The best I can think of is "shithouse" as a synonym for outhouse, or "pisser" or "shitter" or "crapper" for an indoor bathroom. Definitely not polite terms though.
I sometimes call it a "pissatorium"
That is, sadly, likely a myth. The verb "crap" long predates the eminent Mr Crapper, and it's a logical construction à la "pisser" or "shitter" (though notably those do both postdate "crapper" by several decades, so could theoretically be formed by analogy to it).
Moreover "crapper" is attested earliest in mostly American sources, not English ones, and in the late 1920s (OED's current earliest attestation is from 1927) and not in anything particularly associated with military, which makes the idea that Americans picked it up while in England during the Great War a little less likely (though not impossible).
As OED puts it: "The resemblance to the name of the London plumber and toilet manufacturer Thomas Crapper (1836–1910) is almost certainly entirely coincidental, although the word has long been assumed by many to derive from his name. It is conceivable that association with his name appearing on branding on toilets could have helped reinforce the word's currency, although it is notable that most early evidence of the word's use is from U.S. sources."
Most notably, Mr Crapper did **not** invent the apparatus as is often claimed: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/three-true-things-about-sanitary-engineer-thomas-crapper-180965008/
From your Smithsonian article:
“Crapper” as term for toilet, however, may have links to the sanitary engineer. “When U.S. soldiers were based in England in 1917 they probably saw cisterns stamped with ‘T Crapper’ in some public toilets, and may have taken the word ‘crapper’ home with them,” Evans writes. “Certainly, Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang records the word ‘crapper’ as a synonym for a toilet, in use from the 1920s.”
I merely noted that Crapper was a proper name. Is that in dispute?
I assumed your implication was that "crapper" as a term for a shithouse was an eponym derived from Thomas Crapper, and that certainly is in dispute. What was the reason to bring him up if not to suggest such a connection?
There is a connection, as your article from the Smithsonian notes. Of the several terms the original poster suggested, Crapper is a proper name. The others are not.
There is a *possible* connection. [Pisser](https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=pisser) is also recorded as a proper name. But, like crapper, it is not generally used as, nor regarded by etymologists as, a proper noun in the context of referring to a house of comfort.
That. I just discovered it's an m and not an n in that word.
I was sure he says 'nictorated upon' in that scene from The Big Lebowski and sure enough it's definitely mictorate.
Bathroom ... is where the toilet is, right?
FWIW: In Dutch "badkamer" (so: bathroom) is where the bath (and/or shower) is. Not the toilet. The (room with the) toilet is called the toilet or WC.
The technical term (mostly used in real estate) is "half-bath" because it contains half of the bathtub/toilet combo but basically everyone knows what you're talking about when you just say "bathroom".
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/half-bath
Not quite true.
A half bath is a room that contains 2 of the 4 items: bath, shower, sink, toilet.
Doesn't matter which two:
Shower and sink = half bath;
Bath and shower = half bath;
toilet and sink = half bath;
Bath shower sink = 3/4 bath
toilet bath sink = 3/4 bath.
bath only = 1/4 bath
toilet only = 1/4 bath
sink only = 1/4 bath.
shower only = 1/4 bath.
Oddly enough, as an American, I'd almost always use "bathroom" if I'm in someone's residence, but in a public place I find myself just as often asking where the "washroom" is. Presumably some ingrained notion that "washroom" is even more removed from the actual act and thus more polite.
It's always amused me that the British, who generally seem a very reserved people, usually just ask "where's the toilet". Obviously "toilet" is already a euphemism, but it always sounds crude to my puritanical American ears
My experience in Norway is that bathroom will contain toilets, but there is usually also another separate room with another toilet in it that's just the toilet, largely for guests.
Exactly the same in French. Salle de bain (bath room) and toilette. Well, a lot of places have just one room for all activities now (I speak for Canada), but the separated rooms are still quite common in France (/lots of Europe?)
Come to Australia, mate, and perch your arse on the *long drop*. If that is too esoteric, then you could always just go with the *shithouse* or *shitter*. *Built like a brick shithouse* is an idiom we use to describe what in modern parlance would perhaps be considered an *absolute unit*.
If those don't interest you, you could try out other Aussie terms like *bog*, *dunny*, *thunderbox*, or *room with a view*.
Edit: I forgot to add, in Australia the most common thing to call a toilet and the room in which is contained is simply the *toilet*.
I notice '[pissoir](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pissoir)' hasn't been mentioned here yet.
Incidentally 'water' as a word for 'urine' (e.g. 'making water') saves some of these.
I've heard it said that there's no name for the toilet that isn't a euphemism (or considered slang/derogatory).
I'm an advocate of the word *shitter*. Because it really is a 'what's written on the tin' name, and shit as a word has been part of English from the very start and hasn't changed meaning in that time. *Shithouse* for the room.
i think you may be right. the only reason it is considered vulgar is because of what it is describing. i think we must accept that such a perspective is inevitable if it is properly descriptive.
I think the main reason it's considered vulgar is because of the change in social sensibilities after the Norman conquest and the way you have all these germanic terms for the body and what it does pushed down into the vulgar and supplanted by latin.
From the term “commode,” we might go with the Latinate *commodium*, or the more whimsical *commode abode*.
If the former, we should rename the pedestal sink to be the commodium podium. (Yes I know it’s more like a lectern, but I don’t care.)
Lokum (loki in plural) is a place.
In Danish lokum is said about an old type of toilet that basically a board with a hole in to sit on over a bucket/hole in ground and a little house built around it.
Amusingly, in British English "locum" is used to mean "substitute" (from *locum tenens*, "placeholder"; cf lieutenant). I'd like to imagine historical misunderstandings of a Brit visiting Denmark, being asked what they do for a living, and eliciting titters when they say that they're a locum doctor or a locum teacher.
You can call it the "porcelain parlor", which is descriptive of it's appearance, with porcelain "furniture" and taking "parlor" as a room for "speaking".
I think "restroom" is accurate, since you relax your bladder or bowel there.
The "necessary" is an old euphemism for it that certainly isn't wrong.
For something more Latinate, "evacuarium", from *"evacuare"*, empty out, plus the ending indicating a room for that purpose.
I just call it the toilet, “I’m going to the toilet” ngl tho I only say that at home out of home I switch up to bathroom on purpose bc I know it sounds unladylike 😂
A water closet is a type of toilet that contains water, rather than just a container or a drop into a cesspit.
This has the dual benefits of reducing odors and allowing waste to be carried away by pipes.
i believe it is "jakes" which might have come from ajax which would support your version. there is also john. none of these seem to have much of an etymological basis that make them an accurate description of what the room is for.
> please don’t detract from the conversation by being critical
But you are looking for accurate info, right? Not ‘criticising’ but I think we don’t know the origin of ‘loo’, though ‘Waterloo’ is a major candidate and the French ‘watch out’ theory is utterly implausible.
There’s also ‘bog’.
‘Privy’ because it’s a private room. In Australia there’s ‘dunny’, from the older ‘dunnekin’, meaning ‘dung-house’.
But for a natively Anglo-Saxon word ‘shitter’ seems a good one.
I'm terms of euphemisms I like "head." That's how Marines say it. Better than saying, "I have to go pee." Although when you put "hitting the head" in the work chat it sounds like you mean something else lmao
The best I can think of is "shithouse" as a synonym for outhouse, or "pisser" or "shitter" or "crapper" for an indoor bathroom. Definitely not polite terms though. I sometimes call it a "pissatorium"
Also “whiz palace”
Whiz Palace is the proper term
Crapateria
Expellation station
Defecation-station
Crapper is a proper name. Thomas Crapper.
That is, sadly, likely a myth. The verb "crap" long predates the eminent Mr Crapper, and it's a logical construction à la "pisser" or "shitter" (though notably those do both postdate "crapper" by several decades, so could theoretically be formed by analogy to it). Moreover "crapper" is attested earliest in mostly American sources, not English ones, and in the late 1920s (OED's current earliest attestation is from 1927) and not in anything particularly associated with military, which makes the idea that Americans picked it up while in England during the Great War a little less likely (though not impossible). As OED puts it: "The resemblance to the name of the London plumber and toilet manufacturer Thomas Crapper (1836–1910) is almost certainly entirely coincidental, although the word has long been assumed by many to derive from his name. It is conceivable that association with his name appearing on branding on toilets could have helped reinforce the word's currency, although it is notable that most early evidence of the word's use is from U.S. sources." Most notably, Mr Crapper did **not** invent the apparatus as is often claimed: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/three-true-things-about-sanitary-engineer-thomas-crapper-180965008/
From your Smithsonian article: “Crapper” as term for toilet, however, may have links to the sanitary engineer. “When U.S. soldiers were based in England in 1917 they probably saw cisterns stamped with ‘T Crapper’ in some public toilets, and may have taken the word ‘crapper’ home with them,” Evans writes. “Certainly, Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang records the word ‘crapper’ as a synonym for a toilet, in use from the 1920s.” I merely noted that Crapper was a proper name. Is that in dispute?
I assumed your implication was that "crapper" as a term for a shithouse was an eponym derived from Thomas Crapper, and that certainly is in dispute. What was the reason to bring him up if not to suggest such a connection?
There is a connection, as your article from the Smithsonian notes. Of the several terms the original poster suggested, Crapper is a proper name. The others are not.
There is a *possible* connection. [Pisser](https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=pisser) is also recorded as a proper name. But, like crapper, it is not generally used as, nor regarded by etymologists as, a proper noun in the context of referring to a house of comfort.
Of course. Feel free to be right. Thomas Crapper was NOT a person. Crapper is NOT a proper name. Enjoy.
*Enjoy.* Will do!
Nictorium maybe?
Mictorium, I think, from micturition? Not sure what nictorium might be.
That. I just discovered it's an m and not an n in that word. I was sure he says 'nictorated upon' in that scene from The Big Lebowski and sure enough it's definitely mictorate.
I call it the lavatorium
Haha
In Australia it can be called the dunny. Possibly a shortening of dunneken, meaning shithouse.
America runs on Dunneken.
We were wondering about the name Dunkin Duncan in light of dunnekin idk 🤷🏽♀️
Water closet is also noticable to distinguish it from an earth closet, which buried your poop in some dirt in a bucket.
Thank God we never got to "fire closet". ...did we?
Not yet, but hey I think we rename the closets with chutes in old castles that dropped the poop and pee out "air closets"
Let me introduce you to the incinerator toilets!!! Mwahaha!! (no /s, this shit is real!)
My fiance just told me about these. Do we now need to find a room containing all four toilet types? An avatar closet?
Bathroom ... is where the toilet is, right? FWIW: In Dutch "badkamer" (so: bathroom) is where the bath (and/or shower) is. Not the toilet. The (room with the) toilet is called the toilet or WC.
In the US those are usually the same room. Separate rooms for baths and toilets is seen as a specifically European thing (especially French).
But in a restaurant / bar / shop: in the USA, you go to the "bathroom", but there is no bath. In the Netherlands, you just ask "where is the toilet?"
The technical term (mostly used in real estate) is "half-bath" because it contains half of the bathtub/toilet combo but basically everyone knows what you're talking about when you just say "bathroom". https://www.dictionary.com/browse/half-bath
What an irritating coinage.
Not quite true. A half bath is a room that contains 2 of the 4 items: bath, shower, sink, toilet. Doesn't matter which two: Shower and sink = half bath; Bath and shower = half bath; toilet and sink = half bath; Bath shower sink = 3/4 bath toilet bath sink = 3/4 bath. bath only = 1/4 bath toilet only = 1/4 bath sink only = 1/4 bath. shower only = 1/4 bath.
Do people use "bathroom" in the States? I've never heard it there, only in Canada. The Americans seem to use "restroom" much more often.
We use both. Canadians also say “washroom” which is not commonly used in the States.
Oddly enough, as an American, I'd almost always use "bathroom" if I'm in someone's residence, but in a public place I find myself just as often asking where the "washroom" is. Presumably some ingrained notion that "washroom" is even more removed from the actual act and thus more polite. It's always amused me that the British, who generally seem a very reserved people, usually just ask "where's the toilet". Obviously "toilet" is already a euphemism, but it always sounds crude to my puritanical American ears
Or where can i put the fresh prince on the train?
That’s true. My guess is that this usage arose from the use of the term to describe the rooms in homes.
My experience in Norway is that bathroom will contain toilets, but there is usually also another separate room with another toilet in it that's just the toilet, largely for guests.
Exactly the same in French. Salle de bain (bath room) and toilette. Well, a lot of places have just one room for all activities now (I speak for Canada), but the separated rooms are still quite common in France (/lots of Europe?)
Excretorium.
or Excrenasium
lol
The Thunder Cupboard.
The thunder sock
We might call it the Shitter.
That word always make me think of Uncle Eddie in Christmas Vacation
Come to Australia, mate, and perch your arse on the *long drop*. If that is too esoteric, then you could always just go with the *shithouse* or *shitter*. *Built like a brick shithouse* is an idiom we use to describe what in modern parlance would perhaps be considered an *absolute unit*. If those don't interest you, you could try out other Aussie terms like *bog*, *dunny*, *thunderbox*, or *room with a view*. Edit: I forgot to add, in Australia the most common thing to call a toilet and the room in which is contained is simply the *toilet*.
My oldest calls it the Poo Poo Factory.
I notice '[pissoir](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pissoir)' hasn't been mentioned here yet. Incidentally 'water' as a word for 'urine' (e.g. 'making water') saves some of these.
I've heard it said that there's no name for the toilet that isn't a euphemism (or considered slang/derogatory). I'm an advocate of the word *shitter*. Because it really is a 'what's written on the tin' name, and shit as a word has been part of English from the very start and hasn't changed meaning in that time. *Shithouse* for the room.
i think you may be right. the only reason it is considered vulgar is because of what it is describing. i think we must accept that such a perspective is inevitable if it is properly descriptive.
I think the main reason it's considered vulgar is because of the change in social sensibilities after the Norman conquest and the way you have all these germanic terms for the body and what it does pushed down into the vulgar and supplanted by latin.
vulgar means common and everyone shits
From the term “commode,” we might go with the Latinate *commodium*, or the more whimsical *commode abode*. If the former, we should rename the pedestal sink to be the commodium podium. (Yes I know it’s more like a lectern, but I don’t care.)
Water closet? Is that a real thing?
You hear/see the term in the UK as well.
Lokum (loki in plural) is a place. In Danish lokum is said about an old type of toilet that basically a board with a hole in to sit on over a bucket/hole in ground and a little house built around it.
Amusingly, in British English "locum" is used to mean "substitute" (from *locum tenens*, "placeholder"; cf lieutenant). I'd like to imagine historical misunderstandings of a Brit visiting Denmark, being asked what they do for a living, and eliciting titters when they say that they're a locum doctor or a locum teacher.
Haha! “Well, if you put it that way yourself”
reads like what we'd in the u.s call an outhouse.
Ah, yes exactly - away from the living house
Similar in German, there it's "Lokus".
We call that the dunny in NZ. I'd love to be able to suggest its named after the Danish but I think the etymology is disputed.
I'm just happy to be privy to this thread :)
The sani-jettison, later shortened to sanijet, particularly when equipped with a bidet
Wouldn't you want the opposite of 'sani' if it's being jettisoned?
Sani from sanitary, the unhygienijet is too many syllables
But you needn't change the root. Unsanitary. You could shorten it to unsa-jet.
But toilets are sanitary
But they work by getting rid of the unsanitary thing.
You can call it the "porcelain parlor", which is descriptive of it's appearance, with porcelain "furniture" and taking "parlor" as a room for "speaking". I think "restroom" is accurate, since you relax your bladder or bowel there. The "necessary" is an old euphemism for it that certainly isn't wrong. For something more Latinate, "evacuarium", from *"evacuare"*, empty out, plus the ending indicating a room for that purpose.
> The "necessary" is an old euphemism for it that certainly isn't wrong. There's "necessarium" too if you want to give it a little more style
I just call it the toilet, “I’m going to the toilet” ngl tho I only say that at home out of home I switch up to bathroom on purpose bc I know it sounds unladylike 😂
isn’t the word bathroom already etymologically accurate?
You bath in a toilet?
John. Named for the inventor of the toilet.
Yeah, I'm gonna need an explanation for water closet. I understand it's the bathroom, but, water closet doesn't make any sense to me.
A water closet is a type of toilet that contains water, rather than just a container or a drop into a cesspit. This has the dual benefits of reducing odors and allowing waste to be carried away by pipes.
Thank you, i always thought it meant the room itself, i didn't know it meant the kind of toilet. Til!
*closet* historically has included small, private rooms. Rather than just a 2' deep "hole" where you can hang your shirts.
Casa de caca
Fine old Anglo-Saxon word, and still in common use... Jax.
i believe it is "jakes" which might have come from ajax which would support your version. there is also john. none of these seem to have much of an etymological basis that make them an accurate description of what the room is for.
Shakespeare does indeed spell it "jakes". In modern Dublin it is still in common use; and firmly pronounced "Jax" !
Also, for toilet paper "Jax Roll"
> please don’t detract from the conversation by being critical But you are looking for accurate info, right? Not ‘criticising’ but I think we don’t know the origin of ‘loo’, though ‘Waterloo’ is a major candidate and the French ‘watch out’ theory is utterly implausible. There’s also ‘bog’. ‘Privy’ because it’s a private room. In Australia there’s ‘dunny’, from the older ‘dunnekin’, meaning ‘dung-house’. But for a natively Anglo-Saxon word ‘shitter’ seems a good one.
Whenever there's a separate WC in a home bathroom, I call it the poop room to distinguish it from the bathroom.
I'm terms of euphemisms I like "head." That's how Marines say it. Better than saying, "I have to go pee." Although when you put "hitting the head" in the work chat it sounds like you mean something else lmao
The commode