Toilet
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A toilet is a plumbing fixture and a disposal system primarily intended for the disposal of the bodily wastes urine, feces, vomit and menses. Several of these elements may be flushed in conjunction. Toilets additionally accept a paper product known as toilet paper.
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.
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History
Toilets appeared as early as the year 2500 BC. 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.
Etymology
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.’
Image:Kraków toilet sign.jpg 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 become indelicate and largely replaced by dressing-table.
Vestiges of the original meaning continue 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 Cosmopolitan 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. This substitution implies that toilet is a lower-class word even in their marketing: American Standard, the largest manufacturer, sells them as "toilets", yet the higher priced products of the Kohler Company, often installed in higher classes of homes, are sold in the catalog as "commodes" or "closets". Imported products from TOTO are however referred to as "toilets" even though they are also considered higher class. When referring to the room or the actual piece of equipment, the word toilet is often substituted with other euphemisms and dysphemisms. See toilet humor.
As old euphemisms have become accepted, they have been progressively replaced by newer ones, an example of the euphemism treadmill at work.
Khazi
Lexicographer Eric Partridge derives khazi, also spelt karzy, kharsie or carzey, from a low Cockney word carsey originating in the late 19th century and meaning a privvy. Carsey also referred to a den or brothel. It's presumably derived from the Italian casa for house.
Loo
The origin of the (chiefly British) term loo is unknown, but one theory is that it derives from 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 were emptied from a window onto the street.
A much more plausible theory comes from nautical terminology; loo being an old fashioned word for lee. Early ships were not fitted with toilets but the crew would urinate over the side of the vessel. However it was important to use the leeward side. Using the windward side would result in the urine blown back on board. Even on modern yachts, most (male) yachtsmen, whilst at sea, find it more convenient to go to the loo, than to use the heads.
Types of toilets
Image:French Squatter Toilet.jpg
There are many different types of toilets around the world. There are also many different ways to clean oneself after 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. In most of Asia the custom is to use water rather than paper, traditionally the left hand is used for this for which reason that hand is considered impolite or polluted in many eastern countries.
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:
Template:Col-begin Template:Col-break Main designs
- Flush toilet
- Squat toilet
- Urinal
- Wall-hung urinal
- Floor-length urinal
- Gutter type urinal
- Female urinal
Template:Col-break Specialty
- Toilet with built-in bidet
- Chemical toilet
- 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-separation toilet that keeps urine and feces separate 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].
- Incinerating toilet
- Head: a toilet on a boat, which often has a pump to bring cleaning sea water in and move waste outside the hull
Toilets in private residences
In the developed world almost all residences have at least one toilet.
In the home, a toilet may or may not be in the same room as a shower, bathtub, and/or wash basin. Recent suggestions in India would make the ownership of a toilet compulsory for all politicians. [2].
Some toilets are still outside. One type of toilet is the tippler toilet or 'long drop'. These are based around Lancashire, England. They are flushed from a scullery and water goes down a narrow channel or gutter and flushes the toilet, which is in an out-building.
Public toilets
Image:Portable-toilet-Netherlands.jpg
A public toilet may or may not cost money to use; for those that do, see pay toilet. Between the categories of outright free and outright pay toilets there is a grey area of toilets where a fee is expected, but not enforced.
Public facilities often have many toilets partitioned by stalls (US) or "cubicles" (UK), with the washing facilities in a separate area where other people of the same sex are present. The washing area may be common to both sexes. Facilities for men often also have separate urinals, either wall-mounted fixtures designed for a single user, or a constantly-draining basin or trough for collective use. Wall-mounted urinals are sometimes separated by small partitions or other obstructions for privacy, i.e., to keep the user's genitals hidden from public view.
Image:Sanisette.jpg Outdoor public toilets (in the street, around parks, etc.) are a form of street furniture. For mixed sex arrangements, there are cubicles varying from simple devices with little or no plumbing to more luxurious versions that automatically clean themselves after every use (for the latter, see Sanisette). Facilities without walls all around are typically for urination only, and for men only; although passers-by can see the urinating men from the back, they cannot see the genitals. These street urinals are known as "pissoirs" after the French term (see Urinal).
Some facilities are mobile and can thus be put in place where and when needed, e.g., for a weekend at an entertainment venue. Additionally, some can be sunk into the ground (and thereby made inoperable) for the periods that they are less needed. The idea behind this is that some people do not like the sight of a public toilet in the street, and they are more easily hidden than repeatedly moved. This type is typically installed in entertainment areas and made operational during weekend evenings and nights. Even people who are too shy to use it at daytime, tend to overcome that shyness after drinking some alcohol.
A Port-a-john is an outdoor public toilet with walls which can either be connected to the local sewage system or store the waste and be emptied from time to time. Many toilets can be cleaned on the spot, or at a central location in the case of a mobile toilet or urinal. In Europe public toilets are also set up for cities as a compensation for advertising permits. They are part of a street furniture contract between the out-of-home advertising company and the city council. The reason for this combination is the shortage in city budgets.
Gender and public toilets
Image:Ladies&gents.JPG Separation by sex is characteristic of public toilets to the extent that pictograms of a man or a woman are used to indicate where the respective toilets are. These pictograms are sometimes (e.g., in California) enclosed within standard geometric forms to reinforce this information, with a circle representing a women's toilet and a triangle representing a men's facility. Pictograms depicting men and women in traditional dress (men in pants, women in skirts) have been criticized for perpetuating gender stereotypes; however, there may be no practical alternatives.
Many European toilet doors used to be (and still sometimes are) only marked "WC" (Water Closet), which can cause confusion to non-Europeans. Similarly, in the Philippines the label "CR" (comfort room) is common, which is equally unintuitive to overseas visitors.
Sex-separated public toilets are a source of difficulty for some people. For example, people with children of the opposite sex must choose between bringing the child into a toilet not designated for the child's gender, or entering a toilet not designated for one's own. Men caring for babies often find that only the women's washroom has been fitted with a change table. Disabled persons who need help in the bathroom have an additional problem if their helper is the opposite sex. One suggestion is that toilets for handicapped people not be sex-separated.
Sex-separated public toilets are often difficult to negotiate for transgendered or androgynous people, who are often subject to embarrassment, harassment, or even assault or arrest by others offended by the presence of a person they interpret as being of the other gender (whether due to their outward presentation or their genital status). Transgendered people have been arrested for using not only bathrooms that correspond to their gender of identification, but also ones that correspond to the gender they were assigned at birth.
Many existing public toilets are gender-neutral. Additionally, some public places (such as facilities targeted to the transgendered or homosexual communities, and a few universities and offices) provide individual washrooms that are not gender-specified, specifically in order to respond to the concerns of gender-variant people; but this remains very rare and often controversial. [3] Various courts have ruled on whether transgendered people have the right to use the washroom of their gender of identification. [4]
A significant number of facilities have additional gender-neutral public toilets for a different reason — they are marked not for being for females or males, but as being accessible to persons with disabilities, and are adequately equipped to allow a person using a wheelchair and/or with mobility concerns to use them.
Another recent development in public toilets is the "family restroom". Family restrooms are unisex but unlike other unisex bathrooms that allow only one user at a time, the family restroom contains multiple stalls designed for maximum privacy and communal washing area for use by both genders. The family restroom is designed so that a parent with a young child of the opposite gender can bring the child into the restroom with them without the concerns associated with single-gender restrooms. Family restrooms have started appearing in newly-built sports stadiums, amusement parks, shopping malls, and major museums.
Toilets in private homes are almost never separated by sex. However, the size of a home or facility bears on the availability of options. Small establishments are limited by their space to the toilet options they can offer; it is more common to find a higher number of choices in a large facility. The same is true for homes; in more affluent households in the USA, where the homes are usually larger, bathrooms are also often more spacious than average, and more numerous. In such homes, bathrooms (especially master bathrooms) are increasingly being designed with a small adjoining room exclusively for the toilet, as well as separate washing basins. This makes it easier for couples who share a bathroom to maintain their desired level of privacy and personal space. In Australia, it has long been the case that the toilet is in a separate room from the bathroom.
Toilets in public transport
Image:B747 toilet.jpg There are usually toilets in airliners, regional rail trains, and often in long-distance buses and ferries, but not in metros, school buses, trams, and other buses. In trains they may have a reservoir, or the contents may simply fall on the tracks, hence the notice which appears in many train toilets: "Please do not flush while the train is standing at a station".
- See also: Passenger train human waste disposal
"High-tech" toilets
Advanced technology is being integrated into toilets with more functions, especially in Japan - see Japanese toilet. The biggest maker of these toilets is TOTO. Such toilets can cost from US$2,000 to $4,000. The features are operated by control pads (sometimes with bilingual labels), and even hand-held remote control devices. Some of these features are:
- Water jets, or "bottom washers" like a bidet, as an alternative to toilet paper
- The "Washlet," Toto's portable hand-held bottom washer
- Blow dryers, to dry the body after use of water jets
- Artificial flush sounds, to mask noises such as body functions
- Urine and stool analysis, for medical monitoring. Matsushita's "Smart Toilet" checks blood pressure, temperature, and blood sugar.
- Digital clock, to monitor time spent in the bathroom
- Automatic lid operation, to open and close the lid
- Heated seats
- Deodorizing fans
Culture
Disposal
The connection made between toilets and dirt, or distasteful items, has led to them being also used to dispose of wedding rings, letters or critical reviews with which one disagrees (cf. Goethe's example). In this case the use is partly (and in many cultures very strongly) symbolic, as in most human cultures the places used to dispose of feces and urine have some connotation related to dirtiness or rejection.
Graffiti
For thousands of years, public toilets have been associated with graffiti, often of a transgressive, gossipy, or lowbrow humorous nature (cf. toilet humour).
Furtive sexual relations
Similarly, toilets have long been associated with furtive sexual relations. These include assignations ("for a good time call..." messages, note-passing between stalls) as well as the acts themselves, for which dalliances toilets provide a convenient (though not necessarily sanitary or romantic) venue.
For many years gay men have used them for "cruising" (anonymous sexual contact). When used for such purposes, public toilets are often referred to as "Roman tea rooms", often just shortened to "T-rooms". The playwright Joe Orton made reference to this practice in his plays. Particularly associated with toilets is the use of glory holes for peeping, or anonymous fellatio. Another example, equally open to heterosexual participation, would be sex in airplane lavatories, which is reflected in the phrase "Mile High Club".
Social bonding
Additionally, toilets are important arenas of male as well as female social bonding. Boys may use the facilities to smoke, gamble, deal drugs, give one another "swirlies," or experiment with low-grade fireworks. Girls and women may share gossip and make-up advice. Often, children will sneak into the restroom designated to the opposite sex as an intentional act of boundary-transgression.
In many cultures, each gender has its own distinct "toilet etiquette." American women may invite one another to go to the toilet together, and once inside, chat with abandon. Men tend to be more reticent (perhaps out of nervousness at being perceived as gay), and may even experience pee shyness; yet they too may feel a certain camaraderie (though this is often more easily felt during outdoor, toilet-less urination).
Unusual uses
American President Lyndon Johnson would occasionally want to receive staff members while he sat on the toilet.
In the wake of the 2003 cartoon film Finding Nemo, a number of children sought to help their tropical fish "escape" captivity by means of the toilet. Many sewage treatment plants responded by announcing that live animals in the sewer are almost certainly killed by the treatment process.
Several movies include comic scenes involving eruptions of water and/or sewage while a character is sitting on the toilet. (e.g., Weird Science, Problem Child 2). See also: Toilet humour.
The "Great Equalizer"
Symbolically, the toilet — like death — is a great equalizer: even kings must bow, and queens curtsy, before this humble receptacle — this "gleaming white throne".
In Poland it is reflected by calling the toilet euphemistically as the place, "gdzie nawet król chodzi piechotą" (where even the king walks by himself). A similar saying was used in imperial Germany.
Single Use Toilets
Toilets that are only used to urinate in are called, "Urinariums". Toilets that are only used for bowel movements are called, "Crapitoriums".
Bibliography
- Temples of Convenience - And Chambers of Delight by Lucinda Lambton
- Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper by Adam Hart-Davis
Image:Bothie - Jerome, Arizona.jpg
See also
- Washroom architecture
- World Toilet Organization (organizers of the annual "World Toilet Summit")
- Bidet, Domestic water system
- Toilet paper
- Hygiene
- Cleaning bathrooms
- Excretion, Urination, Defecation
- Japanese toilet
- Jonathan Routh, for his publications The Good Loo Guide (to London), Guide Porcelaine to the Loos of Paris, and The Better John Guide (to New York).
- New Scientist magazine has had over the years articles on non-smelling, fly-less pit toilets.
External links
Template:Commons Template:Wikinews
- History of Public Toilets
- How toilets are made
- http://www.worldtoilet.org - official website of the World Toilet Organisation
- UK law against sex in a public toilet
- Toilets of the World - photo gallery and other resources.
- Wells and Toilets - A short history of wells and toilets, free book in pdf format (2005)
- The Bathroom Diaries Reviews of public restrooms.
- Australian National Public Toilet Map (and trip-planner) with over 14,000 listingscs:Záchod
de:Toilette fr:Toilette hu:Vécé nl:Toilet ja:便所 pl:Ubikacja sk:Toaleta (WC) sv:Toalett zh:廁所 es:Inodoro (sanitario) ru:Туалет