# Bathroom signs **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 6, 2017, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140 "2017-02-06T02:21:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140/21 "2017-02-06T16:09:34Z")
When I was in college, there was a typed sign taped above the toilet paper dispenser in every stall in every ladies’ room in one of the buildings: **IF YOU DO NOT INTEND TO SIT PLEASE WIPE THE SEAT SO THE REST OF US DO NOT HAVE TO SIT IN YOUR URINE!!!** Obviously, someone had sat in a puddle once too often. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140/22 "2017-02-06T16:15:03Z")
I was in a science building at Case Western Reserve last weekend, in the ladies room. There was a printed sign that said something like: > [@](#): > > Dear new student who is “hovering” over the seat because you are afraid of germs: please do not do this. You pee all over the seat and it leaves actual germs for those of us that end up sitting down. You will not catch a disease from sitting on a toilet seat - especially if no one else hovers. It was more concise than this but in all my near-40 years I’ve never seen a sign like this. And it must be a regular problem because the sign was printed and laminated, not just scrawled on the wall. Good job, ladies 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140/23 "2017-02-06T16:38:24Z")
Do R. Crumb posters count as signs? If so, how about _[Tommy Toilet sez: “Don’t forget to wipe your ass, folks!”](http://www.artnet.com/magazine/features/kuspit/Images/kuspit12-4-4.jpg)_ ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140/24 "2017-02-06T16:45:42Z")
Although urine is not absolutely sterile, it is more sterile than tap water. Peeing on the seat is less likly to transmit pathogens than touching the doorknob or flush handle with wet hands after washing them. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140/25 "2017-02-06T16:49:26Z")
I don’t care if it’s urine, sterilized water, or vintage champagne - I don’t want to sit on a wet toilet seat, and I’m pretty sure no one else wants to, either. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140/26 "2017-02-06T16:59:14Z")
There should be a sign in one public bathroom at my workplace that reads: “If you tear more toilet paper off the roll than you can use, please dispose of it in the waste basket rather than leaving it atop the dispenser. Rest assured\* that no one else is going to use it.” “Rest Assured” is the sublime name for the paper toilet seat shields dispensed in some public restrooms, for those whose pristine butts cannot be allowed to contact a naked, festering, germ-ridden toilet seat. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140/27 "2017-02-06T17:05:37Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I was in a science building at Case Western Reserve last weekend… OP aside… Can you tell why the school is named that, without gooja? The answer will blow your mind! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140/28 "2017-02-06T18:27:32Z")
I once worked at an office building that shared bathrooms with many other tenants. One day I went in to find a hand-lettered manifesto that some woman had posted. I can’t recall it all, but the main point was to tell us all to always flush, because “unflushed toilets cause e-coli”. I thought this was stupid and posted a counter-argument pointing out the lack of logic in her statement, and then found a few days later a long screed abusing me and everyone else for being dirty. Oh, yeah, and she also put a container of her own anti-bacterial hand soap next to the sink and told us all to use it rather than the building’s soap. Never did find out who she was. ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140/29 "2017-02-06T18:51:09Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I don’t care if it’s urine, sterilized water, or vintage champagne - I don’t want to sit on a wet toilet seat, and I’m pretty sure no one else wants to, either. Amen, sister! Someone posted this in one of the women’s rooms here: “Stop the spread of germs and disease. Use a paper towel to open the door.” ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140/30 "2017-02-06T18:53:00Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > OP aside… Can you tell why the school is named that, without gooja? The answer will blow your mind! 🙂 I’ve always assumed it was that a school named Case University and one named Western Reserve University combined into Case Western Reserve University. Is there a more detailed answer? And what is “gooja”? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140/31 "2017-02-06T18:55:02Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > And what is “gooja”? Hipster for “Google”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140/32 "2017-02-06T20:19:17Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > I once worked at an office building that shared bathrooms with many other tenants. One day I went in to find a hand-lettered manifesto that some woman had posted. I can’t recall it all, but the main point was to tell us all to always flush, because “unflushed toilets cause e-coli”. Actually, doesn’t the opposite occur, that a flushing toilet can create a mist that carries bacteria onto surfaces? ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140/33 "2017-02-06T21:38:04Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Actually, doesn’t the opposite occur, that a flushing toilet can create a mist that carries bacteria onto surfaces? Yup. I hear that food coloring in the toilet bowl plus a plain paper towel makes for an interesting visual. But in spite of that, the kitchen sponge/dish cloth is still germier than anything in the bathroom. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140/34 "2017-02-07T00:04:13Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I’ve always assumed it was that a school named Case University and one named Western Reserve University combined into Case Western Reserve University. Is there a more detailed answer? And what is “gooja”? OK without googling: Almost. It was Case Institute of Technology and WRU that merged, though they had always had some connection ever since WRU had moved to Cleveland from Hudson(?). Case was named after its main benefactor. WRU was named after the Western Reserve which was an area in northeast Ohio originally claimed by Connecticut. When the states gave up their western land claims to the the new U.S., Connecticut reserved this area of land to give to their soldiers who had fought in the revolution because it didn’t cash to pay them. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140/35 "2017-02-07T00:18:21Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > “Please don’t detonate shit grenades inside stall.” > > This _should_ be a sign. What? Is this not a ‘thing’ in the non-handicap stalls? It definitely is for the handicap accessible stalls. A “shit bomb” exploding is the only way to describe what I find. For the life of me I cannot imagine what could happen to result in such an “accident”. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140/36 "2017-02-07T00:46:37Z")
From the 1950s, posted on wall above urinals: Please do not throw cigarette butts in urinal as they get soggy and are hard to light. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140/37 "2017-02-07T00:50:34Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > …the Western Reserve which was an area in northeast Ohio originally claimed by Connecticut. That was the answer I was looking for. I find it hilarious that Connecticut had a “Western Reserve” on the Lakes. (Actually, most of the original colonies “owned” all the land between their northern and southern borders, all the way across the then-unknown US.) For bonus points, explain why Johns Hopkins U/Hospital is named that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140/38 "2017-02-07T01:31:49Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > That was the answer I was looking for. I find it hilarious that Connecticut had a “Western Reserve” on the Lakes. Oh sorry. I’ve lived in Ohio for my entire life (in the city adjacent to Hudson(?)). Every third building and business is named “Western Reserve Something” so the origin of the phrase is neither noteworthy nor “mind blowing” for me by this point, d00d. ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140/39 "2017-02-07T02:00:11Z")
Nor for anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140/40 "2017-02-07T02:07:58Z")
> [@TheChileanBlob](#): > > Nor for anyone else. Ha! Nice! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-signs/779140.md?page=3)