• AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space
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    2 months ago

    Apparently this design was popular in Germany a hundred years or so ago. Its key advantage was allowing the user to examine their stools for signs of digestive health problems.

  • Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Story time: I once briefly lived in a place that had an old toilet bowl like this. You can still find them in older houses. One day I took a massive shit and then found out that the flush wasn’t strong enough to get it down from there. And there wasn’t a brush. Yikes. Just wanted to share that with you guys.

    • bricklove@midwest.social
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      2 months ago

      Did you have the light switch outside the bathroom too? That way your friends can make you poop in the dark

      • DefederateLemmyMl@feddit.nl
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        1 month ago

        Still better than a light sensor in a communal bathroom… outside of the stalls. That’s how it is at my workplace. If I spend a bit too long pooping, and nobody else comes in to poop at the same time, I end up in the dark. Then when I have to wipe, I have to either risk opening the stall door and wave into the room, with my dirty ass hanging out, hoping nobody happens to enter the bathroom at that time, or wait patiently for someone to come in and reactivate the light. Makes me wonder how blind people check their wiping: do they go on flavor or smell?

      • BluesF@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Oh, is that not a thing some places? I think the majority are outside here in the UK, generally electricals are not allowed inside the bathroom (although I’m not sure this actually covers light switches as I’m sure some of them are in there…)

        • fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk
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          1 month ago

          I thought the pull-string light switch inside the bathroom was the standard in the UK?

          I’ve only seen switches outside bathrooms in the last 5 years, in recent “having the bathroom re-done” cases.

          It might be an age of house or regional thing though.

          • bitwaba@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            I think it’s against electrical code. You can have a pull string because the wires are on the ceiling which carries the same risk of getting water in it as the light itself that is also on the ceiling. A wall switch would be lower on the wall and has the risk of wet handed people coming directly in contact with it

            Sometimes you’ll see those “shavers only” sockets in bathrooms, which are different from your typical wall outlets in that they have a GCFI (also called RCD), and/or a built in fuse to limit current, and have a floating ground.

            The light switch and light is likely tied to a “live loop” system which runs 230V, and has a 5 or 6 amp non-GCFI breaker on it. That is considerably more dangerous for a wet human to come in contact with.

        • GlendatheGayWitch@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          In the US, it’s extremely rare to have a light switch outside if yhe room with the light. Usually there’s a lights witch and a couple sockets in the bathroom by the mirror.

  • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    American toilets gave me culture shock

    They’re so shallow that you can’t even sit down without your balls touching the bowl or the water

    • The Menemen!@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I hated them, they made me anxious. But much worse were the low stall walls. Why america, why? When I take a shit I want a wall that actually serves the purpose of not having people see me taking a shit.

      On another note, the Dutch style toilets were very common in Germany up until the 90s. Rare nowadays. I think they are actually superior. You see it, if you have a problem with your shit and even the largest shit doesn’t splash water all over your intimate parts. On the other hand, you have to protect your balls from the large shit, when it goes “timber”.

      • Zink@programming.dev
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        1 month ago

        I’ve always known that our stall walls in the US were shit, but then I visited Sweden and saw how truly horrible we were.

        Over there, there are no men’s rooms or women’s rooms. There are just several doors each to a private bathroom and so it doesn’t matter who uses which one.

        I’m sure our “single room with flimsy stall dividers” design is the cheapest, plus it’s not as convenient for all the drug addicts and homeless people our society creates, so it will never change.

  • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Those are actually French toilets. They were designed like this so you can check for blood and other abnormalities. British toilets were designed so the poop would fall in the water, reducing the stench. The British design proved more popular, yet the French design is better with less splashing and for checking. It’s important to check, to find out if there’s something wrong with your intestines like cancer (black blood) or a tapeworm. The British didn’t find this important, just like washing hands after pooping.

    • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      It’s important to check, to find out if there’s something wrong with your intestines like cancer (black blood) or a tapeworm.

      Hungarian here, many in this country prefer the “betegvécé” (French), yet cannot say anything about what they should check for. It’s just virtue signaling, no matter how much people have been abusing that term.

  • samus12345@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    They had these in Germany, too. If you took a particularly massive shit sometimes the water pressure wasn’t enough to shove it into the hole.

  • JimVanDeventer@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Pedophiles in the olympics, our strange toilets with the “poop shelf”; I just can’t win today.

    Edit: it’s so you can inspect it. How is everyone else inspecting their poo?

    • VonReposti@feddit.dk
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      1 month ago

      I think for most people it’s kinda a shit n forget situation. As soon as I have dropped the load I want to disown it and forget it faster than you can say “shit”. You know just like pa did it.

  • Phoenix3875@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Comments on toilets of France, England, and Germany by Slavoj Zizek: https://youtube.com/watch?v=8mtZmBvat4k

    Another good bit (not in the video) is that Zizek thinks that’s why Germans can endure great pain and sacrifices for an ideal…if you are strong enough to observe your shit for health reasons, there’s nothing you can’t do!

  • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de
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    2 months ago

    I know the meme is that people use it to look at their poop, but honestly the main advantage is the 0% chance of water splashing up. I will take this design over the “standard” ones any day.

  • Nikls94@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    It’s so you can examine your stool, you might have some blood or a consistency you don’t like, that way you see it

    • wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Wake up, coffee, breakfast, shit, see how much of last nights meal was really digested, shower, shave, work

      Typical morning, idk what the big fuss is

    • floofloof@lemmy.ca
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      2 months ago

      It also helps you gauge the poop’s internal temperature using the back of your scrote, if you are endowed with fairly loose balls.

  • Gaassporks@feddit.nl
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    1 month ago

    I’m a bit shocked with reactions I read. You’ve probably never heard of figure shitting. I tried to figure shit some letters of the alphabet. I’m great at the letter P and R.