Off topic: WC/Toilets Thread poster: Heinrich Pesch
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Heinrich Pesch 
Finland
Local time: 10:57
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
On Finnish airports I see this sign: WC - Toilets.
I always assumed that WC is English, so why translate WC into English? Do you think WC alone is internationally understood?
| | | | Philip Lees
Greece
Local time: 10:57
Member (2008)
Greek to English
I was taught it means "water closet" - a euphemism if ever there was one. It's one of those abbreviations, like DNA and HIV, that are much better known than the full phrase and are used in multiple languages.
If I saw a sign saying "WC - Toilets" on a Finnish airport I would think that "Toilets" must be the Finnish word for restrooms.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:57
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Philip Lees wrote:
I was taught it means "water closet" - a euphemism if ever there was one. It's one of those abbreviations, like DNA and HIV, that are much better known than the full phrase and are used in multiple languages.
If I saw a sign saying "WC - Toilets" on a Finnish airport I would think that "Toilets" must be the Finnish word for restrooms.
"Restroom" is an American euphemism for toilet. Nobody goes in there to rest.. In the same way, "sleeping with" someone is an American euphemism for "having sex". No sleeping is usually involved, and often no bed either.
However WC is fine, and is universally understood in all languages. There's no need to add "toilet". Personally I prefer "lavatory". One British English euphemism is "Washroom".
I hate euphemisms. So Victorian and neurotic.
Now please excuse me while I go to wash my hands.
[Edited at 2019-03-24 10:14 GMT]
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 09:57
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Heinrich Pesch wrote:
Do you think WC alone is internationally understood?
South Africa: "WC" is not commonly used (neither in speech, nor in writing). It's a toilet. If you don't want to say the T-word, then "bathroom" will get you to the appropriate location. "rest room" is a term used mostly at filling stations. I suspect that if you ask "where is the WC", there is a good chance you'll get a blank stare.
In the Netherlands where I currently live, "wc" is an actual word (not an abbreviation), pronounced "vay-say".
If you google for images of public toilets in, say, London, you'll see most of them are labelled only "toilet", and "WC" is rarely used.
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DZiW
Ukraine
English to Russian
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While I know the WC meaning and can specify it in the context, it's a little sad they treat us all like slow-thinkers children, using toilet signs/pictures.
On the other hand, there're also may be handicapped and illiterate foreigners...
| | | | Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 03:57
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
“WC” is not generally used or understood, and “toilet” - while of course widely understood - is not typically used, either on signage or in polite speech requesting or indicating location.
The standard term is, as Tom points out, “restroom,” with silhouettes of men and women accompanying the words “men”/“gentlemen” and “ladies”/“”women” respectively on door signs.
And if the bathroom is unisex, then one might see “Restroom” on the door... See more “WC” is not generally used or understood, and “toilet” - while of course widely understood - is not typically used, either on signage or in polite speech requesting or indicating location.
The standard term is, as Tom points out, “restroom,” with silhouettes of men and women accompanying the words “men”/“gentlemen” and “ladies”/“”women” respectively on door signs.
And if the bathroom is unisex, then one might see “Restroom” on the door, accompanied by the silhouettes of both sexes. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:57
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Robert Forstag wrote:
“WC” is not generally used or understood, and “toilet” - while of course widely understood - is not typically used, either on signage or in polite speech requesting or indicating location.
In the US, maybe. There's nothing wrong with saying "toilet" here in the UK.
The standard term is, as Tom points out, “restroom,”
Only in the US
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RobinB
United States
Local time: 02:57
German to English
| Different Englishes | Mar 24 |
Hi Heinrich,
On Finnish airports I see this sign: WC - Toilets.
I always assumed that WC is English, so why translate WC into English? Do you think WC alone is internationally understood?
You're right that WC isn't always internationally understood, though I think most American international airline passengers today will understand what "toilets" are - not least because they also have to understand what a "lavatory" is in a plane. Now that's a word that fell out of common usage in the English-speaking world decades ago!
Back in 2006 when Germany hosted the World Cup, there was a large sign at Frankfurt Airport that generated a lot of laughter. In German,"Weltmeisterschaft" (World Cup) is mainly abbreviated to "WM", so presumably the geniuses at the German marketing agency contracted by Frankfurt Airport thought they could do the same in English. Coupled with the common German habit of saying "welcome at" in English (rather than "to"), this produced a large-format banner that read something like "Frankfurt Airport welcomes you at the WC".
Though maybe we shouldn't be too surprised. After all this is a country where a leading discount supermarket chain calls its brand of toilet paper/bathroom tissue (or whatever you want to call it, e.g. loopaper) "Happy End". And the same chain has a brand of breakfast cereal called "Little Man Golden Balls". Disclaimer: I lived there for >30 years.
OK, back to work on a series of Brexit-related legislative acts for a European financial regulator. No cloud without a silver lining, I guess.
Robin
| | | | Heinrich Pesch
Finland
Local time: 10:57
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
RobinB wrote:
Back in 2006 when Germany hosted the World Cup, there was a large sign at Frankfurt Airport that generated a lot of laughter. In German,"Weltmeisterschaft" (World Cup) is mainly abbreviated to "WM", so presumably the geniuses at the German marketing agency contracted by Frankfurt Airport thought they could do the same in English. Coupled with the common German habit of saying "welcome at" in English (rather than "to"), this produced a large-format banner that read something like "Frankfurt Airport welcomes you at the WC".
Robin
When I google for 'Welcome at the WC' I get a lot of links to the World Cup 2018 in Russia. So perhaps we should abandon the WC altogether, as it seems to be football related (soccer related). Why just can't we say Men's room and Ladies' room? Well, I know that leaves out the third sex.
| | | | Tina Vonhof
Canada
Local time: 01:57
Member (2006)
Dutch to English
+ ...
Robert Forstag wrote:
“WC” is not generally used or understood, and “toilet” - while of course widely understood - is not typically used, either on signage or in polite speech requesting or indicating location.
The standard term is, as Tom points out, “restroom,” with silhouettes of men and women accompanying the words “men”/“gentlemen” and “ladies”/“”women” respectively on door signs.
And if the bathroom is unisex, then one might see “Restroom” on the door, accompanied by the silhouettes of both sexes.
'Restroom' is used in Canada as well but 'washroom' is more common, and, after all, you do wash your hands there. In many places there are bilingual signs: 'washrooms/toilettes' and there are even special signs in some (ice) hockey arenas: a man facing left and a woman facing right, both on skates with a hockey stick in the middle.
| | | | Chris S
United Kingdom
Swedish to English
+ ...
Tom in London wrote:
I hate euphemisms
Tom in London wrote:
WC is fine
Tom in London wrote:
Personally I prefer "lavatory"
Tom in London wrote:
There's nothing wrong with saying "toilet"
There's nothing like being principled, lol.
Tbh the only non-euphemisms I can think of are crapper and urinal. Even bog, presumably, is no good.
(PS Washroom = British?!)
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| Typical British..... | Mar 25 |
Tom in London wrote:
Robert Forstag wrote:
“WC” is not generally used or understood, and “toilet” - while of course widely understood - is not typically used, either on signage or in polite speech requesting or indicating location.
In the US, maybe. There's nothing wrong with saying "toilet" here in the UK.
The standard term is, as Tom points out, “restroom,”
Only in the US
Loo, at least according my dictionary.
| | | | Juan Jacob
Mexico
Local time: 02:57
French to Spanish
+ ...
in Mexico, everybody knows what it is, but nobody knows what it means.
Sometimes, baños. And that's correct.
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