Lavatory, toilets, bathroom, Ladies" and Gents" are some of the more commonly used names for the restroom. The United States invented a very wide selection of synonyms and expressions for this "certain space". Any thesaurus will provide an impressive list of synonyms for the word restroom/bathroom. Society nowadays is making a considerable attempt to avoid the topic of releasing excess bodily fluids. Restroom jargon such as "pissing," "pee-ing," or "taking a leak" are just some of the slang terms used by the younger audience to describe the motion of "taking a load off." This paper highlights, in a civilized manner, why urinals nearest the corner of any public wash room are significant to most men that use it. It attempts to also examine the standard design of public restrooms.
The issue of cleanliness and hygiene has been the concern of human kind for quite a number of centuries. Hygiene became a major concern during the middle ages when the "Black Death" spread about Europe. It became evident that the number one cause of diseases and deaths was the lack of hygiene. Before the outbreak of the Plague, judging by today's standards, unhygienic and unclean practices were the norm. Women would use lard in their hair as today's generation would use mousse, gel, or, hairspray. Since it required a great amount of effort, the women would try not to bathe; to counter the horrific smell that must have arose from the lard, women used appalling amounts of perfume. That came to a halt when the Plague hit; no longer did women of the Victorian Age use lard to hold up their hair. Perfume use decreased as bathing became a more frequent ritual. In the past few centuries, it has become evident that cleanliness and hygiene have become a major factor socially. Now that bathing and washing has become a necessity, sinks, soaps and the like are, for the most part are, essential elements of public restrooms usually located near the entrance/exit of the "john.