Trivia 1-13-20

[JOHN42768]

Water Closet, Lavatory with many others such as toilet, rest room, crapper, head, wash room

 

[WJC]

The ubiquitous British "WC" of today owes its nickname to a phrase describing a convenient little room that was a mid-19th century alternative to the outdoor privy. Two versions of the room, with slightly different names, were in use in the US. What was the "WC's" full name, and what was the name for the other common version of this room?

credit: @LoyaltyOfDogs

"WC" is an abbreviation of 'Water Closet'.
The number of mid-eighteenth century American alternative terms is far greater than two, so it is difficult- if not impossible- to give just one answer.
Among those terms were 'Plunger Closet', 'Washdown Closet', 'Siphonic Closet', 'Earth Closet', 'Toilet Closet', 'Toilet Room', 'Bathroom', 'Washroom', 'Ajax' or 'Jakes', 'John', 'Cuzjohn', 'Privy', 'Biffy', 'Head', 'Crapper", 'Can', 'Necessary', 'Dunny', 'Lavatory'.
'Ladies' Room', 'Ladies' Restroom', 'Ladies' Cloakroom', 'Men's' Room', 'Men's' Restroom', 'Men's Cloakroom', though pre-Civil War American terms, were not used as synonyms for WC until about the early 20th-century.
Lee Perry, The Preservationist's Guide to Technological Change and the American Home 1600-1900. (New York: Writer's Showcase, 2000), pp. 78-79.
Angela Tung, "A Brief History of Lavatory Language", The Week, September 30, 2015. https://theweek.com/articles/580173/brief-history-lavatory-language

 

[hoosier]

I'm probably going to get myself in trouble, but I will try to answer this one without resorting to an Internet search.

"WC" stands for Water Closet. The other common name was "Necessary Room."

 

[treebie2000]

Water Closet and loo?

 

[Mrs. V]

Water closet. It's the bathroom. Or Bathing room. Usually adjacent to the kitchen for the hot water!

Edit - You get credit for a correct response, Mrs. V.

Welcome to the trivia game. Hope you'll come back and play again.

hoosier

 

[sarladaise]

1. WC = Water Closet
2. Earth Closet

Slang Expressions During The Civil War | Civil War Potpourri

This is not necessarily slang but amusing anyway; from civil war time and after. Major Ransom once described a man that he arrested in 1863 Missouri as, "a scoundrel of the deepest dye." Also, "a double dyed conspirator and villain." After the war he once described the more pointed toed...

civilwartalk.com

 

[Kurt G]

WC was the water closet .
The other version would be the dry closet .

 

[warbird43]

In American English, the WC is known as a bathroom (regardless of whether or not a tub or shower is present); the common name version is "toilet". It has other names depending on the circumstances; lavatory (on planes), head (on ships) and latrines (military). Another name that was (is) common (at least among my generatiion) was the last name of the man who developed the modern flush toilet: an English inventor/plumber by the name of Thomas Crapper.

Edit - The first part of the question asked for the full name of the room commonly abbreviated as WC, so a correct response would have to include a name that corresponded to those initials.

hoosier

 

[Mike Serpa]

Wash-down closet. Garderobe, necessary room, etc.

 

[lelliott19]

Water closet
Pan closet https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/47e7/f682296c02c731552c156f4f829e4747d23e.pdf

 

[Soldier Boy]

The "WC's" full name is water closet and the name for the other common version of this room is pail closet.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pail_closet&oldid=926357638

 

[Michigander]

For some reason I am totally stumped on this question. I feel like the first part is pretty straight forward, but the second part (what was the name for the other common version of this room?) I feel there are many different names that you could call this room. It could differ depending on what region you were in. I feel like I have 3 guesses at what the correct answer could be but can't pin down a specific source what the room was actually called. I have exhausted my research capabilities about toilets.

1. Water Closet = WC (I also found a source that says originally they were called "wash-down" closets)
2. Wash Room - Source (I would go with this one because it is the only true source that pinpoints the use of this word during the mid 19th Century. People would say they were going to the wash room to be polite and not give away what their true intentions were.)

Special
Bathroom - first appeared in American English around 1780 but didn't become that prevalent until the end of the 19th century. As the idea of sanitation developed, people started to turn unused or small bedrooms into bathrooms. While they sometimes left the water closets under the stairs. Source
Restroom - first appeared in 1856 and was associated with rest and relaxation. In Victorian houses they often disguised the toilet because it was considered unsavory to discuss your "BMs". But restroom was often associated with a public building so I feel as if it doesn't fit the criteria of the question. Source

Some say there is an "Earth Closet" but that looks like a type of toilet not a room. I did learn that the first patent for a Plunger Closet was in 1857 by Campbell and Henry but was considered unsanitary. But also in that year the first toilet paper was patented too! Hooray! I'll these little tidbits as consolation prizes if I get this question wrong.

 

[Michigander]

In my previous post I didn't mean to say Special. What I meant to say:

Honorable Mentions:
Bathroom.....
Restroom.....

Good luck to everyone on this question.

 

[ami]

Answer: The water closet and the earth closet

Source: "The Expansion of Everyday Life" by Daniel Sutherland

@hoosier has the final say on scoring.

Edit - It's clear that there were far more than two names for the room in question. If Mr. Sutherland thought that "earth closet" was the only alternate name in use during the 19th century, I'd have to disagree with him.

The question was in two parts. The first part specifically asked for players to give the full name corresponding to "WC." The second part asked for an alternative name.

Therefore, I am going to give credit for all responses, as long as they included at least two names and as long as one of those two names had the initials "WC."

hoosier