Here is an excerpt from a book, which may or may not interest you.

Mark Forsyth writes the very entertaining blog The Inky Fool.

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Originally posted by Proofreader:
Here is an excerpt from a book, which may or may not interest you.

Yes, that did or did not interest me.

I had never thought of the word, "lavatory" as meaning other than "washroom." This guy seems to think otherwise.

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Originally posted by Geoff:
I had never thought of the word, "lavatory" as meaning other than "washroom." This guy seems to think otherwise.

In UK use lavatory means the actual ceramic or plastic plumbed-in fitting or the room in which it's contained. I think Americans generally use toilet to refer to the former. Some of us also use toilet to refer to the room. We don't generally use washroom, preferring bathroom when referring to the containing room itself.

At the school where I went to the 2nd and 3rd grades the toilet, bathroom, whatever you want to call it, was called the lav, short for lavatory, though I thought the teacher said lab, short for laboratory. I never heard it called that before and I haven't heard it since. This was around '53 in a rural area of WA state. It's not rural any more.

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Some of us also use toilet to refer to the room.

We call it the outhouse.

It is interesting that there are so many words for bathroom, toilet, lavatory, loo, washroom, ladies' and mens' room, etc. Yes, arnie, Americans tend to think of the toilet as the porcelain bowl. Yet, I know that's not the case in other countries. Interestingly, however, at O'Hare Airport there are some signs for "Toilet" though others for "Women's or Men's Room."

I've also heard "water closet." Funny how we seem to HAVE to euphamize the excretorium.

Excretorium? You mean shithouse?

We forgot "restroom,"