The term "powder room"

[Anonymous]

Someone in another thread said this was a very "suburban" term. I don't get it. It dates back to Victorian times, and I've always referred to the half bath on any first floor as a powder room, both as a kid and as an adult. I wouldn't ask, "May I use your powder room?" (I'd say bathroom), but if my husband asked, "Have you seen XYZ?" I might say, "I think I saw it in the powder room." I suppose to distinguish it from the master bath, the kids' bath, or the guest bath.

Do you use this term? Why is it "suburban?"

[Anonymous]

I guess the poster said that because it sounds bourgeois. Kind of like when middle class people say "passed away" instead of "died." Call it what it is, don't try to cover up what really happens in that room with niceties. You're defecating, not powdering your face.

[Anonymous]

Who defecates in the first floor bathroom? Seriously, I don't do this at my own house and I would never take a dump in someone else's powder room. Gross.

[Anonymous]

So, we should call it a defecation room? THAT is your contention?

[Anonymous]

Okay, I have always called the powder room the powder room. I have no idea why anyone would think it is suburban, as stated in an earlier post, the term is from the Victorian Era. I have always wondered about the use of passed away and died...I thought it had to do with religion not class. Can anyone help?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who defecates in the first floor bathroom? Seriously, I don't do this at my own house and I would never take a dump in someone else's powder room. Gross.

Please. Could you get more uptight? A toilet's a toilet. When you gotta go, you gotta go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, we should call it a defecation room? THAT is your contention?

Maybe we should just call it the crapper. YOUR contention is that your powdering your wig (origin of the term) and/or face in that room? Please.

[Anonymous]

LOL Totally agree about "passed away." Even worse is "passed."

[Anonymous]

Sorry... "you're." I'm not uptight about bodily functions but I am about grammatical errors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay, I have always called the powder room the powder room. I have no idea why anyone would think it is suburban, as stated in an earlier post, the term is from the Victorian Era. I have always wondered about the use of passed away and died...I thought it had to do with religion not class. Can anyone help?

"Powder room" predates the Victorian era. It has to do with a small room that society people went into to get their wigs repowdered. It's an antiquated term. The Victorians used it because anything to do with bodily functions was considered indelicate and vulgar. Kind of like the long tableclothes they used to cover up the legs of their tables... b/c even exposed table legs were considered indecent. The Victorians were uptight, and I guess some people think that suburbanites are too.

[Anonymous]

OP here, and I actually powder my face in powder rooms. I use Bare Minerals and carry a mineral veil on-the-go. I can't recall ever pooping in someone's POWDER room. Although workers seem to love to poop in mine. I wrote a thread about it sometime ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, and I actually powder my face in powder rooms. I use Bare Minerals and carry a mineral veil on-the-go. I can't recall ever pooping in someone's POWDER room. Although workers seem to love to poop in mine. I wrote a thread about it sometime ago.

OP, you're just a tad bit weird. Why even have a toilet in there? Would you rather your "workers" use your UPSTAIRS bathroom? Egad. I can just see you clutching your pearls in horror.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, and I actually powder my face in powder rooms. I use Bare Minerals and carry a mineral veil on-the-go. I can't recall ever pooping in someone's POWDER room. Although workers seem to love to poop in mine. I wrote a thread about it sometime ago.

[Anonymous]

Wait. Folks have toilets that they don't poop in?? If I pooped in your powder room, I certainly didn't mean to offend! It would just never have occurred to me that there was such a thing as a poop-free toilet!!!

[Anonymous]

I'm going to take it a step further and say that in my case, "use the bathroom" is very often a euphemism for "powder my nose" because I find it more embarrassing to admit that I am touching up my makeup. So there.