We use many names for the place where we perform our daily business. Snobs prefer the old-fashioned ‘lavatory’, and Americans the ‘restroom’ – suggesting a place where one might lie down and doze.
Despite its supposed vulgarity, ‘toilet’ is the word that has entered international parlance and carries the flag in the formal literature. Derived from the French ‘toilette’, it links the concepts of sanitation and grooming. Cultural ideas of cleanliness and personal convenience have driven toilet evolution more powerfully than public health.
