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?

DH sometimes calls it shit roll if that helps?

'shit roll' would probably pass the posh test because of its confident and unapologetic use of a vulgarity. The poshos love that.

Shit roll is what the Queen calls it actually.

Shit roll is what the Queen calls it actually.

Not really by the way.

I also hate "loo" because it sounds so pretentious to me.

The word toilet is horrible and non-U. It's lavatory paper or loo roll

The Mitfords are here. Bet it's Unity.

It's loo roll here. But I can either go to the loo or the toilet, I have no hate for toilet.

Does anyone say lav for toilet still? I haven't heard that for a while.

The thing about the word toilet is that it's internationally understood. If you travel abroad a lot, then you won't be understood by many people saying loo.

Shit roll is what the Queen calls it actually.

Considering that she neither has to go out and buy it, nor presumably ever even touch or see it (having a groom of the stool available on a 3-shift basis, I'm sure), she may not even actually know what it is as a concept!

Loo roll

The thing about the word toilet is that it's internationally understood. If you travel abroad a lot, then you won't be understood by many people saying loo.

True.

However, the internationally-accepted symbol seems to be a box with WC written inside it. Does anybody, anywhere in the world ever refer to it as a WC (or water closet in long form, to avoid any potential confusion with Mr Fields).

Also, don't the Aussies usually call it the dunny or the thunder-box?!

Or the cludgie?

I love a good pun @Ronsters 😂

You can't say "toilet" in the US! Well, you can, but it refers to the actual toilet bowl , not the act of going.

It sounds just dreadful when Brits talk about "going to the toilet" in public or ask "Where are the toilets?" Americans are very prudish and go to the "bathroom" or to "wash up" (that's not the dishes).

In addition people said things like, "Oh, no, there's a bathroom smell." Meaning that they could smell a fart.

I don’t think “toilet” is “international”. I’m pretty sure in America it’s “powder room”

I say loo because I was brought up with that terminology. I’m not sure what non-U means

Blimey, I’ve never thought loo was a pretentious word! My very working class parents have always used it with unpretentious abandon.

Further pondering now. Does it matter if I say something ‘non-U’? I don’t mean does it actually matter, because I already know it doesn’t, I’ve managed to get by so far in education, employment and society in general despite my use of the word ‘toilet’.

But doesn’t ‘U’ mean upper class? So if I say something ‘non-U’ I’m saying something which isn’t upper class? Which makes sense, right, given I’m not upper class?!

Frankly I think if I was ever in an environment surrounded by upper class people who judged me based on class markers, I think they'd be able to tell I’m not one of the gang even if I switched to saying ‘loo’

But if you say toilet in the US they will understand what you mean. If you say loo, not many people will have a clue what you mean.

Most people in the world who speak English will understand the word toilet whichever country you are travelling in even if they use regional variations themselves.

Isn't there a thread in classics about loo roll ? IIRC, poster wrote 'loo rolls' on the shopping list, her Dh went to the shops and came home with one hundred bread rolls.

On the topic of what to call them - toilet tissue is completely unacceptable, it's in the same class as doilies and violet flavoured sweets.

Mmmm, violet-flavoured sweets. Now, would you have those for pudding or dessert?

You know what they say about people who use the word 'common'...

Quintella yet it’s okay to sneer at ‘poshos’?

Bum stationery.

I think if you travel surely the bare minimum vocabulary to remember is how to ask for a loo?

As for being non-U or U, I assume that’s a MN thing because surely you just use the terminology you were taught as a child, and unless you are frankly odd you aren’t going to care if you sound like you come from where you come from.

Andrex call it Toilet Tissue

Kleenex call it Toilet Tissue

Charmin US call it Toilet Paper

Charmin UK (Cushelle) call it Toilet Tissue.

Aren't we supposed to be anti-Americanisms on MN?

I've just remembered that one of my work clients is probably a bit embarrassed about the mention of toilets. When I go visit him, he always asks if 'i want to make myself comfortable after a 3 hour journey'.