4 ms·
Strictly speaking it is less ambiguous. I understood it to be a shortened corruption of lavatory and it's worth noting that the English definition of that give
by benj111 7y ago
Strictly speaking it is less ambiguous.
I understood it to be a shortened corruption of lavatory and it's worth noting that the English definition of that gives toilet, and the American definition gives the sink in the toilet, which kind of reinforces my point.
- bloak 7y agoI think we should all just say "toilet". Of course that was a euphemism originally (indirectly from French "toile"), but I think it's the closest we have to a neutral term at the moment. Unless we go for "excrementarium"
- denton-scratch 7y agoI took "loo" to be from "gardy loo", which in turn is a corruption from the French "gardez l'eau", meaning "watch out down there, I'm tipping this bucket out of the window". So "loo" would be from "l'eau", meaning "water"; so possibly "water closet", or WC, a.k.a. crapper.
- benj111 7y agoMy opinion wasn't particularly informed so ill happily defer. The only other explanation I heard was that it was a contraction of Waterloo.