this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2026
170 points (89.0% liked)

Today I Learned

31795 readers
805 users here now

What did you learn today? Share it with us!

We learn something new every day. This is a community dedicated to informing each other and helping to spread knowledge.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must begin with TIL. Linking to a source of info is optional, but highly recommended as it helps to spark discussion.

** Posts must be about an actual fact that you have learned, but it doesn't matter if you learned it today. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.**



Rule 2- Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Posts and comments which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding non-TIL posts.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-TIL posts using the [META] tag on your post title.



Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.

If you vocally harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.

For further explanation, clarification and feedback about this rule, you may follow this link.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.

Unless included in our Whitelist for Bots, your bot will not be allowed to participate in this community. To have your bot whitelisted, please contact the moderators for a short review.



Partnered Communities

You can view our partnered communities list by following this link. To partner with our community and be included, you are free to message the moderators or comment on a pinned post.

Community Moderation

For inquiry on becoming a moderator of this community, you may comment on the pinned post of the time, or simply shoot a message to the current moderators.

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I'm from non-english speaking country but we use "WC" for toilet and I just found out the meaning behind it

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] HamsterRage@lemmy.ca 30 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

There's a old joke about this from Jack Parr, told on the Tonight Show:

An English lady, while visiting Germany, was looking for a room to rent. She found a suitable one owned by a local schoolmaster. After returning home, she remembered she hadn’t seen a "W.C." (water closet/bathroom) on the property. She wrote a letter to the schoolmaster asking where the W.C. was located.

The schoolmaster, not knowing much English, was puzzled by the initials "W.C." He took the letter to the parish priest, and together they concluded that the lady must be asking about the local Wayside Chapel.

The schoolmaster wrote the following reply:

Dear Madam,

I take great pleasure in informing you that the W.C. is situated nine miles from the house, in the center of a beautiful grove of pine trees. It is capable of holding 250 people and is open to the public on Sundays and Thursdays.

As a large crowd is expected during the summer months, I advise you to arrive early. This may prove an unfortunate inconvenience to you if you are in the habit of going regularly. Rest assured, however, that there is plenty of standing room.

Many people bring their lunch and make a day of it, while others arrive at the last minute and can only find standing room. A special feature is the organ music, which accompanies all proceedings. The acoustics are excellent, and even the most delicate sounds can be heard by everyone.

It may also interest you to know that my daughter was married in the W.C., as it was there that she met her husband. I can still remember the rush for seats. There were ten people in every seat that day!

My wife is very delicate, so she cannot go regularly. It has been over six months since she last went, which is naturally a great trial for her.

I shall be delighted to reserve the best seat for you, where you can be seen by everyone.

Yours faithfully,

The Schoolmaster

[–] Speiser0@feddit.org 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

We use the abbreviation WC in german as well though. And chapel is Kapelle in german, so K not C. Also, according to wikipedia, the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayside_Chapel is located in australia. (In the joke it also sounds like a huge chapel. Most chapels can only hold like 5 persons.)

[–] schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

We use the abbreviation WC in german as well though.

Yes, but has that always been the case? The joke might be old enough that this may not have been true in the time it is set in.

[–] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Germans use WC since the mid to late 1800s as far as I found out. I sort of doubt the joke is older than that but I could be wrong.