Toilets – we all use them but seldom like to talk about them. The flushing toilet was invented by Sir John Harrington in 1596 for Queen Elizabeth I. He was originally barred from the Royal Court for spreading smutty stories, but after his invention, he was allowed back. Having whet your appetite for fascinating toilet facts, let us look at 15 more.
1. The film “Psycho” was the first movie to show a toilet flushing – the scene caused an inpouring of complaints about indecency
2. Pomegranates studded with cloves were used as the first attempt at making toilet air-freshner
3. Hermann Goering refused to use regulation toilet paper – instead he bought soft white handkerchiefs in bulk and used them
4. Over $100,000 US dollars was spent on a study to determine whether most people put their toilet paper on the holder with the flap in front or behind; the answer: three out of four people have the flap in the front
5. King George II of Great Britain died falling off a toilet on the 25th of October 1760
6. The average person spends three whole years of their life sitting on the toilet
7. The first toilet cubicle in a row is the least used (and consequently cleanest)
8. An estimated 2.6 billion people worldwide do not have access to proper toilet facilities, particularly in rural areas of China and India.
9. The Roman army didn’t have toilet paper so they used a water soaked sponge on the end of a stick instead!
10. The toilet is flushed more times during the super bowl halftime than at any time during the year.
11. 90% of pharmaceuticals taken by people are excreted through urination. Therefore our sewer systems contain heavy doses of drugs. A recent study by the EPA has found fish containing trace amounts of estrogen, cholesterol-lowering drugs, pain relievers, antibiotics, caffeine and even anti-depressants.
12. Lack of suitable toilets and sanitation kills approximately 1.8 million people a year, many of them children.
13. The toilet handle in a public restroom can have up to 40,000 germs per square inch.
14. While he didn’t invent the toilet, Thomas Crapper perfected the siphon flush system we use today. He was born in the village of Thorne – which is an anagram of throne.
15. In a 1992 survey, British public toilets were voted the worst in the world. Following quickly behind were Thailand, Greece, and France.
I remember once when I was in Southport, UK. I was dying for a *****. I managed to see one before I wet myself. I crossed the road and remained composed, I knew I had made it.
Horror of horrors as I see they charge 20p for using it. I quickly pulled out my wallet and feverishly searched for coins. I found about four 50p coins, slightly upset I had to sacrifice so much for 15 seconds of urination, I put the money to the slot. It wouldn’t fit.
I almost cried. However, luckily I managed to find someone who would trade coins around the corner.
hehe
HI BOB!
ooo gwwww guido! LLLLDDDDDD
awesome
Toilets are HAWT
Interesting list.
wee third
I don’t mind that vanity aquarium one! I think the water is optimized but really funny!
i could have 3 more years of life if i did something while sitting on the toilet
WOW!
Let me predict that there will be a number of pun-ful comments of varying degrees of taste. I’ll come back when I’ve thought of one.
I’m still reeling from seeing “fascinating facts” and “toilets” in the same sentence.
Hmm. I’m suspicious of a few of these.
I know Psycho was famous for showing a flushing toilet for the first time, but with transvestism, perversion and shower stabbings in the same movie, did the mere presence of a toilet really cause such a – ahem – stink?
cool list. In Massachusetts there is the American Sanitary Plumbing Museum or as we call it the toilet museum. Went there one time and it was surprisingly fun.
you know sitting on a toilet is a great time to get some thinking done. I wonder if that is how you got the idea for this list?
3 years?? that doesn’t sound right.
its like an hour a day, everyday.
and british toilets being the worst! haha i wouldn’t have guessed that.
wait, so they actually spent 100K dollars, just to find out how the toiletpaper hangs in someones house?
either there is some money to make by products that use such info, or someone did not want the money to be spent usefully.
either way, that is 50,000 beers (or cokes) flushed down the drain. i think there are much more fun (and fulfilling) ways to spend money.
Bog-standard list
Actually I kinda agree that British toilets are crappy (tee hee) when I went to covent garden recently I really needed the loo but the closest public toilets were disgusting! One of them was overflowing… Ergh
But in airports, cinemas, shopping centres, etc they’re surprisingly very nice, so don’t take the *****! I’m so sorry I couldn’t resist.
8. Dave Rattigan – It sure did! The reason Marion tears the paper up and flushes it in the toilet was so Hitch*****could insist the flushing of the toilet was necessary for the scene and would not be forced to have it removed.
And then 15 years later, the Brady kids didn’t even get to have a toilet…
Hello Dave, My friend would like to use your toilet…
Another victory for Britain! Worst toilets in the world. Anywhere else we go is a luxury.
British toilets are the worst? I dont think George Michael will agree!!
I cant make number 2 in public toilets!!
The thing about number 9 – the Roman stick sponge is that it was a communal implement.
Who ever did the worst toilet survey obviously did not visit Africa countries in Africa. At the Swaziland and South Africa border the public toilets will give you super-waiting-powers you never thought you had.
Also the FIFA Confederations Cup is currently being played in South Africa. Spain destroyed New Zealand with a 5 – 0 win. Sorry Jfrater.
Don’t know about public toilets, but I’d suggest that toilets in British bars are pretty good. We know there are going to be hordes of beer swilling guys and plan accordingly. In Italy, there’s usually just one toilet and a long queue in popular bars. Same thing in France, except they usually forget to clean the toilet. I think this is because a night out usually consists of a few hours spent chatting over a teeny tiny cup of coffee or a cognac.
Having said that, the absolute worst was a rough bar in Glasgow, where the floor was just a sea of *****. Luckily the floor sloped slightly, so you could edge along the back of the toilet with the ‘sea’ lapping at your toes and contribute to the flood. Just about beats the trendy Parisian joint where the toilet had a wall of flies.
List item no 9:
Q: What’s brown and sticky?
A: A stick.
Q: What’s browner and stickier?
A: A Roman stick.
In two and a half years of living in Korea, I used Asian-style squat toilets three times – each time in dire emergency; indeed, once in dire rear (get it? haha!). I predicted that there would be tasteless puns.
oh my!
How long will #7 actually be true for? Because people will go into the first cubicle thinking it’s the cleanest, when in fact a lot more people will be using it. So then the second, third, etc etc cubicles will actually be the cleanest after a while. Oui?:)
I have heard that the second toilet is the dirtiest as people do miss the first one and automatically head for the second… this is a habit I am tying to break. It is harder than you think. Next time you head into the toilets and you have the choice of all toilets, see where you automatically go!
One thing that really bothers me about foreign countries (especially in Europe) is that they charge money for the use of the toilet. I explained to an Italian friend of mine that gas stations and most other businesses in America will let anyone use their toilet without buying anything or handing over a quarter. Somehow this led my Italian friend to believe that some gas stations in the States exist exclusively for the purpose of making a toilet available.
i got a cool story about public toilets in bratislava, slovakia. i was just passing trough that country as i was going from chech republic to hungary and we stayed for about 3 hours there. i went to mcdonalds to eat something and after that we went for a walk. as i was walking i felt my stomach starting to digest the stuff i just ate
i had to find a public toilet and i had to find it fast. luckily, we were in some kind of a park next to the main square. i looked around, and immediately found a wc. it was an underground type, and the urinals were separated from the toilets. i walked in, i payed 2 euros to an old lady that looked like a witch and she gave me 2 sheets of paper to wipe. the toilet had no lock, there was no toilet seat, and the scrubber was chained to a wall. i did my thing somehow, and proceeded to the sink, hoping i can wash my hands. of course, there was no water, and the soap was in a small bag also chained to the wall… so i thought to myself, maybe there are sinks in the part where the urinals are. so i went there. as i was walking in there i saw something very very disturbing, at least for my standards. an older man was on his knees, performing a fellatio on a younger man and the third one was watching and masturbating. i stood there in shock for a second, turned around, got in my car and left slovakia never to return again. i hope u like the story, it was all true. cheers.
Three years on a toilet in a lifetime? That’s why it’s important to not just sit there and do nothing, instead read a book or write a screenplay. Just don’t talk on the phone though.
When I read the title, I thought it might be a crappy list, but it doesn’t stink! ba-dum tish!
As for number 7, I heard that it was false now. It used to be true. Now because many believe it to be the cleanest, they use it and now it has become one of the dirtiest.
I feel that I need to bring sanatizer in with me just to go to the restroom.
@Clouds (19): “At the Swaziland and South Africa border the public toilets will give you super-waiting-powers you never thought you had.”
That cracked me up!
Thailand second to the British? I’m shocked. We must do better!! (I guess we lost a couple points coz you don’t gotta sit on a squat toilet)
I would like to nominate Brazzaville International Airport of Congo Africa. For worst public toilets in the world.
#11: assuming the average person lives to 80 or so, it works out to 54 minutes each day of toilet use. So, you’re right. Even when you factor in days when you may use the toilet more (those painful #2′s, the day-after-a-night-of-drinking runs, illness), 3 years still seems a bit high.
I don’t think I’m the only one who noticed that the guy who perfected the siphon flush system is named Thomas Crapper, but I haven’t read a comment about it yet. How’s that for an appropriate name?
*makes a mental note never to use a public toilet in Britain*
How could Frnce have come fourth when they still utilised the ubiquitous ‘*****eau’ (phonetic spelling – pronounced *****-wah) – the open air hole-in-the- ground0and-four-walls over which the urinating male could see (and so converse wirth friends/passers-by and where one could also see their ankles.
My wife is French and the easiest way to watch her shudder with horror is to mention the term ‘*****-wah’ in her hearing: Add to that they stank for 100 yards in every direction – - – - OK; 30 yards in every direction!
Has anyone ever watched Transpotting? The scene when the main character falls into the toilet… yeah thats right… all toilets in the UK look like that… even in private homes!!!
TOILET HUMOUR:
Why is a man’s pee yellow and sperm white?
So we can tell if we’re Coming or Going.
What did Mr. Spock find in the toilet? The Captain’s log.
actually the term crapper was used for a toilet for a while after he became known for then. And the term crap comes from that. How would you like to have crap named after you?
Anyone have that one guy/gal at work who COMPLETELY destroys the office bathroom after use? And they’re PROUD of it!
Number 10 is bunk, as snopes.com will tell you, and this list is rife with grammatical errors.
I hope your book doesn’t turn out as poorly edited as this site is sometimes.
Wow, Bob… who peed in your Cheerios?
Picture no. 3, I can’t imagine anything more romantic than pooing with your partner… … … … …
I also heard that squat toilets are actually better than sitting toilets because the poo comes out through a more natural shape of the body.
@ Bob :
Snopes.com is full of bullsh*t!!!!
And by the way… so are you!!!
Peculiar but interesting!
Bob # 38 – sober up.
i found the toilets at the thai-cambodian border (poipet) life-alteringly horrific. the open-air communal squatty-potty set-up in some parts of beijing is quite a jarring experience too.
# 19 Clouds – yea I agree with you on the sanitation problem at the border post.
I live 200 kms from the Golela border post, and go to Big Bend and Pigs Peak quite often.
So nice to here that a fellow Listserver – practicaly passed my front doorstep on the way to Swazi.
Thanks Jamie nice list.
Once while wandering around Palmerston North NZ (I believe) my wife needed to use a toilet. Seeing the sign for a public restroom she entered the facility. Turns out that what it was: a restroom. No toilets, just couches and chairs for people to sit and relax.
I have to publicly thank McDonalds for providing a free toilet all the way through my Europe trip, while I never dared to consume their “food”, every time I saw that big yellow M my bladder rejoiced
your a retard
Regardlesss of what snopes says, I was still curious about #10 anyway. Do people in New Zealand also rush to the toilet during the halftime of the US Super Bowl broadcast?
Some real geniuses here today. Look, number ten is false. If it isn’t, prove me wrong. And this list has errors all through it. If it doesn’t, prove me wrong. It’s pretty simple, folks (but then, so are you).
Hi. Good list. – lets not defocate it.
With Glastonbury Music Festival just around the corner, I’d like to nominate fastival ‘facilities’ as the worst toilets in the world – ever. The stories I could tell you! It’s much better these days but in the past, whenever a port-a-loo get full, folks would still keep on using it… You had to master the art of hovering OVER the huge pile and dangle yourself in mid air to part with anything – all while holding your breath from the stink. If you were lucky, you could make it; but if you passed out while holding your breath – you were in DEEP *****!
Public bogs in Britain are quite average on the whole, maybe those in scotland are worse?
@Shagrat (33): Isn’t La Piscine the word for toilet in France??
(joke)
Any girls ever used a she-pee?
@Travis (34): Thank you Travis, I thought I was the only person thinking about that movie, when I read the fact about the state of affairs in the British loos.
@archangel (40):What a cute thought, it reminded me of this…
))((
Some of you may recall the emoticon for pooping back and forth from “Me and You and Everyone We Know”.
Personally I thought the 3rd picture could use a dose of Tidybowl and a –dare i say it—sponge on a brush!
What happened to my emoticon?! it should show as..
))((
Damn you Word Press…Okay Jamie now I have a problem…Arghhhh!
I would have to say that I think number 10 would be correct. Only because the sheer amount of alcohol that is consumed during the game causing many more calls to nature.
My two cents on the matter.
I was on the toilet once when a mild earthquake hit. For a brief moment before I realized what was happening I thought I was rocking the house with the best crap ever.
Where can I get a toilet like the one in the third picture? That is the *****iest thing ever!
Go Bob!
That first toilet looks like some kind of bizarre molestation device…
Hey!! Has anyone ever been to a toilet where there’s a TV? I went to this pub in Santiago, Chile (where I’m from)that has a TV playing 80′s music videos… I thought it was hilarious!! very interesting experience…and the music was much more fun when you were IN the toilet
p
PS: Firt time commenting. I’m kinda nervous…
@ Lifeschool (50)
The French word “piscine” directly translated actually means pool.
That means that it is equally as disgusting. Nice find.