Hi all,

I am not a native speaker of English, but I like/love/worship this language, as there is rich literatur in English, with works of Shakespeare, John Milton, John Keats, Alexander Pope and many many others being my scriptures, so to say. My daughter is studying in a school, where her principal is fond of making the kids use new words. A few days back, she made all the kids in the school to say, "May I go to pee?" in stead of formal "may I go to washroom?" I think that the word 'pee' if used publicly looks/sounds offensive. Moreover, there are many other ways of saying so, but which of these is worth using publicly -

1. May I go to washroom?
2. May I go to urinate?
3. May I go to number 1?
4. May I go to make water?
5. May I go to answer the nature's call?
6. May I go to pee?
7. May I go to the urinal?

Or, what is the exact way to seek permission to go to urinate, exactly? Is there any difference b/w washroom and urinal?

A urinal is generally understood to be in a mens' room. Asking to use the restroom or bathroom is the generally accepted and publicly appropriate question. Asking to pee, while generally accepted and understood can be considered crude.

When in the company of one or more gentlemen, a lady will say she is going to powder her nose.

(Thank you, Athos.)

Also, asking to simply be excused for a minute will work in social settings but may not work in a classroom. At school, she will probably be required to give the reason she is leaving.

Here's another way to do it (or NOT to do it?):

During my first week of being a teacher and teaching third and fourth grades, I had set up a bathroom-going system so my students could be in charge of their own bathroom breaks. My system involved a 12-inch x 12-inch cardboard sign with a big green circle on one side and a big red circle on the other side. If a student had to use the washrooms (right across the hall from our classroom), the student would flip the cardboard over to the red side, go to the bathroom, and then flip the sign back to green upon his return.

Of course, every student had to try this out. For the next hour, there was a constant stream of students flipping the sign and using the washroom.