Things that gross you out

It's not totally unheard of to call it a lavatory on the east coast of the US, although it is probably a dying usage.  It's weird that people find one of our words for toilet which pretty much all have roots that mean the same thing, that is a place to wash or fix yourself up, at some point in their history ("bathroom", "lavatory", "washroom", "toilet").  They're all euphemisms too.  I am not entirely sure why I find it hard to say "toilet".  It's not really because I find it too crude, which is why many Americans say they don't use the word.  It might be that I find myself being self conscious about it, and that I am supposed to have a problem using the word as an American.  I definitely know the weirdness of an American using the word "loo" is why I don't use that word in public.

It sort of reminds me of a teacher we had in school who called the bathrooms "basements".  It took me about of week to figure out he was talking about the bathroom and not some cellar of the school I didn't know existed or that we could go into it.  He's the only person I've ever met who called toilets that, but AFAIK it was used more commonly at one time to refer to specifically school or public toilets.

I've found whenever I don't say "toilet" it takes a few seconds to register what I'm asking for, so I've just adopted the practice.


And really the only place I've heard the term lavoratory used is planes and trains...


Oh and I'm a bathroom reader too.  Agreeing with Bob- it's a place for some quiet!

It sort of reminds me of a teacher we had in school who called the bathrooms "basements".

That's bizarre! Were they actually in the basement?

That's bizarre! Were they actually in the basement?

That's what I was wondering.  I've never heard that term used before.  My hubby used to keep a few books in the bathroom and I thought it was gross, not so much because of poopy germs, but more so because they were starting to get soggy--our bathroom traps a lot of moisture, even if we leave the windows open during and after showers.

That's bizarre! Were they actually in the basement?

No.  It's a regional definition:

http://www.answers.com/topic/basement

He's the only one I ever heard use it that way.

No.  It's a regional definition:

http://www.answers.com/topic/basement

He's the only one I ever heard use it that way.

That's really interesting! It says it's a New England term, but I lived in New England for 20+ years and never heard it. Where was your teacher from?

I dont think I'll ever be able to use the word "toilet," not since elementary school where saying toilet instead of the polite "restroom" would result in you holding it!

That's really interesting! It says it's a New England term, but I lived in New England for 20+ years and never heard it. Where was your teacher from?

No clue.  I couldn't stand the guy.  If there was one teacher I'd like to go back and totally administer a verbal beatdown upon, it's this guy.  But that has nothing to do with his use of this term.  I've known a lot of New Englanders (including many teachers), and spent much of my life within walking distance of it, and never heard it before or since outside of the internets.

I've found whenever I don't say "toilet" it takes a few seconds to register what I'm asking for, so I've just adopted the practice.


And really the only place I've heard the term lavoratory used is planes and trains...


Oh and I'm a bathroom reader too.  Agreeing with Bob- it's a place for some quiet!

in the UK? I never say "toilet" I am incapable of saying it to another human being (hey, I have issues!).

I say "Ladies Room" which seems to be understood well. I don't think anyone I know says toilet, mostly they say "Loo" I think.

in the UK? I never say "toilet" I am incapable of saying it to another human being (hey, I have issues!).

I say "Ladies Room" which seems to be understood well. I don't think anyone I know says toilet, mostly they say "Loo" I think.

Really? My hubby's whole family says "toilet",  even my sister in law.  And I'll admit I found it kind of crude when I first started saying it.  I'll have to try "ladies room".

Side note: My little brother was disappointed that hubby's family didn't say "loo" since that's totally a British term.

I pretty much call it any number of the names others have already listed depending on who I'm talking to and where I am. Sometimes it's restroom sometimes it's toilet and so on but people seem to get what I'm saying regardless of what term I use.

I thought that toilet meant a different thing in American English than in British English.

In American English, "the toilet" is the receptacle that you sit on to relieve your body of waste. So "going to the toilet" means that you are about to perform a private bodily function - you are actually about to sit on top of the toilet and let something out. That's just TMI.

In British English, "the toilet" is the entire room where you do this. So if you say you are "going to the toilet", you could be going to brush your teeth, fix  your makeup, etc.

In fact a "toilet" was previously a dressing room - the place where a woman puts on her "toiletries".

Remember a more innocent time of bathroom vernacular? When a person like Johnny Carson could get a lot of heat for having said "water closet" on television?   

Bit of a side note, but I had a funny exchange with my husband yesterday.

I overheard a woman at the store (in the US) talking about her young son and she said, "He went to the bathroom in his pants." Not a completely uncommon phrase here, but very funny if you think about the British meaning of that! My husband had a good laugh over it. 

I agree that toilet is strange and does make me feel dirty.  As sweetpeach said, in America, the toilet is the thing you sit on to do your business...and a toilet in general (to me anyway) is just a gross thing...not matter how clean it is.  So just hearing the word "toilet" makes me cringe.  I find that word kinda gross.  It's funny if someone calls for my hubby and I answer the phone and say "He's in the bathroom."  I refuse to say "He's in the toilet".    *mental image of my 6'4" husband actually being inside the toilet...gross*