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The most widely claimed source of loo is gardy loo (based on pseudo-French gare de l'eau "mind the water"), used in 18th-century Edinburgh to warn passers-by when a chamber pot was about to be emptied into the street below. However, this is chronologically unlikely, as there is no evidence of loo being used for "toilet" before the 1930s. Other possible candidates include Waterloo (the link with "water" gives this some plausibility) and louver, from the use of slatted screens for a makeshift lavatory. The likeliest source is perhaps French lieux d'aisances, literally "places of ease," hence "toilet," possibly picked up by British service personnel in France during World War I.
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