It's weird that a room with just a toilet and sink is called a "half bath", when it in fact has zero bathtubs.

243 points · 62 comments · view on lemmy.world

62 Comments

Thorry84@feddit.nl · 61 pts · 1y (1 reply)

On the other hand, if you say you are going to the bathroom, nobody expects you to take a shit in the bathtub

thefartographer@lemm.ee · 26 pts · 1y

Which is what makes it all that much more satisfying when the next person goes in

mp3@lemmy.ca · 35 pts · 1y (26 replies)

Never heard "half bath", and I always called those washrooms.

spankmonkey@lemmy.world · 29 pts · 1y (12 replies)

It is common in the US, frequently they will be listed as 2 & 1/2 baths if they have two with tubs and one without.

Haven't paid enough attention to know how they list multiple 1/2 baths but pretty sure they don't add up like regular fractions...

I always found the term 1/2 bath weird.

Nougat@fedia.io · 13 pts · 1y (7 replies)

And a room with a toilet, sink, and shower stall is a 3/4 bath.

spankmonkey@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 1y

Anything to avoid the metric system!

dohpaz42@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 1y (5 replies)

I’ve never heard of this before. I have what you describe as 3/4 bath, but it was listed as a full bath in MLS.

Nougat@fedia.io · 3 pts · 1y (2 replies)

If you put a bedpan and a washbasin in your closet, it's a 1/8 bath.

Nougat@fedia.io · 1 pts · 1y (1 reply)

A litter box and some hand sanitizer in a wheelbarrow is a 1/16 bath.

Nougat@fedia.io · 1 pts · 1y

Hole in the ground next to a pile of wet leaves? That's a 1/32 bath.

Rivalarrival@lemmy.today · 3 pts · 1y (1 reply)

I did real estate for 12 years and never came across the term "3/4 bath".

bitchkat@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y

It's been common knowledge since I bought my first house.

Ledivin@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 1y

Haven't paid enough attention to know how they list multiple 1/2 baths but pretty sure they don't add up like regular fractions...

They'd either list them separately or as a whole and then clarify. E.g. "two full- and two half-baths"or something like "four bathrooms - two full"

jewbacca117@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 1y (1 reply)
[ removed ]
spankmonkey@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1y

half a sink, half a toilet, half a shower.

kSPvhmTOlwvMd7Y7E@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y

that's some realtor math. they are known to magically inflate surface before you buy it, and shrink it back once you bought / rented it. Mathematicians can't explain that !

jol@discuss.tchncs.de · 13 pts · 1y (2 replies)

Whatever we call them, it's always some euphemism hiding the fact tha it's the pooping room.

miss_demeanour@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 1y (1 reply)

We call it the poop stick room.

thesohoriots@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y

Wafflestomp emporium

JackFrostNCola@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 1y (4 replies)

Commonly called called a 'powder room' in australia.

NielsBohron@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1y

or "water closet" in the UK

possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 1y

Powder room is where you store amino.

Walk_blesseD@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 1y

Maybe it's a class difference thing but I've more commonly heard it referred to as "the shitter," "dunny," or "toilet."

sowitzer@lemm.ee · 1 pts · 1y

I’m in the US and powered room is used in places I’ve lived. But on real estate listings it is common to call it 1/2 bath.

FlexibleToast@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 1y (3 replies)

It's a way to conveniently talk about the number of bathrooms. You can say a house is "three bedroom, two and a half bath" and you convey that there are two bathrooms and one "washroom".

Steve@startrek.website · 5 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Or 5 powder rooms and zero bathtubs

FlexibleToast@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y

Sure, it could mean that, but I don't think any could person would go to that conclusion.

sowitzer@lemm.ee · 1 pts · 1y

What gets confusing are these large homes, or McMansions that list 5 bedrooms and 7 and a half baths. So are they listing 3 powder rooms at 1.5 baths? I can’t afford them, so I only see it online; but that part gets weird. I have seen descriptions that then list full and partial though.

CidVicious@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 1y

Real estate term.

Kolanaki@pawb.social · 32 pts · 1y (4 replies)

You can bathe half your body in the sink and the other half in the toilet.

psoul@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 1y

Cursed comment, but I’ll add on to it: If you plug the door slit with a towel the whole room becomes your tub.

possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 1y (1 reply)

And now I'm going to touch grass

Kolanaki@pawb.social · 1 pts · 1y

Don't forget to bathe after!

fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com · 1 pts · 1y

Bidet ftw.

kitnaht@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Bath doesn't refer to the tub, it refers to bathing. You can 'sink bathe' with a rag and running sink water.

So a half-bath, contains 1/2 of the common furnishings for bathing.

TomAwsm@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y

Yeah, a "full" bathroom with just a shower also has zero bathtubs.

samus12345@lemm.ee · 12 pts · 1y (1 reply)

The real weirdness originates from any room with a toilet being called a bathroom despite many not having bathtubs.

kevincox@lemmy.ml · 6 pts · 1y

Technically if it doesn't have a bathtub or shower it is called a powder room. But that phrase is rarely used. (Mostly because 90% of the time when we say bathroom we mean toilet.)

Etterra@discuss.online · 11 pts · 1y (2 replies)

You'd be amazed how much bathing some people manage to do with just a sink.

possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 1y

You've been to McDonald's I take it

despicable@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 1y

Probably around half?

Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 1y

At that point you're halfway to having a standard bathroom, so it makes sense to me.

blackn1ght@feddit.uk · 8 pts · 1y

We'd just call that room "the toilet"

Noel_Skum@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 1y

And in the UK a “cloakroom” is very rarely a place specifically to hang your cloak…

tiredofsametab@fedia.io · 6 pts · 1y

Good news! Most of the world would find that extremely weird (as with calling a room with no baths a bathroom). I think it's due to the euphemism treadmill.

TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 1y

If you chop a bathtub in half and place the parts in different rooms, you can have two half baths. If you bring four such parts in the same room, you’ll get a double bath. Probably still not very good for actually bathing, because a half tubs don’t hold much water.

Marty_TF@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 1y (2 replies)

in german that room is just called "das klo" (the toilet)

SoGrumpy@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 1y (1 reply)

*Klo

Marty_TF@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 1y

thx, fixed the typo, dam phone keyboards being so small

lugal@sopuli.xyz · 5 pts · 1y (1 reply)

And if you had half a bathtub, you could as well have no bathtub at all

tiredofsametab@fedia.io · 6 pts · 1y

If it's fixed to a waterproof wall, it would work. Weird, but work.

SolidShake@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1y

You're right. It should be called a 2/3 bath instead.

CrazyLikeGollum@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1y (1 reply)

True, we should call it the "shit 'n rinse."

Dasus@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y

Excuse, where's the shitrinse located at?

Would you mind if I used your shitrinse?

Yeah I think it works.

possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 1y (1 reply)

It is half a bathroom

No you don't get to ask why a bathroom is called a bathroom. It is like questioning the origin of a hot dog.

CidVicious@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 1y

It's a euphemism. "Water closet" is another old fashioned word for a bathroom.

ThomasCrappersGhost@feddit.uk · 4 pts · 1y

We call it a trap, khazi, bog, privy, WC, toilet…don’t think I’ve heard “half bath”.

bradorsomething@ttrpg.network · 3 pts · 1y

By code a bathroom is a sink and any combination of a bidet, shower, tub, or toilet.

supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 1y (1 reply)

sailing by in my half-boat "YEAH that is just like.. your OPINION MAN!!"

oh fuck wat.... ....🐟 ....🪸 🦴 🚢 🌊 🤽

FlexibleToast@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y

You would have been fine if it was a Boston Whaler.

https://youtu.be/W7V-2_tyRAk

LovableSidekick@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y

Clearly you've never half-bathed in gas station restrooms while hitchhiking cross country. Hint: it doesn't involve the toilet.

But I'm puzzled that a room with only one plumbing fixture is called a "quarter bath" regardless of whether that fixture is a sink, toilet or shower. Dat don't make no sense.

gedaliyah@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y

Showerthought: You could technically have a three-bath house with zero showers or bathtubs, just six little sinks all over.

LovableSidekick@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y

So is this a good time to bring up Hillary's email server? Cuz I thought merely using an improperly secured server was a super huge deal to conservatives, many of whom screamed treason and demanded prison for her. And I don't think any vital information was ever actually leaked through it.