Every student has had this dreaded interaction with a K-12 teacher.
"Can I use the restroom?"
"I don't know, can you?"
Not only is it unoriginal, but most children will not understand the grammatical problem at hand. That's because there is no grammatical problem with "Can I use the restroom," and teachers who act like there is are simply in the mood to be pedantic. I remember a specific Southern brand of this interaction vividly from elementary school.
"May I use the restroom?"
"May I use the restroom what?"
"May I use the restroom please?"
"May I use the restroom ma'am."
Insisting that "ma'am" is a universally accepted indicator of respect is a Southern notion that we don't have time to get into today. Long story short, most teachers do not care this much about going to the restroom. As long as kids ask, it's not a problem for the majority of educators. One teacher shared her school's insane new bathroom policy on Reddit, and her fellow teachers are already poking holes in its efficacy.
