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Is English your mother tongue? In South America, people use WC, Patent (because it was written on the loo), or just Water (in Uruguay, at least) a lot. So it w

Is English your mother tongue? In South America, people use WC, Patent (because it was written on the loo), or just Water (in Uruguay, at least) a lot. So it would be funny if (at least WC) was not as known in the English-speaking world. Patente (used in Brazil) is obviously just derived from the Patent label.

merraksh 9y ago
Italians use "water" (spelled váter") or WC (spelled "vee-chee"), rarely "tazza" or the less elegant "cesso".
- forinti 9y ago
  In Brazil, WC is pronounced "ve-ce". And "water" in Uruguay is "guater".
- marktangotango 9y ago
  In Germany, Crapper manufactured toilet bowls are still common.
sedatk 9y ago
WC is extremely common in Turkey too.
bonniemuffin 9y ago
I think it would be pretty easy to go through life in the US without ever hearing a toilet called a WC; I'm familiar with the abbreviation but I'm not even sure how, because I can't remember ever hearing or reading it.
- jessaustin 9y ago
  I've seen the abbreviation used on building plans in USA, in the past ten years. It did seem out of place, but all architects have some screwy habit that makes their plans more difficult to read. According to my grandfather, when he was growing up poor in southern Illinois in the 1930s, "toilet" was a crude word and people said "W.C." to be polite. Outhouses were more common than toilets, to the extent that old-timers then thought it was disgusting to defecate in the same building where one slept. Perhaps "water closet" seemed an appropriately exotic term.
badocr 9y ago
Never heard of a loo being called "Patente" in Brazil. Guessing it is a very specific regional thing? Also, "WC" as synonim for a bathroom as read in signs is not as common as once was. Word is "Sanitário" pretty much everywhere now.
- forinti 9y ago
  Apparently, this word started in Londrina, as they had toilets imported from England that had PATENTED written on them. But it is used in all the southern states at least.
graeme 9y ago
It's faded out of use. My grandmother even had a joke about someone asking about a WC and getting a description of the local wesleyan chapel. Here's a version, but I don't think my grandmother's relied on foreign language as a device: http://www.brinkmanonline.com/humor/church/wc.html http://www.brinkmanonline.com/humor/church/wc.html
mattnewton 9y ago
Interesting, I’m from the US and I’ve never heard WC (or seen it in a toilet come to think of it)

merraksh 9y ago

Italians use "water" (spelled váter") or WC (spelled "vee-chee"), rarely "tazza" or the less elegant "cesso".

forinti 9y ago
In Brazil, WC is pronounced "ve-ce". And "water" in Uruguay is "guater".
marktangotango 9y ago
In Germany, Crapper manufactured toilet bowls are still common.

sedatk 9y ago

WC is extremely common in Turkey too.

bonniemuffin 9y ago

I think it would be pretty easy to go through life in the US without ever hearing a toilet called a WC; I'm familiar with the abbreviation but I'm not even sure how, because I can't remember ever hearing or reading it.

jessaustin 9y ago
I've seen the abbreviation used on building plans in USA, in the past ten years. It did seem out of place, but all architects have some screwy habit that makes their plans more difficult to read. According to my grandfather, when he was growing up poor in southern Illinois in the 1930s, "toilet" was a crude word and people said "W.C." to be polite. Outhouses were more common than toilets, to the extent that old-timers then thought it was disgusting to defecate in the same building where one slept. Perhaps "water closet" seemed an appropriately exotic term.

badocr 9y ago

Never heard of a loo being called "Patente" in Brazil. Guessing it is a very specific regional thing? Also, "WC" as synonim for a bathroom as read in signs is not as common as once was. Word is "Sanitário" pretty much everywhere now.

forinti 9y ago
Apparently, this word started in Londrina, as they had toilets imported from England that had PATENTED written on them. But it is used in all the southern states at least.

graeme 9y ago

It's faded out of use. My grandmother even had a joke about someone asking about a WC and getting a description of the local wesleyan chapel. Here's a version, but I don't think my grandmother's relied on foreign language as a device: http://www.brinkmanonline.com/humor/church/wc.html http://www.brinkmanonline.com/humor/church/wc.html

mattnewton 9y ago

Interesting, I’m from the US and I’ve never heard WC (or seen it in a toilet come to think of it)