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Lar Pom

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Pooledad

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My auntie came to Birmingham just before WW II and even many years later would tell the story of how she was completely flummoxed by one particular piece of Brummie slang. Strange to tell I never heard the item myself as a kid (50's & 60's) and have not seen a reference to it so far on the Internet.
That is to say on her first day in Brum she had someone ask her where the "Lar Pom" was. She was a geordie and had no idea what the kid was talking about.
So then "Lar Pom" means toilet.
In the 50's and 60's we just called it the "bog" which was common all over. But Lar Pom ? That's a rare one.
I'd like to hear from you toilet experts please.
 
Can't help my Mom was from Erdington and I never recall her using the term in that way I will ask my sister she may know of it. My Dad was of farming background so would have used a more earthy term out of Mom's hearing that is.
 
My Nan and Grandad used to say "he's out on the Lar Pom". He had been a farm worker and she came up from the East End of London so don't know where it originated. Hadn't seen those words for 50 odd years!
 
The words La Pom were used as a name for the lavatory which was 99% an outdoor one, in our house we always thought it was posh and we were speaking French!!, it was never referred as the toilet it was always the lavatory. Len.
 
I remember 'La plom de fluk' A lady I grew up with always said that was where she was off to.

Maggs
 
Pooledad said:
My auntie came to Birmingham just before WW II and even many years later would tell the story of how she was completely flummoxed by one particular piece of Brummie slang. Strange to tell I never heard the item myself as a kid (50's & 60's) and have not seen a reference to it so far on the Internet.
That is to say on her first day in Brum she had someone ask her where the "Lar Pom" was. She was a geordie and had no idea what the kid was talking about.
So then "Lar Pom" means toilet.
In the 50's and 60's we just called it the "bog" which was common all over. But Lar Pom ? That's a rare one.
I'd like to hear from you toilet experts please.
Click to expand...

Yes, "Lar Pom" was a saying I remember from my younger days but I think it died out with later generations.
 
my aunty always said she was going to the lar pom.

she said it as if it was a posh word. i didnt know whether she had made it up herself but it sounds as if it was a known phrase for the toilet. i had forgotten all about it but as soon as i saw your post the memories came back. thanks.
 
l definatley used the term "lar pom" when l was a kid or the Lav, but then thats showing my age as l hav'nt heard that expression for a long long time......now its the loo, l always thought that loo was more a London term.....Brenda
 
When we were kids we used to call it the ''Lar Pom''i hand'nt heard it called that for ages

Mau-reece
 
Mossy, did you see my La pom de fluke? That's what that lady I lived with called it.

Maggs.
 
Maggs yes i did but i think she must have added that her self,i could be wrong but we always knew it as ''Lar Pom''.......hey maggs what about the guzunda

Mau-reece
 
Yes Mossy that lady was good at making things up. These days they would call her a smart cookie.

The film star at Morgans chip shop, (Lisa Daniels), actually only appeared to make one film. I remembered it was called 'The gambler from Natchez' When I checked on Google, there was nothing else.

The Gazunda, I was so glad that when I lived in those old back to backs I never needed to get up in the night..I would never have gone down that yard anyhow. Older people seemed to have a gazunda didn't they? Oh and perhaps little children eh?

Maggs
 
Dont forget Maggs i lived in Ladywood in the back to backs till i was 15.....1963 and remember going to the ''lar Pom''with a lighted piece of paper in the night


Maureece
 
I can't imagine what the lighted paper was for, I used normal Newspaper Mau-reeece
 
Maggs once you had found where you was going you put it down the ''Lar Pom''giggle

Mau-reece
 
My Nan & Grandad (on my Dads side) used to use that expression too, the Lar Pom......as if it was a more genteel way of saying 'going to the loo'!! Mind, they did think themselves quite posh compared to my Moms family.

Haven't heard it used in years....must start using it now eh?
 
As kids I remember we always used to say 'la-pom' between ourselves, but I don't think our parents taught us to do so. My middle class parents taught me to say 'lavatory' (which means washing place), and frowned upon what they called snobs who said 'toilets' (meaning exactly the same thing). I was horrified when I first heard an American say 'bathroom' (meaning the same yet again).
As grown-ups we have a good choice of names if we really need to use them.
Peter
 
Dolphie said:
My Nan & Grandad (on my Dads side) used to use that expression too, the Lar Pom......as if it was a more genteel way of saying 'going to the loo'!! Mind, they did think themselves quite posh compared to my Moms family.

Haven't heard it used in years....must start using it now eh?
Click to expand...

Yes, my Nan (born 1891) used to use the expression too.
I have never heard anyone else use it and often wondered where the saying came from.
 
I remember "Lah pom" (or "Lar pom") well. My sister and I (both born in the 1960s) used to find it an amusing term & took great delight in using it instead of "toilet".

My parents (born in the 1930s) would occasionally reminisce about "Guzzunders" - when I asked what it was & what it meant, it was always explained that it was a pot that "Guzz under the bed"!

Fond memories!
 
Well, once again this site throws up something which gives the old memory cells a good kick up the a*** !!! I'm a mere 55 yrs old but remember it so well. Yes, 'Lar Pom' - my dad always called it that, in fact he had that name on the wooden door of our outside toilet, written in chalk. Like you all, I'd not heard the expression used by anyone else but it seems to have been fairly common.

Outside toilets !!! there was no light in ours, if you needed to go during the hours of darkness you had to light a candle - well how else would you be able to see the squares of newspaper hanging on a nail ??? Try explaining all that to youngsters these days and they just stare at you with that strange expression which looks like they're thinking " Is this guy an escapee from the psycho ward ???"
 
silhouette53 said:
Well, once again this site throws up something which gives the old memory cells a good kick up the a*** !!! I'm a mere 55 yrs old but remember it so well. Yes, 'Lar Pom' - my dad always called it that, in fact he had that name on the wooden door of our outside toilet, written in chalk. Like you all, I'd not heard the expression used by anyone else but it seems to have been fairly common.

Hi there

Sounds to me like it probably originated from returning soldiers from WW1
and was La Pomme (the apple). Perhaps the French used such an expression as 'going to to the apple barrel or apple store' in the same way as we use(d) the expressions 'visiting the vicar', or 'going to water the horse' for a trip to the loo! Someone knows for certain - would be interested to know.

Kind regards

Dave
Click to expand...
 
Have never heard of La Pom before, but I quite like it and might start to use it:-) My Dad used to call it the 'Cahzi' and my Mom always told him off!
 
Has anyone got a copy of Proper Brummie by Carl Chinn? It's probably listed in there with its origin.
 
Sounds a bit bay winda to me! La Pom is mentioned in Ray Tennant's book Aware Din Urea. It apparently was used all over Brum but unsure of the origin,it may not have originally been a Brummy saying.

I haven't looked at this book for a while, It has given me a few laughs!
I like the term jow ear.........answer Did you hear about?
 
I don't know how I missed this thread before but I certainly remember using the phrase La Pom, but had completely forgotten about it. Never hear it used these days. If it wasn't for the Forum these words and phrases would die out altogether.

I often find myself using old sayings and I think I will have to post that on the Forum, then I forget - must write them down in future.
 
For some reason I've only just run across this topic. My grandmother (Brummie born & bred, 1898) used the phrase, as did my mother (now dead) and both her sisters (still with us). I've always assumed it was a Brummie expression as I've never met a non-Brummie who knows of it. It could well come from WW1. Haven't heard it for many years, though - the last person I recollect using it was an elderly aunt (Wolverhampton born but raised in Birmingham) of my wife's, who died (the aunt, not my wife!) about 15 years ago.

Graham
 
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