Multinational Betas

I was going to say, I expect it would depend a lot on the audience and the diction that you're going for.

A slightly repressed 50 year old man, or a man in the company of women whose sensibilities he didn't want to offend, might simply stand up and say "Excuse me." And then leave to go take a leak without mentioning it at all.

A 50 year old man around his buddies at a fishing camp or in the locker room would probably say "Gotta take a leak." Or use one of the more colorful phrases suggested above.

I did notice on a recent trip to Canada that Canadians tend to call the bathroom the washroom, whereas we tend to use bathroom or restroom rather than toilet or washroom. So I would definitely use restroom or bathroom.

I started to say that bathroom was slightly more common, but then I realized something.

I only use restroom to describe public restrooms--like one in a hotel at the conference room level, or in a restaurant, or a library, or a building at a university.

I would never call a bathroom in someone's house a restroom.

I might call a restroom a bathroom, but the other ways around (a private home's bathroom a restroom?) never.

Hope that helps.