# Do men spray outside the bowl?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 30, 2012, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230 "2012-03-30T02:44:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2012, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230/1 "2012-03-30T02:44:00Z")
When men pee standing up into a toilet bowl, do they spray pee outside the bowl?
\*\*POLL:
1. No
2. Yes
3. I don’t, never.
4. No, they don’t; at least my man doesn’t.
5. Probably.
6. Don’t know; wouldn’t know.
7. I / my man sit(s) down to pee.\*\*
If no, have you tested it, say, with pieces of white paper around the bowl? The aim always accurate or is it sometimes off, say, if you are drunk or in the middle of night?
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### Author:  [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2012, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230/2 "2012-03-30T02:47:24Z")
Yes. You can control the general aim but not the spray. There’s no way to avoid occasional mishaps. But nice men wipe it up after.
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### Author:  [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2012, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230/3 "2012-03-30T02:53:56Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#):
>
> But nice men wipe it up after.
How well? Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it is sanitary or won’t stink.
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2012, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230/4 "2012-03-30T02:55:53Z")
I’m very careful, and always wipe up when I drip - but whenever I have male guests over I start to notice drippage on the floor. It annoys me. And in public toilets it’s like someone’s attached a sprinkler to the end of their johnsons.
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### Author:  [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2012, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230/5 "2012-03-30T03:13:38Z")
I once noticed that if I aimed the stream so that it hits the porcelain wall\* of the bowl some urine ricochets and hits my leg. If I aim for the water it doesn’t.
- There’s much more of the wall to aim for down here in Australia because the water level in our toilets does not come very high up the bowl. So it’s actually harder to hit the water than the wall.
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2012, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230/6 "2012-03-30T03:27:51Z")
> [@brittekland](#):
>
> How well? Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it is sanitary or won’t stink.
>
> -
Fresh urine is the one body fluid that is sterile and even old urine is cleaner than other bloodily fluids that you can’t see easily. Sanitation isn’t really a concern with pure urine in any reasonable amount. Smell, yes.
No male can pee perfectly into the bowl every single time. There are a number of issues including the deviant spray and the double-stream that make it impossible to get it all into the bowl every time. Those are caused by temporary urethrae shape changes due to sticking or constrictions especially just after you wake up, have sex, or pop a boner in mid pee.
Ladies get sympathy for their sex specific issues. Men get nothing but scorn even when it is simple biology and fluid dynamics at work and not a character flaw and I won’t take that sitting down.
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### Author:  [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2012, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230/7 "2012-03-30T03:35:59Z")
Nevermind the deviant splash when you aim directly into the water. With the right lighting, you can see that there’s a lot of splashing going on and luckily most of it stays where it’s supposed to.
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### Author:  [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2012, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230/8 "2012-03-30T03:41:26Z")
how about the ‘pee in the shower’ option? that’s the most efficient and cleanest way to do it. pee and wash at the same time.
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### Author:  [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2012, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230/9 "2012-03-30T03:43:03Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#):
>
> Men get nothing but scorn even when it is simple biology and fluid dynamics at work and not a character flaw and I won’t take that sitting down.
It seems it is a fact that pee gets sprayed; sitting down seems like a simple logical solution as it isn’t like men don’t sit on toilet at all.
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### Author:  [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230/10 "2012-03-30T03:44:31Z")
> [@shijinn](#):
>
> how about the ‘pee in the shower’ option? that’s the most efficient and cleanest way to do it. pee and wash at the same time.
How many showers a day and what about if you are over at someone else’s place?
The gentle host’s expression has to be priceless when they see you coming out of the bathroom all wet…
.
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### Author:  [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230/11 "2012-03-30T03:44:31Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#):
>
> Men get nothing but scorn even when it is simple biology and fluid dynamics at work and not a character flaw and I won’t take that sitting down.
I see what you did there.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2012, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230/12 "2012-03-30T04:02:40Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#):
>
> Fresh urine is the one body fluid that is sterile
[Urine is only sterile while in the bladder](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urine#Composition). It begins to grow bacteria when exposed to the air. and the floor. and the walls nearest the toilet. and…
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### Author:  [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2012, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230/13 "2012-03-30T04:14:45Z")
Every time I clean the toilet I scrub a yellow streak that runs from the edge of the bowl down to the base.
I, myself, have never peed there.
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### Author:  [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2012, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230/14 "2012-03-30T04:20:14Z")
[This image](http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/how-women-think-pee-comes-out-of-a-penis.jpg) tells you all you will ever need to know on this topic.
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### Author:  [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2012, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230/15 "2012-03-30T04:30:42Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#):
>
> [This image](http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/how-women-think-pee-comes-out-of-a-penis.jpg) tells you all you will ever need to know on this topic.
“children not part of the metaphor” :D:D:D
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### Author:  [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2012, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230/16 "2012-03-30T06:35:51Z")
> [@brittekland](#):
>
> How well? Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it is sanitary or won’t stink.
You seem to be trying to lead into something but I’m not sure what it is exactly.
And was that an errant asterisk or did it mean something?
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### Author:  [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2012, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230/17 "2012-03-30T06:51:32Z")
Maybe this has been mentioned… I am a man. For forty years, the women in my life have complained that I was “missing” when I peed. But a couple years ago, I realized that, all this time, any extra-bowlular drops were actually being caused by something else entirely… by SPLASHED DROPLETS generated by the pressure of pee hitting the water’s surface.
Since that day two years ago, I’ve been sitting down (rim up, which avoids any chance of issues. Rim down in public venues, though.) Problem solved.
The women were wrong the whole time! Well, how would they know? Amazing that this simple realization took FORTY YEARS.
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### Author:  [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2012, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230/18 "2012-03-30T07:35:56Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#):
>
> Maybe this has been mentioned… I am a man. For forty years, the women in my life have complained that I was “missing” when I peed. But a couple years ago, I realized that, all this time, any extra-bowlular drops were actually being caused by something else entirely… by SPLASHED DROPLETS generated by the pressure of pee hitting the water’s surface.
These droplets are the water in the bowl, which is diluted urine, not straight urine. This is the reason why you dilute acid by adding acid to water, rather than water to acid. By pouring the acid into water, any splashing is water.
This is one reason to aim for the back wall of the bowl, rather than the water itself, is that there is less splashing because of the angles involved. Just like a basketball has less energy after being banked against the backboard, by hitting the back wall, the energy in the pee is reduced, so when it drops into the water, it’s falling from a much height.
Unless a guy is a terrible aim, there shouldn’t be that much urine outside of the bowl, even with the splash effect when the pee stream does hit the water directly.
Dribbles on the rim are different, and should be wiped off.
Cleaning the toilets are my job, and we get much more urine from my potty training girl on the underside of the rim (which took me forever to figure out where that was coming from) than from me on the floor from standing.
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2012, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230/19 "2012-03-30T07:57:45Z")
The Master (who ought to know) speaks! (ETA: And pay special note to Slug’s pictures too.)
[Why are public toilet seats always “U” shaped?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/945/why-are-public-toilet-seats-always-u-shaped)
[Urinal 101: Aim for the back wall or the water?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2450/urinal-101-aim-for-the-back-wall-or-the-water)
## Poetry on the men’s room wall
_We aim to please.
Will you aim too, please?_
Why is semen white(ish) and pee yellow?
So you can tell whether you’re coming or going.
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### Author:  [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2012, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-men-spray-outside-the-bowl/617230/20 "2012-03-30T10:45:14Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#):
>
> And was that an errant asterisk or did it mean something?
Nope, it didn’t mean anything (I sometimes put one there to gain some distance from the edit line) nor was I trying to lead you anywhere.
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