the loo

the john

the can

the pot

throne

biffy

potty

WC & water closet - as have been in recent threads here :-) 

you asked - What alternatives do you know for this essential household item?   Do you really mean alternatives to the toilet?  Or was it the name you were referring to?  (weird - I can't get rid of the italics!! ) 

I think the modern day toilet was invented by Thomas Crapper - or so the story goes!

Sometimes called outhouse.

Speaking of alternatives to the toilet... When I visited South Korea with my wife I encountered a couple of human waste disposal systems I hadn't before. The first was in a restaurant. In the mens washroom in a couple of the stalls, instead of toilets they just had rectangular holes in the floor one could squat over and dump into. The second was on a farm, and was an elevated outdoor seat to sit on. As one did their business, the crap would fall through a hole in the bottom of the seat onto the ground below. Then pigs would come and eat up the fecal matter.

showers have worked well as an alternative for me :3 more fun with 'attachments'...

also, bidets are a lot more fun than the protestant-work-ethic toilet ;3

"the necessary room"

For some reason I can't remember, I remember my dad referring to it as the "po" - it could have been his was of toddlercizing the word pot to us.

Or maybe that was out toddler way of saying it and he just picked up on our baby talk.

I beg your pardon - "the shitter"

I've also heard. Some refer to it as the "pooper".

Expanding to the whole room:

Washroom

Bathroom

Ensuite

Powder Room

And the "crapper"

Note: I am fairly sure that the washroom just off the sanctuary had "the necessary room" stencilled on the door.  Some people didn't know what it was.

I guess, based on that, we could also include the men's room, or the ladies room.

dunny, brasco

bog

privy

pissoir

ablutions

rest room

wow, when you guys say these I go , "oh yeah", but i truly had forgotten about them.

lol I hadn't heard of the necessary room before.  Some of IWs are new to me, but his posts having new words is nothing new :)

Wow - so we even have 'church speak' words for the toilet!  The things I learn on WonderCafe!

hahahahaha

Once, for a makeshift toilet out in the country, we dug a hole, and put a beam over it to sit on. We called it the"thunder beam."

porcelain megaphone - after too many drinks