What's In A Name?

One summer a zillion years ago when I was perhaps 6 or 7 and my sister was 4 or 5, we were playing school with another friend.  And why not?  It was summer vacation -- the only time of year when you would play school.   At any rate, my sister, who had yet to go to real school, was playing the teacher and one of her "pupils" asked, "may I go to the rest room?"  Her response?  "Yes, but you can only take a nap for 10 minutes."  Because after all, what would you do in the rest room but rest?

Fast forward 40 plus years to this summer when we were entertaining some European visitors, who, while being fluent English speakers, were rather confused about what to call the room with the toilet.  The lavatory?  Too old fashioned.  The toilets?  Too blunt for a nation founded on Puritan ideals.  The wash room?  Perhaps if you are Canadian. 

So the rest room it is.  But take your naps elswhere.