Washroom, restroom and bathroom

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I saw this on an internet forum.

To me, a toilet is the specific device, not the room. But I guess it is weird that we call it a washroom or bathroom if there's no bath in the room. It's just a word, though, not meant to be taken literally.

Us Brits use "toilet".
I don't know who thought up the American English language but it doesn't make sense to me.

Out and about I might call it bathroom, but at home I only say bathroom about our actual bath room.

Washroom isn't incorrect, most WC's come with a sink tap for washing hands afterwards. (Actually, my grandparents' didn't, you had to go to the bathroom afterwards, very unhygienic).

I'm used to WC for the room.


I have personally no problem with being indirect about these things. Same as I usually say 'is gone' or 'lost' rather than 'died'.

Restroom makes no sense.

To me, it sounds strange to refer to the room as a whole as the "toilet". The toilet is the device inside to me. Referring to the room as the "toilet" is as strange to me as referring to the kitchen as the "stove" or the "toaster".

Why are these rooms inaccurately named? They were not named by Autistics.

In Polish we have toaleta (="a room with a toilet"), łazienka(="a room with little 'baths'" but you can also say so for "a room with a toilet" because... whatever), WC (same as in English I quess), kibel (= offensive "a room with a toilet" or casual name for "toilet") and muszla klozetowa (=normal name for "toilet"). Oh, and also wychodek (= "a toilet room outside the house", not like you can see a lot of those nowadays) and toitoi (= modern, portable wychodek ).

You can probably compare "kibel" with English "toilet" and "łazienka" with English "bathroom". We don't seem to have a "restroom" in my language, nor a "washroom". But "toaleta" is a normal word in Polish. You can ask for a "łazienka" but noone is offended if you ask for a "toaleta", especially if you know the house probably has both and their "łazienka" doesn't have a toilet (some places are like that - they have a room with just a bath and a room with a toilet next to it so others can use the toilet while someone is bathing).

Oh, we seem to have something somehow similliar to "restroom" although its not commonly used expression because it's too long. "Tam gdzie król chodzi piechotą" ("There where a king walks by his own feet"). I bet there was a lot of places where kings were walking by themselves, not just the restroom.

And restroom actually make some sense - you can also go there when you are tired of social interaction and need some rest. Perhaps it was actually invented by autistics? You know. A long time ago people lived as big families in small houses so a toilet was probably the only place they had some time for themselves.
It's also pretty common people read or contemplate while pooping which is also somehow rest related.

If we're going to be pedantic about it, the word "toilet" didn't originally mean somewhere to relieve yourself, either. It just meant washing/grooming yourself, or the room where you did that (and before that, it meant a piece of cloth like a small towel.) That's why posh perfume/aftershave is sometime called "eau de toilette" (literally "toilet water" in French.)

WC just refers to the tank of water used for flushing ("water closet"); "lavatory" derives from the Latin for "place where you wash" ("loo" comes from the same word). The only common one I can think of which isn't a euphemism of some sort is "urinal".

It's just one of those weird things about our culture - everyone craps and pees, but we're all supposed to pretend that we don't for some reason! (I'll stick with my favourite British slang; "bog")

I'm used to it being referred to the bathroom because that's the room where the bath is.

Wow, just wow. I whoever posted that rant on the internet is seriously overreacting to something very trivial. They must need to cut back on the caffeine, or something.

Where I live we either call it a bathroom or a washroom. A toilet is the actual thing you sit on when nature calls. As a kid I didn't always know an entire bathroom is called a toilet in the UK, and I read a British children's book at school where it said a character accidentally locked himself in the toilet, and I thought it was hilarious even when I learned what the author had meant.

According to my Bart Simpson's Guide to Life book, if you want to really annoy your teacher at school, ask if you can go to the tinkle-linkle-haha-room.

The majority of bathrooms in American houses have bathtubs in them. There are two common exceptions. 1. It's too small for a bathtub. In this case it will have a shower stall. 2. It's a "half bath". These are rooms with only a toilet and a sink for guests. I have heard that in the U.K. the toilet and bathtub are often in separate rooms. I've seen this once in the U.S. in an old Victorian house.

Restrooms are "bathrooms" at businesses or public places, and do not contain bathtubs. Alternate words are "ladies' room", "men's room", and a more antiquated and polite formnof ladies' room, "powder room" though that is primarily used by old ladies and people intending melodrama.

Where's Raleigh , I bet he calls it a Dunny

In Germany, they call it the toilet, too. The word restroom always sounded silly to me.