Asking for the toilets is pretty common. It's just in North America that it is not considered for polite conversation. In the US it is very much dependant on Region. In the large cities, washroom or bathroom works. In North America, toilet is used simply for the device you sit on. If you were literal, washroom would refer to a place that provide washing facilities, but not a shower or bath. A bathroom or bath house would have a bath... Needless to say, in common conversation as is mentioned above, they are often used interchangeably. And even if you try to be precise, other won't so there try. Oh, another term is the powder room ;)

I think the main difference is the region in which they are spoken, because they all mean the same thing. :) "Washroom" and "restroom" are also more polite than "toilet," I believe. But, for example, in the US you'd only hear "I need to use the restroom" or "I need to use the bathroom." There are a lot of other variations, too!

To me, 'washroom', 'bathroom' and 'restroom' are the same, although I'd only say 'bathroom'. A toilet is the thing you sit on when you...do your business. When asking for directions, it's not uncommon to ask for the toilet itself as opposed to the room it's in. It's never occurred to me until right now how bizarre that is.

Thank you all. Oh, now I see that the main difference of these words are the region. In Korea, I learned the words of toilet facilities as a restroom, bathroom and rarely Roo(I heard this word is using in the UK.) in English class. But in a public place, they are written "toilet". When I went to Japan, they use the "toilet". In Canada, I heard "wash room" a lot either. Okay, I will use "restroom" when I go to the America someday.:) p.s. when you travel in Korea and if you don't know how to say it in Korean, I suggest you ask to Korean people "restroom" first and then "bathroom", "toilet".

They are the same thing except Americans seem to get very upset if one uses Toilet (a thousand Americans have just fainted!).