toilet seat courtesy...the battle rages on....

[mopaul]

my wife and i have taken it to extremes i think. i always leave the lid down out of respect for her. and god bless her pointy little head, she leaves it lifted up for me. so here we are, both practicing toilet seat courtesy for one another, a task we can do without help so far.

my son however, has learned almost nothing from this behavior. he seems negatively affected. (he's 19, and still developing). he leaves the seat closed, both lids, upper and lower. is he making a statement or leaving a cryptic message? i always hate to lift it up.

if we can put a man on mars, why can't we come up with a simple solution for this unacceptable burden on modern man, and womankind?

[arwalden]

1. Install A Porcelain Urinal In Each Bathroom

... problem solved.

Only... who gets to CLEAN THEM?? Ugh!

-- Allen

[short bus president]

21. EXACTLY!

Am I the only man here who thinks that a urinal should be standard equipment in a man's bathroom? If I shared my house with anyone of the opposite sex, I'd damn sure have one installed in each bathroom. It's a brilliant way to neatly sidestep the toilet seat issue.

And then I'd have somewhere to put my dubya urinal cakes...

[matcom]

2. make the 19 y.o. pee in the yard

problem solved :D

[arwalden]

4. I'm Always Afraid To Lift A Closed Lid Too...

"What's under there?"
"What is someone trying to hide?"
"Will it jump out at me?"
"If something is there...WHO LEFT IT? It's not mine!"

-- Allen

[greatauntoftriplets]

5. Closed lid keeps dogs from drinking the toilet water.

Yecchh.

[thom1102]

8. Why is this yecchh?

If the toilet is cleaned on a regular basis, and there is no blue drop-in in the water, what's wrong with the dog using the bowl as a watering dish? The water is often fresher, and colder than what it would get in a dish.

[wtmusic]

3. like the new sig mopaul n/t

[Chuckup]

6. The proper thing to do

is to put both lids down. Your son is doing the correct thing.

Whe your wife leaves the lids up, who is to say a male will have to go next? And if by chance you do go next, who is to say you will need to take a leak, in fact, you may need to have a crap, thus, you will have to put the seat down.

Your son is telling you something...

[thom1102]

7. I never understood the big deal about toilet seat debates...

It's the first thing I check when I go into the bathroom. If I need to sit, I make sure it is down, if I need to pee, I make sure it is up. Even in multisexed households, this is the rule I have followed. Seems like such a silly thing to waste time and energy debating.

[arwalden]

9. Everyone Is Personally Responsible For Their Own Immediate Need...

... If I can remember to lift, then you can remember to lower. Don't anticipate my need... just lift when you need it lifted and lower it when you need it lowered.

I think that Thom1102 and I have the solution. I've felt this way for YEARS.

Now... can we make any money with our "idea"??

-- Allen

[FlaGranny]

24. Easy for you to say!

;-) A 3 in the morning trip to the bathroom by a VERY groggy female can result in a very startled gal with a very wet behind. But it does seem much more likely for a girl to forget to check that the seat is down than for a guy forget to make sure that it is up. I wonder why that is.

[RC]

13. I agree. How 'bout debating something really important?

Like which way the toilet paper goes on the holder, under or over? It should hang down the back. Hanging off the front remindes me of cheep motels and redneck bathrooms. :evilgrin:

[radwriter0555]

18. HAH! I FREAK OUT if the maid hangs the paper in the back! I will STARE

at it while using the facilities and attempt to NOT change it back, but ultimately, it bugs the crap out of me and I HAVE to change it.

But then I have this thing about clothing on hangers and things in drawers. All facing in the same direction.

[ForrestGump]

32. You speak the truth - it SHOULD hang over the front

We are still talking about toilet paper, right?

Sorry - I mean 'bathroom tissue'

[THUNDER HANDS]

10. ah leave it down

I have great aim, so I don't really care.

:evilgrin:

[Chuckup]

11. Small guns usually shoot straight and narrow

[thom1102]

12. ROTFLMAO!!!

That is priceless. I will have to remember that one.

[THUNDER HANDS]

14. *ahem*

*cough*

[DelDem]

16. Actually it's bad Feng Shui to leave the bowl open

In my household we leave both the seat and lid down. You should close the lid before flushing because (prepare to be grossed out)...... when the toilet is flushed, it is said that microscopic droplets are released into the air for several feet. Do you want that landing on your toothbrush?

[GOPisEvil]

19. Welcome to DU!

[DelDem]

26. Thanks

Geez I can't believe my first post was about toilet seats...

[Sophree]

30. That was your first post?

Your DU name is very appropos, then- threadkiller. :D

[kimchi]

20. That was going to be my point, also.

You don't want all that wonderful chi to go down the sewer. Alas, although my husband is ethinically (sp?) Chinese, he doesn't give a rat's ass about feng shui. He can't even pronounce it. So I gave him a practical reason-the baby might fall in and drown. He still forgets, which is why I don't leave him alone with her very often. I come home and the entire house is torn apart. He says "Oh, did she do that? I didn't notice."

[Sophree]

29. Ewwwwwwwwww

I can't decide if I'm glad you told us that or not! ;-)

Gross. Will put seat down before flushing from now on.

Welcome to DU, by the way. :hi:

[mark0rama]

15. Your son is right...

...especially if he closes the lid (not just the seat, but the lid) *before* he flushes, because, when you flush, a fine mist of the toilet contents is launched into the air.

Sorry if you're reading this over breakfast, but it is something to think about if you keep your toothbrush within a few feet of the toilet.

On edit: More than you want to know about this at http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990416.html

[primavera]

27. It's more equitable that way

If both seat and lid are down, at least it's equally inconvenient for both men and women. In my experience, I've never known a woman who would raise the seat after she was done in consideration for the man who follows, yet it's expected that the man will lower the seat after he's done out of consideration for her. My SO tried to convince me that it was, in fact, "more natural" that the seat should be down - not that it was more considerate from her point of view, but indeed that it somehow reflected some law of physics or justice or aesthetics or something that the seat be down at all times, it cracked me up! I'm happy to leave the seat down for her, but I still chuckle over that one!

[radwriter0555]

17. I think seats, like drawers, should ALWAYS be closed when not in use...

therefore, your SON is acting correctly. Towards BOTH of you, since he can't anticipate BOTH your needs separately.

See, in California we got these things called EARTHQUAKES. And if you happen to leave stuff on or above the toilet, and the lid is open, stuff falls IN the toilet.

I learned my lesson on that in 1994, the hard way at 4:30 am in the morning.

Besides, why have a whole LID if not to USE it? Toilets should always be closed when not in use. There are far more valuable ways to show spousal appreciation and consideration.

[TrogL]

22. use the sink

easier to clean and it's a better height

[underpants]

23. Hell why even leave the porch?

:bounce:

[MountainLaurel]

34. OMG

Is this my father, the man who has been known to whiz off the back porch at 3 am because he doesn't want to climb the stairs to the bathroom?

[AnnabelLee]

25. Fortunately this has never been an issue in my house

My husband came to me pre-trained by his mother to put the seat down.:D

My first husband always left it up, a habit he abruptly changed after accidentally dropping his toothbrush into the toilet.:evilgrin:

[dpbrown]

28. I leave it closed

I guess that's both lids down, in your jargon. So does my wife. That way we're both equally imposed upon, and the bathroom always looks "finished." We both hate open toilets.

[Regice]

31. I put the seat and lid down since I was a kid

I used to stay at my uncle's farm, and sometimes critters would find their way up through the plumbing. Before that he had an outhouse, and the lid definitely stays down.

[ForrestGump]

33. I always leave both lids down

And I have fallen in to strange toilets (well, strange to me) during my infrequent nocturnal osmoregulatory forays. Large as I am, the average American commode can still deliver my tender bottom quite easily into that lake. Overseas toilets tend to be hard to fall into.

[this_side_up]

35. for your health

you should lower the seat and close the lid before you flush.


I don't remember who did the study but when a toilet
is flushed gazillions of bacteria become aerolized and
guess who is in there breathing.

Besides that, the dirtiest part of a bathroom is
reputed to be the handle.

Public bathrooms do not have lids. Breathe shallowly.

If the door to a public bathroom has a handle, grab
a clean piece of paper towel to cover the handle when
you leave because lots of people either don't wash
or are not thorough.