Papel de baño

[DailyWord]

This is a discussion thread for the Daily Spanish Word for May 30, 2008

papel de baño - masculine noun (el), toilet paper. Look up papel de baño in the dictionary

El papel de baño es una de aquellas pequeñas necesidades de la vida en la que nadie piensa hasta que ya no hay.
Toilet paper is one of life's little necessities that no one thinks about until there isn't any left.

[Iris]

I know it doesn't sound very elegant, but over here we say papel de váter.

[poli]

Most of the time we use toilet paper, but advertisers, so as not to offend,
use bathroom tissue.

[Iris]

Yeah, but it sounds better in English. Anyway, do they really say papel de baño in South America?

[Rusty]

It's papel higiénico in Central America.

[Iris]

Ah! We say that too.

[poli]

Originally Posted by Iris

Ah! We say that too.

In advertisments or real life?
I know nobody who actually says papel higiéntico or bathroom tissue. Aqui decimos papel de toilet or toilet paper.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by poli

In advertisments or real life?
I know nobody who actually says papel higiéntico or bathroom tissue. Aqui decimos papel de toilet or toilet paper.

In America, we say toilet paper. We go shopping for toilet paper, but we buy toilet tissue (because that is always what's written on the product itself (and most of us don't even notice or care)). It is always advertised as toilet tissue.

[Iris]

Poli, I'm not totally sure, but I think we say it in real life as well...

[Rusty]

Sí, sale igual con Kleenex. In the U.S., people often say Kleenex for any brand of facial tissue, Band-Aid for any brand of adhesive strips, and Xerox for any type of copier. Coke is used to mean any brand of soft drink (pop, soda).
You eventually have to learn all the different words for something, don't you?