Toilet, Lavatory, Loo...

Media Monkey's Diary | Media | The Guardian:

"It's the end of an era at the Times. No, they are not moving the leader page again, it's more seismic than that. 'It is time, so to speak, for a relaxation of our style,' writes the paper's Richard Dixon in an email to staff. 'So henceforth lavatory can now be used interchangeably with toilet. Reserve the use of loo for informal contexts. This moves us on, so to speak, from the thinking described in A Passionate Man by Joanna Trollope: 'At least the children are told how to hold their knives properly and get walloped if they call the lavatory the toilet.'' The importance of this change cannot be overestimated, and should keep the Times letter page in business for days. 'Toilet is probably now the first-choice polite word of the majority in Britain,' continues Dixon. 'While lavatory and loo remain the preserve of the chatterati.' Vox populi, vox toiletries."