Culture & tradition,  Photographing Public Art,  Themed galleries

Gallery: toilets of the world!

July 17, 2026 / 57 Comments

If you want to avoid heated arguments, never discuss religion, politics, or whether the toilet paper roll should go over or under

Al Yankovic

As someone who always has to change the paper roll if it’s going the wrong way (that is under, rather than the correct over), I can identify with that quote. And yet, here I am discussing that taboo topic!

First, a disclaimer. I don’t make a habit of photographing toilets! But the signs outside them are another matter and yes, sometimes even the toilets themselves just have to be captured. Inspired by a conversation with Annie of ‘The Adventures of Annie and Steven Berger’, here is a collection of some of the most amusing / interesting / downright bizarre ones I have come across on my travels.

What’s in a name?

The English seem to have an endless supply of words to describe this essential facility. Among our favourites are:

  • Loo: probably our most-used word for toilet, this derived from the French phrase ‘guardez l’eau’, meaning ‘watch out for the water’, and goes back to a time when chamber pots were emptied out of the window on to the street below!
  • Bog: this started life as ‘boghouse’, eighteenth century slang for the act of going to the toilet.
  • John: taken from Sir John Harrington who was the inventor of the forerunner of the first flushing toilet.
  • Netty: a popular term in the north east of England where pub drinkers, for example, will often excuse themselves from the group by announcing that they are ‘gannin’ to the netty’
  • WC: short for ‘water closet’ and perhaps a more gentile choice compared to the above

Meanwhile our US friends seem shy of naming the actual function of these spaces, preferring ‘rest room’ or ‘bathroom’. These always strike me as slightly odd euphemisms, as I would want neither to rest nor to bathe in the toilet!

But I digress. Here, as promised, are some toilets of the world!

My feature photo is of the toilets at the Wilderspin National School Museum in Barton upon Humber, England, of which more in a future post …

Signposting the way …

Hover over any image to see where it was taken, and refresh the page if they don’t all load the first time

Now, let’s go inside …

As before, hover over any image to see the caption

And finally, I couldn’t post about toilets without including the most famous user thereof (or perhaps not?) in the world, Brussels’ Manneken Pis!

Manneken Pis, Brussels

I wonder if Natalie will accept these toilet signs as public art?!

57 Comments

  • leightontravels

    July 25, 2026 at 20:33 Reply

    Well, you had me laughing the moment I saw the title. What a quirky post to come upon for my return to the blogosphere. Oh crikey, that “who cares” door is going to rile a certain type of individual isn’t it. I loved the etymologies most of all: “guardez l’eau” and the mental image of chamber pots being flung streetward is exactly the sort of detail that makes me smirk. “Netty” was new to me too, and I now feel the north-east has been quietly hoarding the best word all along. Your point about “rest room” and “bathroom” made me laugh, because you’re right that they promise a spa experience the room rarely delivers. It was also fun to come across Manneken Pis again after all these years. Back in the day I lived in Brussels for a few years and would walk past the little fella two to three times a week. Usually had a different outfit on each time.

    • Sarah Wilkie

      July 26, 2026 at 08:20 Reply

      Hi Leighton, good to hear from you 🙂 And welcome back to the blogosphere! I’m glad you found so much to enjoy in this post, that made my day 😀

  • equinoxio21

    July 25, 2026 at 00:52 Reply

    Loos of the world series, right? (I sometimes wonder whether a word I use is more Brit than American. My English can be be ab it mixed up. Or adaptable.) (Americans do indeed say “the John”.)(Or “the Jane” for feminists…😉)
    Fun post. Thank you.

  • Annie Berger

    July 23, 2026 at 19:26 Reply

    Sarah, Thanks for the nod or link to my blog – that was kind of you. I’d never thought of the origins of the various bathroom (sorry!) words before, so it was amusing to read those. Loved the shots of the guys peeping over the restroom (oops, there I go again!) stall, as they were new to me. Also smiled at your TP preference and how it was ‘incorrect.’ Though I prefer it the over way, I wouldn’t have said that the ‘correct’ way! Thanks for the smiles today.

    • Sarah Wilkie

      July 23, 2026 at 19:57 Reply

      Glad to have made you smile Annie ☺️ And thank you for the inspiration for this post. I was being a bit flippant in relation to the TP but I do find myself ‘correcting’ it!

  • wetanddustyroads

    July 20, 2026 at 08:58 Reply

    What a fun post! It’s interesting how many different signs (and names) there are for a toilet. In our house I prefer the ‘under way’ for toilet paper and Berto over … I’m constantly flipping toilet rolls in our house 😁.

    • Sarah Wilkie

      July 20, 2026 at 09:15 Reply

      Glad you enjoyed it Corna 😀 But no, toilet paper should never go under, and luckily my husband agrees with me (or more likely, doesn’t care too much!)

  • Divya N

    July 19, 2026 at 09:16 Reply

    Airports and hotels have now started using prints of oil paintings and folk art as toilet signs. I recently found an entire corridor of art leading to the toilets at an international airport.

  • Image Earth Travel

    July 18, 2026 at 06:37 Reply

    Ha, ha, this one made me laugh, Sarah!
    I have so many toilets from around the world, and a great idea. I love the signs with the male looking over the female toilet. 🙂
    I’ve never heard of “Netty” and asked my pommie partner from Somerset, but he’s never heard of it.

    • Sarah Wilkie

      July 18, 2026 at 11:30 Reply

      Glad you enjoyed it, thank you Nilla 😊 I bet you could do a great similar post. Netty isn’t widely used in most of England, apart from the north east, so I’m not surprised your partner hasn’t heard it, being from the opposite end of the country!

    • Sarah Wilkie

      July 18, 2026 at 11:15 Reply

      Many thanks Maggie 😊 I’d heard that you used washroom in Canada but like bathroom it seems odd to me and again, a bit of a euphemism. Netty isn’t widely used in most of England, apart from the north east, but as my husband’s from that region I hear it quite a lot!

  • the eternal traveller

    July 18, 2026 at 01:20 Reply

    I’m always photographing loos, for my loo with a view posts. But, like you, I usually photograph the outside not the interior, unless it’s extra special like the ladies’ at the ABBA museum in Stockholm. I couldn’t leave without a photo in there. I love the Elvis one in this collection.

  • Anonymous

    July 17, 2026 at 21:32 Reply

    Haha, these are such funny public art, Sarah, especially the “any loo will do”. I’ve come across some amusing or bizarre toilets on my travels but didn’t take photos. Thank you for sharing. Natalie

    • Sarah Wilkie

      July 18, 2026 at 11:10 Reply

      Glad you enjoyed them – thank you Natalie 🙂 My friends and I frequented that coffee shop in Chicago for breakfast every morning of our stay and we all smiled at that sign!

  • Alli Templeton

    July 17, 2026 at 18:17 Reply

    A fantastic post, Sarah! I couldn’t wait to see all your pictures when I saw the title, not least because I’ve always been fascinated by castle loos (they make for highly productive and informative archaeological excavations, apparently). So much so that when I was approaching the end of my degree my family were always telling me I should do my dissertation on ‘the toilets of the castles of Edward I’! It became quite the family joke, and is still referred to now. 🙂 So I found this really informative. Some interesting – and as you say, some bizarre – interpretations of loo signs (Sicily and Budapest?!), and the insides are widely varied indeed. What revealing cultural insights! I’m already looking forward to your post about the Wilderspin National School Museum – their loos look fascinating too! 😉

    • Sarah Wilkie

      July 18, 2026 at 11:08 Reply

      Thanks so much Alli 😊 I can quite see how castle loos could be informative (what people ate, for instance, and maybe what diseases they had?) I thought I had a photo of the latrines at Pompeii but couldn’t find it for this post. The Wilderspin National School Museum was really interesting so I’ll definitely be featuring it in a post soon.

      • Alli Templeton

        July 18, 2026 at 11:32 Reply

        Looking forward to it, Sarah. I don’t know the museum at all so it’ll be good to find out about it. Apparently you can find out all kinds of things from castle loos, not least because people were always dropping stuff down them, or discarding rubbish. I’ve known archaeologists getting quite excited at the prospect of excavating a loo shaft! Who’d have thought it? 😉

  • Rebecca

    July 17, 2026 at 17:36 Reply

    You make a good point how in the US, Americans say “bathroom” or “restroom;” given I grew up saying either/or, I never thought that people elsewhere would find it strange! Then again, I find “loo” and “wash room” (in Canada) weird! It’s cool to travel the world and see so many different toilets, some beautiful, some unique, and some plain gross! Thanks for sharing, Sarah!

  • Egídio

    July 17, 2026 at 16:31 Reply

    Wonderful photos and text. Leave to the USA to use euphemisms for everyday things. I loved the various shots from other countries, especially the Italian. “Sanitario” is another of those words that would apply very well in the USA. 🙂

  • Gia

    July 17, 2026 at 16:30 Reply

    I’ve never thought about how different restrooms and toilets look, not only in different states but also across the world! This was neat to see! 🤩🙌🏽

  • Anne Sandler

    July 17, 2026 at 16:21 Reply

    This is definitely a bright spot this morning. I’m glad to know that I have my toilet paper roll rolling the correct way! Question, in England the loo is just a toilet? No sink?

    • Sarah Wilkie

      July 17, 2026 at 17:55 Reply

      Thank you Anne 🙂 We usually use loo to mean the room the toilet itself is in so yes, there would be a washbasin. In fact though, both loo and toilet can used either for just the bowl or the whole space.

  • margaret21

    July 17, 2026 at 14:52 Reply

    You’ve posted that Peeping Tom one before. Just … bizarre. It’s a great idea for a post, which I might copy one day. Though you have such a cracking selection here.

    • Sarah Wilkie

      July 17, 2026 at 14:55 Reply

      I think I posted the Budapest Peeping Tom but not the one from Sicily perhaps? I was interested to find two examples several countries apart! Feel free to copy – it was Annie who gave me the idea 🙂

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