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Bearing in mind that loo is a common term for the restroom in the U.K., I’ve been listening to Michael McIntyre’s comedy and heard him use the term “loo-roll”, which based on the context seems to be referring to the roll of bath tissue (e.g. Kirkland bath tissue), or as Americans typically refer to it: toilet paper.

Is “loo roll” a common term for a roll of bath tissue?

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    Bath tissue? It would be better if you used a common name not a silly euphemism in your question.
    – Stuart F
    Commented May 27 at 7:41
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    Have you checked in a reasonable dictionary? Wiktionary is quite clear: <<**loo roll** British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, informal) toilet roll >> Also given in Collins, Cambridge Dictionary ... speaks of a common informal usage.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented May 27 at 10:58
  • A small pointer: the noun phrase common Americans has a pejorative (mildly insulting) tone because it elicits reading common in the sense of vulgar, unrefined, of low social standing. Your intended meaning would be conveyed more faithfully by a wording like or as Americans commonly refer to it.
    – Paul Tanenbaum
    Commented May 27 at 12:36
  • 'Loo' is an affected, middle-class term for 'lavatory' that some British people use.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented May 27 at 12:37
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    @MichaelHarvey, it’s even worse than that. My wife finds proof of my commonness in the simple fact of my eating peas at all.
    – Paul Tanenbaum
    Commented May 27 at 12:41

2 Answers 2

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Loo roll's frequency appears to be in the general ballpark of other alternatives according to Google ngrams, common enough to beat out roll of toilet tissue!

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  • Suggest removing "roll of" from your inputs, for consistency? Or are you specifically excluding non-rolls ? Perhaps they all need "roll of +" ?
    – Criggie
    Commented May 27 at 11:02
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    @Criggie - good shout. Many institutions and corporate janitorial departments use 'flat packs'; my school in the 1950s used paper made by the Jeyes company, impregnated with disinfectant which had LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL - NOW WASH YOUR HANDS printed on each shiny sheet.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented May 27 at 12:43
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    @MichaelHarvey as long as its not the UK bomb shelter whose supplies said "use both sides"
    – Criggie
    Commented May 28 at 0:43
  • @MichaelHarvey I am guessing that the school toilet paper in question was hard and crinkly - far from modern tissue.
    – Henry
    Commented May 28 at 18:10
  • @Henry - it was nothing like modern 'tissue'. Hard and non-absorbent. Other brands besides Jeyes included Izal and Bronco. They were common in British Commonwealth countries as well, including New Zealand: weblog.bergersen.net/michelle/2022/01/toilet-paper-then-and-now
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented May 28 at 18:42
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In BrE, "loo" is a familiar term for "toilet" (both to refer to the fixture with pan and cistern, and to refer to the room containing it). Toilet paper is sold in rolls, called "toilet rolls". Put those two terms together and you have "loo roll" meaning toilet roll meaning a roll of toilet paper. Likewise, "loo paper" is a familiar term for toilet paper.

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    Any word that can name the toilet could fit here; "bog roll" for example is perfectly cromulent.
    – Criggie
    Commented May 27 at 5:18
  • Note, though, that "toilet roll" is also pretty strictly British English, not American.
    – Martha
    Commented May 27 at 6:24

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