# Breaking the Seal (i.e. urination flood gates) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 16, 2000, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-seal-i-e-urination-flood-gates/22594 "2000-06-16T15:33:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BuddyG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@BuddyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuddyG)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2000, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-seal-i-e-urination-flood-gates/22594/1 "2000-06-16T15:33:56Z")
I recently attended a music festival during which a lot of people drank a lot of beer. I was able to hold it in for awhile, but after giving in and urinating the first time, thereafter restroom trips became more frequent. Why? What’s the reason for the “breaking the seal” phenomenon? ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2000, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-seal-i-e-urination-flood-gates/22594/2 "2000-06-16T15:35:12Z")
GQ! GQ! GQ! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2000, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-seal-i-e-urination-flood-gates/22594/3 "2000-06-16T16:16:32Z")
GQGQGQGQGQGQ I’ll second that, with increasing urgency. I note in passing that this the first time I have heard the phenomenon referred to as “BTS” by a non-Australian. picmr ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Cynical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2000, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-seal-i-e-urination-flood-gates/22594/4 "2000-06-16T16:17:32Z")
I could swear I’ve recently seen a column about this, but I’ll be damned if I can remember what it was. ---
**Author:** ![yESTERDAY\_mAN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a87d85/32.png) [@yESTERDAY\_mAN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yESTERDAY_mAN)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2000, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-seal-i-e-urination-flood-gates/22594/5 "2000-06-16T16:52:16Z")
The same thing happens to me when I drink large sodas. It really sucks when you’re skiing and feel the need to urinate while on the chairlift. Of course, that’s not as bad as it can get. I knew a girl who got scared on the chairlift and wet her pants. There was a yellow streak leading up the mountain. ---
**Author:** ![Vestal\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5e9695/32.png) [@Vestal\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vestal_Blue)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2000, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-seal-i-e-urination-flood-gates/22594/6 "2000-06-16T17:54:16Z")
I can drink my diet cokes, or I can drink iced tea. But drink both the same day, and I _live_ in the bathroom! ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2000, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-seal-i-e-urination-flood-gates/22594/7 "2000-06-16T18:11:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > GQGQGQGQGQGQ I’ll second that, with increasing urgency. I note in passing that this the first time I have heard the phenomenon referred to as “BTS” by a non-Australian. > \*\* I’ve heard it in both the US and Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![SkySlash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@SkySlash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkySlash)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2000, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-seal-i-e-urination-flood-gates/22594/8 "2000-06-16T18:15:03Z")
I’m not the only one wondering, but I am the only oe with the guts to ask at this point… What the hell do GQ and BTS stand for? -SS ---
**Author:** ![cygnus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e0b2c6/32.png) [@cygnus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cygnus)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2000, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-seal-i-e-urination-flood-gates/22594/9 "2000-06-16T18:17:52Z")
I believe I know the answer to this, though I can’t couch it in obscure medical terms. When you drink the first one, two, three (or however many your initial “capacity” may be), they are at the “beginning of the line”, so to speak. It takes a certain amount of time for that quantity of excessive liquid to make the trip from stomach to outlet, which accounts for the initial period of great endurance. However, assuming that you keep drinking number four, five, and six, they are no longer at the beginning of the line, but just continuing the now-flowing stream of beer being processed (no puns intended). Initially everything is at point A, but 30 minutes later there is stuff at point A and point B, and 45 minutes later stuff at point A, B, and C. Think of it as feeding raw materials into a machinery line at the factory. When the first ingredients go in, they have to go alllllll the way through the empty line before finished product comes out the other end, so you have an initial period in which nothing, seemingly, is being produced. Once the initial finished product comes out, though, it is followed in a steady stream by all the ingredients that continued to come after the first batch (assuming you continued feeding it in without interruption), and since you are not waiting through that initial period of vacancy (empty machine line/empty bladder) anymore, it seems as though the flow is now continuous. This is further borne out by the fact that if you stop drinking beer (and remain conscious), you continue to have increased output for a while, even though you are no longer adding more at the intake end (what was in the works is still making its way through), but once it’s all completed the circuit, your output returns to normal. Do I get a beer for answering? ---
**Author:** ![Trion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Trion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trion)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2000, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-seal-i-e-urination-flood-gates/22594/10 "2000-06-16T18:18:20Z")
Sky, when they chant GQ they’re saying this belongs in General Questions. ---
**Author:** ![SkySlash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@SkySlash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkySlash)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2000, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-seal-i-e-urination-flood-gates/22594/11 "2000-06-16T18:23:15Z")
/Slinks away trying to look invisible… -SS 😃 ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2000, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-seal-i-e-urination-flood-gates/22594/12 "2000-06-16T23:46:42Z")
I like to think the body is clever enough to keep urine in until a bathroom is nearby. At that time, it thinks that the bathroom is now nearby & lets pee sooner. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2000, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-seal-i-e-urination-flood-gates/22594/13 "2000-06-17T00:55:17Z")
Given the combo of “flood gates” and “breaking the seal”, I was anticipating that the thread was going to be one of those “Secrets You Want to Reveal but you can’t” or “Really unusual things that turn you on” kind of threads… e.g.-- [http://www.patches.org/](http://www.patches.org/) ---
**Author:** ![Iguana\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@Iguana\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iguana_Boy)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2000, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-seal-i-e-urination-flood-gates/22594/14 "2000-06-17T01:03:46Z")
A wise man goes to the bathroom when he can, a fool goes when he needs to. 🙂 I get this with beer. At least now I know what to call it! ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2000, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-seal-i-e-urination-flood-gates/22594/15 "2000-06-18T00:23:12Z")
And why is it, when you’re drinking (hard liquor; I don’t drink beer), you momentarily feel less drunk after you pee? ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2000, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-seal-i-e-urination-flood-gates/22594/16 "2000-06-18T16:08:35Z")
Whys is it when you do number two you need to do number one but if you do number one you don’t need to do number two? ---
**Author:** ![BuddyG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@BuddyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuddyG)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2000, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-seal-i-e-urination-flood-gates/22594/17 "2000-06-19T14:50:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > I believe I know the answer to this… > > Do I get a beer for answering? > \*\* Yes, go to your local distributor and tell 'em BuddyG sent you. 😉