Some lavatory humour from Clive Williams. “What does polite company call the toilet then? Well, if youâre caught short at Buckingham Palace, lavatory or loo are the preferred terms,” writes columnist CLIVE WILLIAMS.  IN a previous column I mentioned the Americanised habit of asking for the bathroom in order to avoid using that apparently offensive âtâ word, âtoiletâ. Columnist Clive Williams. That got me wondering â why is the porcelain throne room referred to as the toilet? I found itâs French in origin, coming from âtoiletteâ. Toilette is derived from another word âtoileâ, which means cloth. A cloth would be draped over the gentry in the morning while their hair was being groomed as they sat over a chamber pot doing their business. The word toilet came to be used for the room where that action took place. Â