Excuse me for a moment please

This leaves both purpose and destination unstated, but by making it clear that the absence will be very temporary, does not cause anyone to think that it is a total departure. This will usually be understood sufficiently in context.

There are of course, many euphemisms, some gender specific, some not, some considered more polite than others.

• I need the small room.


• I need to powder my nose. (a bit old-fashioned.)


• I need the lav. (out of date?)


• You don't buy beer, you rent it. (perhaps too graphic, but less so than "piss").


• I need the John.

and many many others

Devon's answer reminded me of

When Nature is calling, plain speaking is out,

When ladies, God bless 'em, are milling about,

You make water, wee-wee, or empty the glass;

You can powder your nose; "Excuse me" may pass;

Shake the dew off the lily; see a man 'bout a dog;

Or when everyone's soused, it's condensing the fog,

But be pleased to remember if you would know bliss -

That only in Shakespeare do characters piss!

one stanza from this which i first read in The Lure of the Limerick

The right way to say this in the UK would be "I need to go to the toilet" or just "I need the toilet".

Contrary to puppetsock, the word "WC" is hardly used these days, and younger people especially would not know what it meant. You might use it to excuse yourself from an audience with the Queen, but for everyone else you should say "toilet".

"Bathroom" would be understood, but you might get some sarcastic comments of "why, do you need a bath?"

(Excuse me,) I need to use the toilet/bathroom/restroom.

Exactly how that room is named depends on the continent. The commenters are right, toilet is most often used in British English, while Americans prefer restroom or bathroom.

The phrase is not limited to urination:

(Euphemism) to urinate or defecate. May I be excused to use the bathroom? I have to use the toilet.

(source: The Free Dictionary)

but what you're doing there exactly is nobody's business but your own.

I am very surprised that none of the answers or comments so far have mentioned the word "loo", as in "I need the loo"or "Where is the loo?". It is at least as polite as toilet.

In addition, there is a certain snobbery about that word, with many users of BrE considering (quite incorrectly, on linguistic grounds) that "toilet" is a mealy-mouthed, lower-class way of saying "lavatory".

If you wish both to avoid taking a stand one way or the other on the snobbery and to avoid explicitness, you can always say something like "I must disappear for a moment", or "Excuse me for a moment".

There is no polite way to bring the image into others' minds of your spraying out waste water from your privy parts. The polite way to excuse yourself is to say some variation on

I need to go.

or

I'll be back in a minute.

If it's a need at that exact moment, then it's pretty obvious in almost all situations what that need is and you don't need to spell it out at all. "Urinate", being latinate, is going to come across as clinical. "Pee" is childish, "tinkle" or "wee" even more so. "Piss" and "slash" can be rudely vulgar or amusingly friendly depending on your company.

If you need to explain yourself, you can say where you're going instead of what you're doing. You can say toilet or any of the other names for the place but it's still usually gender binary: "I need to go to the Men's", "the Gents'", or "the Ladies'" works better than discussing the plumbing.

I need to...

• ...see a man about a dog.


• ...shake the dew off the lily.


• ...condense some fog.


• ...tinkle.


• ...pee.

These are all colloquial and somewhat humorous ways people often convey this information.

In the US, it is acceptable to say "I need to freshen up" if it is not urgent. This gives the listener the ambiguity that the urinator is just washing their hands and applying make-up, on the listener's behalf.

In the UK we just say... "Just popping to the loo" or "Need the loo, be right back".

Or "Excuse me, I just need to go to the toilet".

But very rarely "Gonna point Percy at the porcelain".

Some people say "Need a wee" or "Need a pee", "Just going for a pee/wee", or "Jimmy riddle" = Piddle.

Don't use "Going for a piss/slash/wizz". It seems vulgar.

Personally I say, “Please excuse me, I need to visit the boy’s room”.

Or for women:

“Please excuse me, I need to visit the ladies.”

Please note: The original question was about the need to urinate. I don't think you need to say why you want to go to the boy's room or the ladies.

'I need to urinate' sounds odd. You cannot say 'I need to urinate'in a formal situation or in public places. We don't usually say 'I need to urinate'. If we need to use washroom, we ask 'where's the washroom?' or 'could you, please tell me where's the washroom.'And if you are eating together in a table and you need to use the washroom you can say, 'excuse me.'
You don't have to mention why exactly you need to use a washroom. I don't think that anyone will ask ' what did you do in the washroom.' You can simply say 'I need to use the washroom, could you please tell me where it is?'

May I be excused

is a common and polite way to go out for a toilet.

I need to spend a penny

A fun one, but not much used since decimal currency came in, "I need to spend a penny" used to be well understood.

There used to be very few ways to spend such a small sum of money; one of them was the coin-operated doors on public toilets. So, even when the facilities were free, or at home, the phrase had only one meaning without being impolite.

Fun fact : the coin op pay toilet was invented by the Victorian stage magician, John Maskelyne.

To add to the suggestions,

"I need to use The Gents" if you are male gets the point across. "The Ladies" sounds a bit more ambiguous for some reason, although "The Ladies' room" would make the same point.

In a business setting I'm quite partial to:

Would anybody mind if we took five minutes for a comfort break?

Deferential, inoffensive without being childishly euphemistic, and acknowledges that there are probably others in the room who'd appreciate a trip to the toilet or to grab a drink etc.

Imo (as this q is highly subjective), one should feel comfortable w/ being both forthright & polite (& every person I've ever befriended would most likely agree), but obviously it depends on the person w/ whom you're speaking:

1. If you're anywhere w/ friends, say whatever you want; if you're judged, then find new ones. I usually just don't say anything @ all. If I stand up & walk to the back of the restaurant, it should be pretty obvious what I am doing lol.


2. If you're somewhere very fancy (like a rewards banquet or first date) w/ strangers, professional colleagues, or a potential partner, just get up & go (as I said before) or, if you're currently (& actively) speaking w/ people, let ONLY them know. Under no circumstances should you ever stand up & announce to everyone lol.

For instances where you feel like you should say something, the following all work:

1. "I'll be right back".


2. (If it is not obvious where the bathroom is) "Do you know where the bathroom is?".

But in general, try not to stress too much about things like this; good people will judge you based on your kindness/ambition(s), NOT on your "politeness".

In the UK you probably want to indicate you need the WC. That's "water closet." Depending on the exact cultural group you are dealing with it may be bathroom, washroom, toilet, restroom, or a couple other things. But nearly everybody in the UK will understand WC. Especially if you are in some kind of public place like the subway or a theater or cinema or pub or such places.

It's definitely cultural. I've learned not to try to ask for a "washroom" in the USA, but to be sure to say "bathroom" even when it's a public facility with absolutely no bathtubs.