Fecal Molecular Inhalation - A Poll

[Clovernook]

If you’ve ever walked into a multi-stalled bathroom at your office building, you know the dilemma to which I refer. The stench is overwhelming and rightly so, considering the purpose of the bathroom itself. You’re going to inhale someone else’s ass gas, regardless. The question is whether it is better/safer/more hygienic to do so through your nose (where you get the full body and flavor of the odor) or through the mouth (where it’s almost like you are swallowing someone else’s crap)?

What is your preference?

[Phlosphr]

Do you leave your toothbrush out in the bathroom? If so, there is microbial fecal matter all over that as well.

Mythbusters did an episodeon it. Blagh!

[An_Arky]

I wait for it to dissipate. Otherwise, if I’m practically touching cloth and have to go right then, I’ll breathe through my shirt or a bit of toilet paper, queer as it might sound.

To answer your question, I prefer the nose. At lease you have nose hairs and mucus to help and it’s not brushing by your tongue so much.

[friedo]

My favorite biology teacher in high school always loved making this point:

Just remember, if you’re disgusted by the smell of someone’s poop, the fact that you can smell it means it’s already inside you!

[MOIDALIZE]

The first thing I do is spit out my gum. I don’t need to chew on it at the same time I’m breathing it in.

[Starbury]

@Phlosphr

Mythbusters did an episodeon it. Blagh!

Cecil did, too, and came up with some unexpected results. From the Straight Dope article:

[T]he bathroom was hardly the most dangerous part of the house, microbe-wise. The real pesthole: the kitchen sponge or dishcloth, where fecal coliform bacteria from raw meat and such could fester in a damp, nurturing (for a germ) environment. Next came the kitchen sink, the bathroom sink, and the kitchen faucet handle. The toilet seat was the least contaminated of 15 household locales studied. “If an alien came from space and studied the bacterial counts,” the professor says, “he probably would conclude he should wash his hands in your toilet and crap in your sink.”

[Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension]

I don’t worry about this at all.

[Leaper]

@Starbury

Cecil did, too, and came up with some unexpected results. From the Straight Dope article:

But, of course, this thread is asking about the stuff that floats around the toilet, not the toilet itself.

[ZenBeam]

@Clovernook

What is your preference?

Go down the hall to another restroom.

[kidchameleon]

Eh, I’ve smelt worse and breathed in far worse.

[Vox_Imperatoris]

It’s not like it’s dangerous, so I’d rather breathe it in through my mouth and not have to smell it.

Valete,
Vox Imperatoris

[Chimera]

Breath deep the gasseous vent
Smell of shit from asses bent