Who was responsible for suggesting this change? Toilet better explains what it's real purpose is. Do you call your home toilet a restroom? OF COURSE NOT.
In American English, "restroom" commonly denotes a facility featuring toilets and sinks designed for use by the public, but "restroom" and "bathroom" are often used interchangeably for any room with a toilet (both in public and in private homes). The term restroom derived from the fact that in the early 1900s through to the middle of the century up-scale restaurants, theatres and performing facilities would often have comfortable chairs or sofas located within or in a room directly adjacent to the actual toilet and sink facilities, something which can be seen in some movies of the time period. An example of this is the description of a "movie palace" which was opening in 1921 which was described as including " ... a rest-room for the fair sex and a lounging room for the sterner sex ... off these rooms are the toilets."
It is not necessary to call a spade a spade. In a living language like our English, we could call it a pee room or the throne room but, I dare say as long as people have been using ‘bathroom’ or whatever they have been calling this place of privacy, they will continue doing so into the foreseeable future.
A lot of people did back in the day. When I was coming into the work force, it was a common expression.
@Shirley Martin I recall when most "ladies' rooms" had lounge areas in an area just outside the main event...red vinyl sofas/day beds and overstuffed Lazy Boy type lounges. I guess it was a necessity when women got The Vapors more often than they do now.
If I recall correctly, it's because the modern toilet was invented by John Crapper. Obviously, his first AND last names became synonymous with toilet.
In any event, if one is sitting on the porcelain and straining one’s lower extremities rather than relaxing or “resting”, then perhaps one should look into more or perhaps less fiber. Or on the other hand, if one has a propensity for reading whilst doing their morning chores and not in a resting state, then it might be best to be a tad more picky as to what one is reading.
Correction to my comment: Modern toilet technologies were invented by Thomas Crapper (not John Crapper) in the 19th century. It is called The John supposedly because of Sir John Harrington, who lived in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Although Harrington wasn’t by any means the first to invent a flushing toilet (there are references to flushing toilets going all the way back to around 2600 BC), his invention was an innovation in Britain at the time and it was commonly thought that he was the inventor of the flushing toilet, which is why it is thought the flushing toilet today is often also called a “John.”
I just naturally assumed that the small size and sound-bite content of Reader's Digest and Spencer's Gifts were specifically designed to sit on the toilet tank, along with the dish of seashell soaps.
I understand that the reason the English use the word "loo" for the bathroom is because it comes from the cry of "gardyloo!". This in turn comes from the French term "regardez l’eau", which translates literally as "watch out for the water". Servants would have shouted this in medieval times when they were emptying chamber pots into the street. This was frequently done from the upstairs windows of buildings, so it was certainly very good advice (for the people in the street below) So, if you're out and about, just ask to go to the loo. Of course, the Americans will think you are on drugs or something. I learned this was used for bathroom by doing too many crossword puzzles.