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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: What word do you use for WC?
Sub Question from Junglelife's WC post
Im a connoisseur of toilet humor so it is only fitting that I broach the subject
In Australia Dunny is a common one however there are a lot more
i always say Xi Shou Jian which means Bathroom in Chinese............
The crapper, shithouse, royal throne, reading room, war room, porcelain goddess, toilet, head, wakka wakka wimbo, oval office and the "for Gods sake, remember to flush" room (for my 4 year olds.)
mArtiAn:
You missed one: the John. In fact my local watering hole's an Xpat only dive, so we call it the.........
Hehe, just messin' with ye.
xi shou jian,wei sheng jian,ce suo,these are the top three used by Chinese.Also,youngsters use WC or mao ce or mao fang sometimes for fun.
For whoever needs to know:
- WC is mostly unheard of by North American English speakers. Water Closet. A few who are well traveled of familiar with British television may know what you mean. Most won't.
But then it gets more interesting as Brits may be baffled by 'bathroom' or 'restroom' (two popular N.A. names for the room.. whether it has a bath tub or not). But Brits may refer to the room itself as 'The Toilet'.
But North Americans tend to think of 'the toilet' as only the chair itself. The 'toilet' is 'in the bathroom'.
I notice a lot of people here say 'The Can'. i still hear 'the john' sometimes. It seems a bit older expression. 'hes on the john' heh.
I just overheard 'The Head' recently. Someone told me that a toilet on a boat is properly called ' the head' ?
btw.. when I was touring old castles in England I was surprised to find out some very very old ones (well back to the middle-ages) really did have 'water closets'. It really did look like a closet (it was) and a ledge with a hole in it. As near as I can figure.. someone on a top floor would have needed to pour water down a drain and... well actually I wonder where it all went?? They never explained that part lol
lokethebloke:
Did you notice any wonderful green vegetation outside the castle walls, directly beneath the hole in the wall?
The terms I use, and have heard others use, are: Bath room, rest room, lavatory, ladies'/mens' room, little girls'/boys' room, can, pot, john, crapper and throne. 'Loo' is used with certain friends, when we're being funny.
I've also been heard to say, "I need to talk to a man about a horse" when excusing myself to use the facilities, but I'm not sure if that counts...
Some less polite terms used in UK at least.
Going to strain the greens (going to urinate)
Going to shake hands with the unemployed. (urinate)
Going to take the weight (or wait) off my mind. (defecate)
Going to produce an officer. (defecate) (you can easily insert any group of people instead of officer though.)
For the room itself, crapper, shithouse, dad's office, the kebab house.
I use WC. I can say this to the most English challenged person in China and they will always know what it means...and often there are signs in Chinese that also have the letters WC to point the way. I believe this term comes from Hong Kong (at least as far as it's use in China).
WC.sometimes weishengjian.Chinese will know what i say
Due to the amount of Crap posted lately, I thought I would add this little number
Check out www.shanejacobson.com.au/kennys-world
A little gift from Australia
I use toilet or bathroom unless I am at school and need to know where one is. Then I use W/C because they all seem to understand Waste Collection.