds gross. We say toilet or bathroom.

Not true. Loo is polite.

Where do you come from Lemony?

Just curious.