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NoirFemme
Upstart Joined: 11 Jun 2007 Posts: 25	Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2007 1:48 pm    Post subject:   And the word "loo" used to mean water closet wasn't invented until the 1860s. The etymology dictionary says it was invented around 1922, but apocryphal stories from Edwardian memoirs state it was from Lady Louisa Anson: Quote: It's short for "Lady Louisa," Louisa being the unpopular wife of a 19th-century earl of Lichfield. In 1867 while the couple was visiting friends, two young wiseacres took the namecard off her bedroom door and stuck it on the door of the bathroom. The other guests thereafter began jocularly speaking of "going to Lady Louisa." In shortened form this eventually spread to the masses.
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