| A toilet is a plumbing fixture primarily intended for the disposal of bodily wastes. In addition to this primary purpose, it is frequently used to dispose of bodily gas, menses, semen and vomit. The word toilet can be used to refer to the fixture itself or the room containing it; the latter predominates mainly in British and Commonwealth usage.
The word toilet came to be used in English along with other French fashions (first noted 1681), and originally referred to the whole complex of operations of hairdressing and body care that centered on a dressing table covered to the floor with cloth (toile) and lace, on which stood a dressing glass, which might also be draped in lace: the ensemble was a toilette. Alexander Pope in The Rape of the Lock (1717) described the intricacies of a lady's preparation:
‘And now, unveil'd, the toilet stands display'd
Each silver vase in mystic order laid.’
Through the 18th century, everywhere in the English-speaking world, a toilet remained a lady's draped dressing-table. The word was adapted as a genteel euphemism for water-closet, perhaps following the French usage cabinet de toilette, much as powder-room may be coyly used today, and this has been linked to the introduction of public toilets, for example on railway trains, which required a plaque on the door. The original usage has became indelicate and largely replaced by dressing-table.
Vestiges of the original meaning continute to be reflected in terms such as toiletries and eau de toilette. This seemingly contradictory terminology has served as the basis for various parodies ranging from Jeff Foxworthy's routine ("If you think that "toilet water" is in fact toilet water, you just might be a redneck!") to Cowsmopolitan magazine ("If it doesn't say 'eau de toilette' on the label, it most likely doesn't come from the famed region of Eau de Toilette en France and might not even come from toilets at all.")
The word toilet itself may be considered an impolite word in the United States, whilst elsewhere the word is used without any embarrassment. When referring to the room or the actual piece of equipment, the word toilet is often substituted with other euphemisms (and dysphemisms) such as:
bathroom
bog
can
cloakroom
comfort room
commode
convenience
crapper
dump tank
dunny
facility or facilities
fountain
gentlemen's
gentlemen's club
gents
guest room (which also means "guest bedroom")
the head or heads (originally from naval usage)
khazi
jardine
john
ladies’
ladies’/ men’s room
ladies’/ men’s lounge
lavatory
little boys'/girls' room
long drop
library
loo
men’s
necessary
outhouse
place of easement
pot
powder room
privy
reading room
restroom
smallest room
stables
throne
thunder box
washroom
water chamber
and water closet (or WC)
The origin of the (chiefly British) term loo is unknown, but a popular theory is that it derives from “Gardy loo!”, a corruption of the French phrase gardez l'eau loosely translated as “watch out for the water!” The phrase served as a warning to passers-by when chamber pots and other waste receptacles were emptied from a window onto the street, as was common practice before cities had sewer systems.
As old euphemisms have become accepted, they have been progressively replaced by newer ones, an example of the carpenter at work.
There are many different types of toilets around the world. There are also many different ways to clean yourself after you are finished using the toilet. A lot depends on national mores and local resources. The most common choice in the Western world is toilet paper, sometimes used in conjunction with the bidet; see toilet paper for a discussion of the many alternatives used through history and in different cultures.
Some toilet areas are specially adapted for people with disabilities. These are wide enough to allow the entry by a person in a wheelchair and often feature hand-holds bolted to the wall, enabling the person to maneuver onto the toilet if necessary.
The most common type of toilet in the West is the flush toilet, although the squat toilet is still somewhat common in public restrooms in southern and eastern Europe (including parts of France, Greece, Italy, and the Balkans) as well as East Asia (China and Japan) and other places. However, there are many different types of toilets:
Squat toilet
Chemical toilet
Toilet with built-in bidet
Urinal
Wall-hung urinal
Floor-length urinal
Gutter type urinal
Dry toilet
Pit toilet: very commonly in camping grounds in the United States. Also known as an outhouse in the U.S.
Composting toilet: Very commonly found in camping grounds in Europe, and large climbing parks. Also found in some modern ecologically designed buildings.
Urine-diverting, dry composting: a source-seperation toilet that keeps urine and faeces seperate and simplifies the composting process. Can also be called an ecosan (from ecological sanitation) toilet, and is a viable alternative to flush sanitation in urban areas [1].
Head: a toilet on a boat, which often has a pump to bring cleaning sea water in and move waste outside the hull
In the home, a toilet may or may not be in the same room as a shower, bathtub, and/or wash basin.
Toilets appeared early in history. In the year 2500 BCE, the people of Harappa in India had water borne toilets in each house that were linked with drains covered with burnt clay bricks. There were also toilets in ancient Egypt and China. In Roman civilization, toilets were sometimes part of public bath houses where men and women were together in mixed company.
The invention of the flush toilet is credited to Sir John Harington in 1596, though it took improvements in the Victorian era (likely spearheaded by Alexander Cummings rather than Thomas Crapper as is commonly stated) for flushing toilets to become widely used. Before and during this transitional period (which extended well into the 20th century in some regions), many people used outdoor outhouses instead, particularly in rural areas.
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