Before I left Jamie’s Italian Restaurant in Nottingham, England, I went
to use the Lady’s room or the Loo as it is call here.
And there it was: The Crapper.
Thomas Crapper did not invent the toilet, he just made them, however
they came to be known for his name due to the American soldiers stationed in
England during WWI that use to say “I am going to the crapper” instead of the
toilet because they found the idea of
crapping in a Crapper very funny. The English people did not understand the
joke as they did not use the word crap.
The flushing toilet was invented by John Harrington 1596; however Crapper improved on the flushing part by
improving on the floating device for the water in the tank.
Thomas Crapper had the first showroom
in the world when he opened his store in England showcasing toilets, sinks, and
baths in a store window, creating an outrage for displaying such vulgar items
for everybody to see.
At that time these items where
called sanitaryware and they were ignored by the people for many years as this
was not a subject that anybody wanted to talk about.
He also made the manhole covers at
Westminster Abbey.
As for me, I just enjoyed seating
in a Crapper.
