It's a toilet not a restroom, get over yourselves! ...and other annoying Americanisms

Mild first world problem rant, although I'm not cross, just irritated.

US people, why do you call it a restroom??!!
Who the # actually goes for a rest in a public toilet? I don't, I go to have a piss or a dump.

I see it all the time on ATS, restroom, bathroom, WTF, when was the last time you saw a bath in a public toilet? Ever see someone chilling out having a rest in a toilet? You know, sat with a newspaper recovering from the stresses of the day like it's a boutique spa? No, it's a toilet, and we use it for perfectly normal bodily functions.

Another one that gets my goat is 'asshat', why hide it with a childlike word such as that, if you mean asshole then call me an asshole, who do you think you're kidding with asshat, and why?

Call a spade a spade, if asshole is what you mean then why shy away with asshat?
If you need a piss why are you embarrassed to ask to use the toilet?

Nobody thinks you are going to the toilet for a rest or a bath so why the stupid word substitution?
Are you really that ashamed of normal bodily functions?

[/rant]

originally posted by: grainofsand
....when was the last time you saw a bath in a public toilet?

Ironically, it was in the British Virgin Islands. West End to be exact.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Haha! Okay, it's acceptable to ask to use the bathroom in the British Virgin Islands then...they get a hall pass.

a reply to: grainofsand

I usually just ask where the men's room is.


Then I go in the other one since it is cleaner.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

The disabled toilet is always the cleanest in my experience...

I am not even going bring up a powder room to you or a half-bath (real estate).

a reply to: hibbity

Yeah what the # is a powder room? Is it called that because it's the preferred location in a club to snort coke?

a reply to: grainofsand
To be fair, that place has always been known by euphemisms, and we are just as guilty.
The previous American euphemism was "bathroom", which means "a place where people wash".
The word "toilet" means basically "a place where people wash".
The previous word "lavatory" means "a place where people wash".
If you go round the ruins of an old monastery or castle, you will find a space labelled as a "lavabo", which means "a place where people wash".
It seems that each euphemism, once it becomes recognisable enough to be embarassing, is replaced by another one.

"Public convenience" is a euphemism.
And is "restroom" any worse than "smallest room", or, heaven spare us, "little girls' room"?

a reply to: grainofsand

What is a "loo" then?

a reply to: DISRAELI

Lol, why the embarrassment about going for a piss though?!
And nipples, how about those satanic body parts? US television can show death, gore, and violence, but a nipple, or a woman breastfeeding ARGH THE SHAME!!!
Ridiculous.

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: grainofsand

What is a "loo" then?

A toilet.
At least it is not a lame attempt at pretending the use of said facility is for a bath or a rest.

a reply to: DBCowboy
It's supposed to be an abbreviation for "Gardez l'eau", which is Anglo-French for "Look out for the water!".
As exclaimed by the chambermaid as she emptied the chamber-pot out onto the street.

originally posted by: DISRAELI
a reply to: grainofsand
To be fair, that place has always been known by euphemisms, and we are just as guilty.
The previous American euphemism was "bathroom", which means "a place where people wash".
The word "toilet" means basically "a place where people wash".
The previous word "lavatory" means "a place where people wash".
If you go round the ruins of an old monastery or castle, you will find a space labelled as a "lavabo", which means "a place where people wash".
It seems that each euphemism, once it becomes recognisable enough to be embarassing, is replaced by another one.

"Public convenience" is a euphemism.
And is "restroom" any worse than "smallest room", or, heaven spare us, "little girls' room"?

I prefer bog, crapper, s**thouse or my real favourite, water closet.

a reply to: grainofsand

Ever have a burrito as big as your head?

Trust me. . . . it sometimes IS a restroom.

(hahahahahaha)

originally posted by: DISRAELI
a reply to: DBCowboy
It's supposed to be an abbreviation for "Gardez l'eau", which is Anglo-French for "Look out for the water!".
As exclaimed by the chambermaid as she emptied the chamber-pot out onto the street.

You see!

I never knew that.

I learned something today.

a reply to: Cobaltic1978
Ah, I should have included "water closet" in my "washing" sequence. Must remember that next time this comes up.

a reply to: DBCowboy

Sounds painful haha!

The word "toilet" doesn't literally mean a place to piss.

Toilet. This too is ultimately a euphemism, from the French toilette meaning “dressing room,” from toile meaning “cloth.” In the 17th century, the toilet was the process of getting dressed – powdering one's wig and so forth. In the 18th century, a toilet call was a social interaction in which a lady received visitors while she was in the last stages of performing her toilet. By the 19th century, we have toilet articles, toilet pail (a bucket to hold slops), and toilet paper (used for shaving, hair curling, etc). The term toilet room seems to have been American in origin, from the late 1800s, and thence abbreviated to simply toilet. Again, the word can mean both the room and the device.

www.straightdope.com...

a reply to: kaylaluv

Interesting info, cheers, same to Disraeli for the toilet nomenclature factoids

An asshat is someone with their head in their Ass.

Not an asshole.


Stop whining.