Spend a Penny
Recently I was reading a fascinating blog post from author Deb Marlowe about The Great Exhibition of 1851. It was at the Exhibition that the world’s first pay-to-use toilets were introduced, with visitors parting with a penny to use the facilities. This little nugget of knowledge got me wondering if this was when the euphemistic phrase “to spend a penny”, meaning to use the toilet, came into the English language.
I realize now that those of you who aren’t British are wondering what on earth I’m talking about, as the first thing I discovered when I started my research was that this is a peculiarly British phrase. Please forgive me, readers from elsewhere, if you’ve never come across it before. However, now I’ve apologized, let’s continue with our historical investigation.
Not many years after the success of the toilet facilities at The Great Exhibition, George Jennings, who had provided them, wrote to London’s Commissioner of Sewers and offered to set up public conveniences in the city. This was the beginning of public restrooms, all of which charged a penny for access, either paid to an attendant or put into a slot in the door-lock mechanism.
However, although people had literally been spending a penny to use the toilet for decades, it wasn’t until 1945, according to the OED, that the euphemistic phrase “spend a penny” appeared in print for the first time. In all probability, I imagine people must have been using it in conversation for many years before that though. Maybe it was due to the sensibilities of mentioning such “base” matters that it had never appeared in print before. After all, if you’re sensitive enough to use a euphemism for what you’re doing, surely it wouldn’t be proper to write about such things!
These days, you’re not likely to hear many people saying that they’re “going to spend a penny” as the phrase has become rather outdated. Britons are generally less coy about mentioning using the toilet than people from some other nations, so we’re more likely to say that we’re “going to the loo” (another great British slang word). Adding to that, most public toilets are now free to use in the UK anyway, although some do still charge and will cost you anywhere between twenty pence and a pound. “I’m just going to spend a pound” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it?
(Thanks to Historic England’s article Spending a Penny for the information about George Jennings.)