Read through the rest of the thread. People have already given some answers.

Here we call it bathroom (Casa-de-Banho, literally would be Bath-house, I guess) when talking casually, and really in most instances. I guess that in a more polite way you could say "Lavabos", but I don't think I've heard anyone refer to it as such in a long time. In the street, the signs most frequently have "WC", since everyone recognizes it, and it's probably cheaper to make signs with less charactersI guess

EDIT: Btw, about the legal ages:

Drinking - 16 (of course teens end up drinking sooner, if they really want eheh)
Smoking - 18
Driving - motorbike 50cc/125cc or a microcar it's 16; normal cars and motorbikes above that it's 18.

It's always been called the bathroom to me, and the toilet has been in the same room as the bath in like, 90% of the houses I've been in.

This.

Speaking personally, I felt safer in Sinai at the ass end of Egypt than I did in a major tourist city like Orlando. I think the locals were more polite as well. Although coming from Britain, everybody seems polite by comparison.

The sad thing is despite the Thats likely true for me. I have on several occasions, had random strangers ask for me to fight them.

Makes me think of The Simpsons.

"Hey you, let's fight!"

"Them's fightin' words."

You can drive with a parent at 15 here and drive by yourself at 16. 1 (written) test at 15 to get your permit, and a driving test at 16 for your license. But, you are on a restricted license for 6 months, which means no driving after 9pm and before 9am.

Drinking is legal at 21. Voting 18. Working as early as 14.

You can join the military at 18, but can start earning ranks in ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps) as soon as you get to high school (age 14) and go into the army as an officer.

When I did drink caffeine, I could only drink mocha capps - but now, even those taste terribly bitter to me. Which isn't a problem now being I'm not allowed caffeine. And you said it perfect: It's not that I don't exactly like green tea, I just don't hate it. I sometimes think it has something to do with my insanely strong sense of smell.. anything with strong flavor is yucky to me.

And honey? Anything but clover is WAY too funky for me.

I guess it all depends on what you're raised on because I too find "toilet" kind of... cringe-worthy. And I'm glad you guys said something about "WC" meaning bathrooms abroad. That's a good little piece of advice if I ever get to travel! lol Bathroom and Restroom are the only terms I've ever used.

For everyone: Do you think your country is "friendly"? As in, do you treat tourist kindly or do the majority act rudely towards them? I've heard rumors that New Zealand is extremely welcoming but France is not. (Or at least Paris.)

I think us norwegians are pretty friendly in general, but we've been labeled as a lot less social than other countries. For example norwegians aren't very talkative if you decide to chat/ask a stranger on the street/bus something. Of course not all of us are like that but we've always been told how us norwegians are less talkative in comparison to other places where you easily could start a conversation with a stranger. Most of us are kind and friendly, but I'm always preparing for a potential awkward moment if I need to talk to someone I don't know.

Is this anything like where you guys live?

Welsh hate the rest of the UK (England most), south wales and north wales hate eachother, sotherners hate southerners... I havent met a tourist here, but im pretty sure I know the answer.

I live in the US and I LOVE talking to tourist. Especially if they seem lost or confused. I ran into a guy who didn't speak a lick of English at a gas station once and through the insanely tiny bit of Spanish I know, told him to stay there.. I ran home, mapquested the directions to where he was going (in Spanish of course), ran back to the gas station and gave them to him. lol I'm known to do stuff like this a LOT. I randomly (and annonymously) pay for people's dinners at restaurants too if I hear they're not from around here. I'm also preparing to learn a second language in hopes of being able to work at one of the tourist spots here. I think I'd scare the crap out of you Norwegians... lol

Awww, that actually makes me kind of sad. Wales is the close second on the places I want to visit before I die.

Well the hating the UK thing is a bit of a joke, allthough there are quite a few people who genuinely hate England.
Also like I said, I live in a pretty [censored] place, im sure there are some good places you could find.

You sound like a very kind person I would really appreaciate your help if I ever got lost and stumbled across you. I've met and helped people who was lost myself several times, and I try to be as helpful as possible, but I know that many norwegians would rather keep their problems to themselves, rather than having strangers helping them out. I don't walk around looking for people with problems, but if someone comes towards me asking for help I'd gladly help them.

Others can be rather cold and avoid any form for social interaction.

The bathroom usually has the toilet in it nowadays (though I do remember the days of outside toilets and tin baths in the scullery...) but most toilets aren't accompanied by a bath: our downstairs toilet, works toilets, public toilets etc. You're the first person from the UK who I've heard say they refer to the toilet as the bathroom.

He has embraced the American language

Yeah, he does that.

I don't see the point in it either, but I guess some people are just dead set on owning an automatic car for life

I call my toilet a bathroom, because it happens to have a bath&shower in it

You Americans and your euphemisms. You're welcome re: the WC comment.


Most South Africans are really friendly.

Frenchmen appear cold and unfriendly simply because they socialise differently: if they don't find something funny, they don't laugh; if they don't consider you a friend, they won't let you refer to them as such; if they don't want to be on familiar terms with you, they'll tell you so. I think you'd appreciate their honesty.

New Zealanders are incredibly friendly... but, well, a friend recently visited them and had an unfortunate incident with their authorities. He was arrested because he's black. A couple had described their robber as such, and while the police were out looking for culprits they spotted him... Yep... It's both funny, in a comedy-of-errors kind of way, and cringe-worthy, in an inadvertently-racist kind of way.


The UK is all right. It's not New York.

New York may be the unfriendliest place in all of first-worldlandia. I've loved trading insults with New Yorkers.

Scotland (Glasgow) has a reputation for being really friendly and welcoming, at the same time though it has a reputation for being violent and unpredictable but thats only if you go out of your way to find it or out of the city centre

Yes this happens often, usually over xbox live.

I'm surprised, people were really friendly when I was there (I only stayed a week, though). The manager of the hostel was really rude but apart from that I met plenty of nice persons: the housekeepers at the hostel (they were Mexicans, it was cool to be able to speak Spanish with them), the other persons who were staying at the hostel, tourists wandering around the city... I got lost a couple of times and every time I asked directions people were very patient and took the time to help me. I even had nice chats with random persons at the metro and in restaurants...
I'm not saying my personal experience is anything to go by but I certainly had worse experiences in other cities (Barcelona for instance :/)

Did you stick to tourist-y locations? Notice also how most of the people you mention as being nice were also travellers and/or foreign.

It's always been toilet for me if it's a public place, but at home it's the bathroom. Never really thought about it.

while we're on the topic of large cities and whether they are friendly or not.

hey west coasters (United states) why does every one think Portland is so great. it is literally the most angry place i have ever been. every block i walked down i was either verbally abused for simple things like using the cross walk when the signal said to walk, saw nearly 3 fights break out at the train station with in an hour, if any one was talking to any one they were doing so in loud impolite manor.

Not completely, the restaurants I went to were more along the lines of cheap fast food places, I could not afford the touristy restaurants. And I'm pretty sure the persons I talked to in the metro, and in the streets when I needed direction were not travellers either, especially considering the places I got lost in! But as I said that was just my experience, although I will add that there are quite a few cities where you don't need to spend a lot of time, even as a tourist, before you meet plenty of rude persons (again, Barcelona. Beautiful city, but were the people rude!). New York didn't leave me that impression.
There's a starbucks nicely located in a square in downtown Portland, that's something I liked there.