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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Do you care if your child says loo, toilet, bathroom or bog?

107 replies

mantyzer · 25/12/2023 02:14

And importantly why?
I ask because I do not understand why anyone cares about things like this and want to understand peoples thoughts around this.

OP posts:
uclpp · 25/12/2023 02:15

No I do not care

I don't mind shitter either

But I imagine people who are a bit more civilised than me don't like bog/shitter

MrsElijahMikaelson1 · 25/12/2023 02:17

Mine say bathroom/washroom but we lived in Canada for a long time so it stuck.
Will occasionally say toilet but wouldn’t ever say bog

Geppili · 25/12/2023 02:19

I was brought up only to use lavatory and, at a pinch, loo! My mother would shudder at the T word. She was a very upwardly mobile snob of the first degree. We all called the loos bogs at school. I can handle them all, but I draw the line at shitter or going for a slash.

MulledWineBeMine · 25/12/2023 02:23

Yes, I mind.

loo is fine, much to the disgust of many on here, I'm also fine with toilet or inaccurately bathroom.

bog nope, I find it disgusting. Only time I've heard it used is in senior school, but even then it was 'the bogs' not going to the bog and the thread the other day.

shit anything they'd be in trouble!

why do I care, because it turns my stomach & it just sounds vulgar.

Original poster
mantyzer · 25/12/2023 02:23

@Geppili I forgot about lavatory! I would feel like a victorian wannabe if I used that.

OP posts:
Georgeandzippyzoo · 25/12/2023 02:25

Don't like bog, others perfectly acceptable. Bog was used at school by the so-they-thought 'tough/rough' kids, purely for effect.

Saschka · 25/12/2023 02:26

Toilet or bathroom are fine (also lived in Canada). Loo is ok. Lavatory sounds prissy. Bog always sounds like it is dirty to me - I think of school bogs, or uncleaned public toilets. Like a muddy bog, but shitty not muddy. So I don’t really want DS using that word routinely as it sounds grim.

Titwillow38 · 25/12/2023 02:26

The polite word is loo

Original poster
mantyzer · 25/12/2023 02:26

@Titwillow38 says who?

OP posts:
Thedogscollar · 25/12/2023 02:31

We had this thread last week🙄

Original poster
mantyzer · 25/12/2023 02:32

Did we? Sorry I do not spend my life on MN so did not know.

OP posts:
Thedogscollar · 25/12/2023 02:36

Well I don't spend my life on MN either but there you go.
Fwiw I call it the toilet which some people thought disgusting and sometimes I say loo.
Who gives one?

MissBuffyAnneSummers · 25/12/2023 04:28

I'd object to bog but the rest are fine.

Mushroomwithaview · 25/12/2023 05:07

My parents cared deeply about this sort of thing. Would tell us off if we said toilet instead of loo. Stupid snobbery.

As long as my kids are situationally appropriate, they can call it what they like.

Seaandsurf · 25/12/2023 05:09

What do the very upper class English people call it? I once heard someone with as very posh English accent call it the WC but I thought that was only used on boats/ships.

I vary - loo, toilet, bathroom.

AnneNotEmily · 25/12/2023 05:15

I say loo. Both my DC say toilet as that’s what they call it at school. I tried to get them to say loo but they don’t like it as none of their friends say it and it’s not something I’m prepared to get too upset about.

HarlanPepper · 25/12/2023 05:19

No I don't care in the slightest - but I've had to do some unlearning about 'toilet', thanks to my upbringing.

KickHimInTheCrotch · 25/12/2023 05:19

With most aspects if language, and this is no exception, I expect my children to adjust their terminology depending on the audience/ situation. So they are welcome to use bog/ shitter/ etc with their friends if that feels appropriate. I would expect them to use toilet or loo at home or if in polite company. My niece and nephew are American and use bathroom/ washroom usually but adjust to more British terminology when over here.

EdgeOfACoin · 25/12/2023 05:27

There are a lot of stories about older upper/ upper middle class generations insisting on "lavatory" over "toilet" - very Nancy Mitford.

Is this still a thing? Do younger aristos still cringe at the word "toilet", or has this stereotype fallen by the wayside?

MrsHughesPinny · 25/12/2023 05:30

Loo/bathroom/restroom are the ones I prefer. Don’t really like toilet, and definitely not bog. Sounds very coarse and ill mannered.

Happyme2024 · 25/12/2023 05:39

Only WC in this house.

Fivepigeons · 25/12/2023 05:57

I don't care at all amd same as you I find people who do very odd...
I remember my mum was a childminder when I was quite young and she had this one child she cared for who said 'ta' instead of thankyou.. for some reason this massively offended my mum. And she'd blow up every time this poor child said it.
Life is too short.

Titwillow38 · 25/12/2023 06:34

@mantyzer says etiquette experts and society. I mean who “decides” anything to do with language. It’s convention and customs

you can Google it. Toilet is not as acceptable as loo. Loo is the better word.

Whatwereyouthinking · 25/12/2023 06:40

I say loo, am ok with bathroom or toilet but don’t like any of the others - too vulgar for me but I know I’m a bit uptight!! I’d be really disappointed in my children if I heard them say bog or shitter.

Thepeopleversuswork · 25/12/2023 06:41

I personally couldn’t care less about what my DD calls it.

My mum would have had a fit of the vapours if I had used the word “toilet”. She was very influenced by that U vs Non U stuff and I think she would have thought using the word “toilet” would limit our ability to get on in life. Daft.

But we were both girls and she was very ambitious for us so maybe something rational at the bottom of it. Those sorts of gaffes can influence your chances.