And now to bathrooms.....

[Geoff Bannister]

Carols:
> BTW, I'd like to compare the British and American editions of HP at
> some point with regard to the word "bathroom." I'm pretty sure that
> Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, in contrast to the Prefects' bathroom, is
> what the British call a "loo" or a "toilet" and Americans call a
> "restroom," with no bathtubs or showers in it. We call the thing that
> Montague was stuck in a toilet. Or, at least, I think that's what he
> was stuck in. Same thing with the object that Harry and Dudley were
> referring to when they talked about flushing people's heads.
> 
> Carol, assuming that Montague's head was sticking out the toilet as
> even a wizard would have drowned otherwise

Geoff:
This is one thing that always amuses me about US English.

In the UK, the bathroom is precisely that. It contains a bath (and 
probably a shower) and most modern bathrooms will have a toilet 
as well.

But a Brit with a need to "spend a penny" will ask for  "the toilet" or 
"the loo" or sometimes jokingly "the smallest room".

Some years ago, "loo" was considered rather low class and I can 
recall  being quite surprised to hear my mother-in-law-to-be 
use the word on one occasion. Nowadays, it's frequently used more 
commonly than "the toilet".