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The bog

Posted by James Briggs on September 12, 2003

In Reply to: The bog posted by Shae on September 12, 2003

: : Why do some people in Britain - I think it may be Irish people in particular - refer to the toilet at "the bog"? Shae?

: The Compact OED says it is 'British informal' for toilet. It is seldom used in Ireland, so I think it must indeed be British. 'The john' is another British expression for 'toilet,' while 'the jacks' is commonly used in Ireland. I've no idea why, though.

Actually, the 'john' is virtually unused in the UK - we regard it as a US term. We widely use 'Loo'. The origin of this word is as diverse and obscure as that of 'OK'!!!

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