Outhouse - Terminology

Terminology

The term "outhouse" is used in North American English for the structure around a simple pit toilet. Outhouses used as toilets are referred to by many terms around the English-speaking world including Dunny (Australia), Bog (British English), and Kybo (Scouting worldwide).

The term "outhouse" may also be used for any small building away from a main building, used for a variety of purposes, but mainly for activities not wanted in the main house. Outhouses are used for storage, animals, and cooking, to name a few uses. Larger structures have names such as barn, stable, woodshed, detached garage and storage shed.

In Australia this toilet is frequently referred to as a dunny or "thunderbox". Waste deposited in earth closets was euphemistically referred to as "nightsoil". In suburban areas not connected to the sewerage, such outhouses were not built over pits. Instead, waste was collected into large cans, or "dunny-cans", which were positioned under the toilet, to be collected by contractors (or "nightsoil collectors") hired by the local council. Collected waste matter would then be removed from the premises and disposed of elsewhere. The contractors would replace the used cans with empty, cleaned cans. Until the 1970s Brisbane relied heavily on this form of sanitation.

In New Zealand such toilets are referred to as "long-drops". These are the usual toilet-variety found on walking/tramping tracks and other locations where water is unavailable for flushing. Less commonly bachs may have these instead of flush toilets.

The term biffy is sometimes encountered in the context of U.S. Girl Scouting, and may have originated with the "BFI" logo of what was at one time Browning-Ferris Industries (now part of Allied Waste Industries), a waste collection company whose trade lines in some markets include the servicing of portable toilets. The term "Biffy" can also perhaps be traced to a company operating in Minnesota named "Biff's," which services portable toilets. Campers are told the term is an acronym for "Bathroom in the Forest For You." An alternate explanation: when backpackers prepare a cathole or trench latrine in their overnight campsite (even embellishing it with fresh-cut flowers), they call it the BIFF - Bathroom In Forest Floor. A backpacking group will carry a zip-lock bag with a trowel, toilet paper, and a lighter (to burn the used tissue); this bag is known as "the BIFF key".

The term "biffy" appears to have originally been a localism in Minnesota and adjoining places. Students studying linguistics in the mid-20th century were given the sample sentence, "If I said 'meet me at the biffy' what would you think?" Hysterical laughter would convulse the class as the professor queried students from other regions and logged their responses.

The term "kybo" is popular within the Scout Movement worldwide. The term "kybo" may have originated at the Farm and Wilderness Camps in Vermont where it came from the coffee cans (Kybo brand coffee) that held the lye or more often lime used to keep odor to a minimum. It was only after Kybo coffee (Motto: a cup full of satisfaction) was no longer available and the cans were no longer used that folks began to come up with other possible reasons for the term "kybo". The word is believed by some to have originated as an acronym for "Keep Your Bowels Open" although this may be a backronym. An interesting aside is that toilet paper is often referred to as "Kybo Tape" or "Kybo Wrap". The term appears in summer camp folklore as a parody of "Downtown":

When you are sleepy and it's time to go peepee there's a place to go... kybo

When you are droopy and it's time to go poopy there's a place to go... kybo

Just listen to the rhythm of the froggies in the toilet,

Even though it's smelly I am sure you will enjoy it

The lights are not on in there, but you forget all your worries,

Forget all your cares in the kybo

Is not it fun to go... kybo

Kybos are firmly woven into the lore of RAGBRAI, the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. "Kybo Roulette", in which riders waiting in line guess which toilet door will open next, is a common and celebrated diversion on the ride. See external link below to view "Adopt-A-Kybo" humor piece.

A floating toilet looks like an outhouse, however, it floats on or above the water. It is essentially an outhouse with a collection tank below to keep feces out of the water. Most feature urine diversion, desiccation (UDD) to permit urine to pass. Applications for this type of outhouse are homes located on or above water or for areas that are flooded.