Why Is The Bathroom Called The Loo
But it is generally.
Why is the bathroom called the loo. Privy is a very old word for what we d call the bathroom. In this situation the loo is both the room and the thing that you sit on. The reason why brits call toilets loos is one of the unsolved mysteries of etymology however this is not for lack of trying. Today i found out why the toilet is sometimes called a john.
There are a few references of the toilet being called cousin john as well as many references to it being called jake and other such generic names before harrington was born. That room is called the bathroom. There are a couple of theories about the origins of the british english loo which is from about 1922. In this situation the loo is the thing you sit on in the bathroom.
Why has no one questioned this before. Many people will tell you that it comes from the mediaeval habit of throwing the contents of chamberpots out of upper storey windows into the street and the accompanying cry of. Watch out for the water w. The term is thought to derive from sir john harrington or at the least to have been popularized due to harrington.
There are several theories about the origin of this informal british term for a toilet the first and most popular is that it derived from the cry of gardyloo from the french regardez l eau watch out for the water which was shouted by medieval servants as they emptied chamber pots out of upstairs windows into the street. I know what you re thinking. This is historically problematic since by the time the term loo. I think it s disgusting too and i was raised in britain a larger house might have a second toilet in its own room.
This room is commonly known as a bathroom in american english a loo in british english a washroom in canadian english and by many other names across the english. The word has been traced to rise into common usage around the 1920s and plenty of theories exist surrounding the loo origins. Gardez l eau loosely translated as. So there s a loo in.
While thomas crapper is commonly given credit for inventing the first flushing toilet in the late 1800s the first ever multi cubicle toilet is actually traced back to 1806 to an irish inventor by the name of jack power from thurles county tipperary. We probably get the word loo from this expression although some people think it comes from room 100 which is what european people used to call the bathroom.