to think loo paper is what it's called

[HepzibahHumbug]

AIBU to think asking a 5 year old to say toilet tissue is a horrible genteelism?

It's loo paper, and you flush it down a loo.

Also, has anyone else noticed how dusty it is?

I have taught myself to say lots of distasteful things over the years. But toilet is a word up with which I will not put.

Indeed Sassy... only really showcased at its best when the cleaner's been in.

Surely all of these words are correct. One of the things I love about the English language is its ability to absorb, reform and regurgitate words from other languages, creating a vast choice of vocabulary.

As a child I was taught that loo comes from l'eau and goes back to medieval French when people used to shout garden l'eau before throwing their effluent into the street. However, its current meaning can only be traced back to the 1940s.

Toilets originally referred to dressing tables or washstands that were kept in people's bedrooms before the advent of plumbing. The toile was the cloth laid over the table. The word toile is still used in couture dressmaking to refer to a practice garment made out of cheaper fabric.

Lavatory comes from the Latin lavatorium - a washing place.

If people care about rudeness, it seems to me that loo is the rudest of them all, at least etymologically!

that should say guardez l'eau. Not garden. I do hate autocorrect.

We have plenty of piebald ponies on grass verges in this part of England.

Also plenty of horse owners who use more conventional lodgings, also not posh at all, unless your definition of posh is the same as my SIL, which is akin to 'you wouldn't expect to see them on Jeremy Kyle'.

People do love to make sweeping statements. About the Irish, on this occasion.

@GetOffTheTableMabel Oh my god. Toilet tissue? What mimsy shite is that?

Thank you for making me laugh out loud!

My nana used to say she was “going to spend a penny”

Bum wipes. Some kids say that. Lol

Loo roll or toilet roll here. Unless you're DH and that's bog roll or shit roll............. lol. Toilet tissue sounds awful with my broad north-eastern accent

My DM was a primary school teacher in a lovely, well to do, private school in the 80s. The school had some funny rules, including insisting that the children leave outside footwear at the door, and change into slippers when indoors. Also, the children were told off if they ever used a different word than loo. The school insisted the children refer to the toilet as the loo.(so weird school rules aren’t new)
My DM is terribly U and considered both shoe-changing, and use of ‘loo’ as non-U.

Toilet is the correct word to use and the most U of all options. Loo/wc/bog/ladies/lavatory are all non-U and restroom/bathroom/powder room don’t even register with me.

Warpdrive
Lavatory is U. I think you are a tad confused.

Toilet, on the other hand, is extremely non U.

Here is Mitford’s “work”:

simanaitissays.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/unonuchart.jpg

linguisticus-files-wordpress-com.cdn.ampproject.org/i/s/linguisticus.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/u-and-non-u.png

Actually the above is closer.

Correct, genuine toffs never go to the toilet.

I really think it doesn't matter much whatever it's called.
It still wipes your bum, either way.

Water closet paper

I love 'spend a penny'. My best friend's Mum used to say that.

At school we weren't allowed to say any of these words. We had to learn to say 'please may I be excused?'. I remember not even understanding what I was saying. I had to learn the sentence by rote and repeat it, parrot fashion, like a line from the Lord's Prayer. It really was up there with 'forgive us our trespasses' as being complete gibberish.

U - Personal Cleansing Napkins

Non-U - Crimper Primper

It's loo roll or loo paper in my house. I don't tend to use the word "toilet" as I've always deemed it to be a bit vulgar (or "common" as my mother would say). My father always said "lavatory", mum always said "loo" and that was the word that stuck.

@warpdrive - was the school your mother worked at in Essex, by any chance?

At primary school we were expected to utter, “Please Miss, may I leave the room?”

Lol

Toilet roll.

In public, signs almost invariably say TOILETS rather than lavatory.

Americans often say "restroom" I believe.