# How long do you sit in the toilet?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [October 6, 2024, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514 "2024-10-06T20:53:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2024, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514/21 "2024-10-06T23:45:51Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#):
>
> My bathroom smells slightly is pee immediately after i relieve myself, and the smell is gone by the time the toilet finishes flushing.
Yeah. The bathroom may smell briefly after a particular use, but it doesn’t smell in general, and I’ve had lots of reading material in and out of there, including some left in there for quite a while, and never had it stink.
I wonder whether the book in question had been pissed on by a person with male anatomy and bad aim. I would have to be actively trying to get piss on a book.
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### Author:  [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2024, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514/22 "2024-10-07T00:44:45Z")
I typically do the whole NYT Sunday crossword puzzle on the toilet, so 3-4 minutes.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2024, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514/23 "2024-10-07T01:35:24Z")
Nice!
-
If your bathroom is smelling like urine or other foul odors you may need to clean it. Thoroughly.
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### Author:  [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2024, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514/24 "2024-10-07T01:47:40Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#):
>
> I guess I should have spent my time **on** the toilet reading some English grammar books. Prepositions…
Yanno, if you got yourself some Preposition H you wouldn’t have these problems.
That's why I miss dead-tree catalogs; that's where they were read. I hate browsing on my phone, on on the computer for that matter. Every time I turned the page on a catalog I made progress; it never seems that way on line, especially when they have the same item in multiple different places depending upon how you sort it.
I may or may not spend longer at work.
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### Author:  [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2024, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514/25 "2024-10-07T01:50:26Z")
In a bit of irony, I euphemistically refer to the place of waste relief as “the reading room” but I never spend enough time in there to read anything. Often, squeezing something out takes effort, and I have to focus on that. If I sat and read something, I might never get around to clearing the pipes.
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### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2024, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514/26 "2024-10-07T01:59:41Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#):
>
> If your bathroom is smelling like urine or other foul odors you may need to clean it.
Or the toilet’s leaking, and the floorboards are soaking up the odor from the leak.
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### Author:  [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2024, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514/27 "2024-10-07T02:36:00Z")
> [@Spiderman](#):
>
> if you got yourself some Preposition H you wouldn’t have these problems.
I laughed.
…
I’m another for whom reading helps me relax enough to have a more complete experience. If not a phone, a magazine makes a for good reading material. In the absence of both, I’ve been known to read the back of a shampoo bottle (none of which smell like urine, by the way).
To answer the OP, I’m not going to let my legs go numb, but I’ll finish the article. So, 5-7 minutes, maybe? I’ve never set a timer.
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### Author:  [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2024, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514/28 "2024-10-07T02:40:18Z")
I would say 5 minutes, maybe a bit longer on taco night.
[Squatty Potty](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOSkYwFCaUA) says the average is 130 seconds and their product cuts it down to 50. That’s really pushing it, pun intended.
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### Author:  [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2024, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514/29 "2024-10-07T03:25:15Z")
I’ve never timed it but have certainly felt thankful afterwards. nee The Lord’s Prayer, “I thank thee for my daily bowel movement . . .”
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2024, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514/30 "2024-10-07T05:25:42Z")
In third grade the teacher had to send someone to the bathroom to fetch me, since I was reading and was far more interested in the book than class.
In the fifth grade after we moved to the Congo I read much of “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” on the toilet as I got adjusted to a different environment and different food.
Today I keep books of English cryptic crosswords in the bathrooms, because they support filling in a word or two each time I go.
Which is a lot. But I’m one of the lucky ones who can eat tons of food and never gain weight, so I came out ahead.
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### Author:  [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2024, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514/31 "2024-10-07T07:43:33Z")
> [@Moriarty](#):
>
> > [@Spiderman](#):
> >
> > if you got yourself some Preposition H you wouldn’t have these problems.
>
> I laughed.
So there must be some meaning to understand here. It’s OK, just leave me staring blankly past my screen, where the glasses no longer focus.
I am enjoying the euphemisms so far.
I should have included a poll in the OP.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2024, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514/32 "2024-10-07T08:26:28Z")
Preparation H is a common hemorrhoid cream.
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### Author:  [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2024, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514/33 "2024-10-07T08:48:42Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#):
>
> I am enjoying the euphemisms so far.
Me, too! This is a fun thread.
And O.P. my mom is just like you, absolutely _baffled_ at encountering reading material in other people’s bathrooms.
I sometimes bring my phone; often, my cat joins me to supervise (as felines tend to do) and provides sufficient diversion.
If I’ve left the window open, sometimes I just listen to birds chirping and squirrels doing their thing.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2024, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514/34 "2024-10-07T11:08:39Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#):
>
> It very seldom takes more than a minute or two anyway.
Even a couple of minutes is long enough to read a page or two. And I want to sit there long enough that I know I’m finished for the day.
> [@Pardel-Lux](#):
>
> I guess I should have spent my time **on** the toilet reading some English grammar books. Prepositions…
In the US, the “toilet” is the fixture, not the room.
> [@whats the big deal with the word "toilet" in the US?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-with-the-word-toilet-in-the-us/501329):
>
> so exactly why is asking “excuse me, where is the toilet?” so offensive in the US? In Australia, UK and Asian countries where english is commonly spoken thats most likely what you’d say if you’re at a restaurant and needed to go. Ask that in the US and the waiters would look at you in horror… what the crap? why does the US have such a big deal about using the actual word for the place?
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2024, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514/35 "2024-10-07T11:20:49Z")
Huh, i guess I’ve traveled too much. When I’m in a non-English country and need that service, i say, “toilet?” I’m my most questioning tone of voice, and that generally works, even if no one in the establishment speaks English. It’s unusual to ask where the toilet is, instead of asking for the “bathroom” or “restroom”, but it would never have occurred to me to be offended.
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### Author:  [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2024, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514/36 "2024-10-07T11:32:29Z")
> [@eschereal](#):
>
> In a bit of irony, I euphemistically refer to the place of waste relief as “the reading room”…
My father used to refer to the bathroom as “the library”, and I still euphemize it that way occasionally.
I _always_ read something when sitting in the bathroom is required, and have done since I was a child. If for some (very rare) reason I don’t have a book or magazine I will grab a shampoo bottle(or similar) and read the label while I’m in there. That’s the only reason I have any idea of what’s in my toothpaste 🙂
I have never had any difficulty in ‘going’, but it always takes at least a few minutes, and sometimes there is a second round, as it were.
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### Author:  [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2024, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514/37 "2024-10-07T12:15:57Z")
> [@Spiderman](#):
>
> I may or may not spend longer at work.
I knew a woman who would not, ever, go number 2 at the office, but that’s probably a discussion for another thread.
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### Author:  [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2024, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514/38 "2024-10-07T12:33:03Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#):
>
> I guess I should have spent my time **on** the toilet reading some English grammar books. Prepositions…
Ah. I was thinking that “sit” was the typo …
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2024, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514/39 "2024-10-07T12:38:04Z")
I take only as much time as it takes to finish my business, which is not very long. I also refer to it as “downloading some Republican talking points” which makes my wife laugh.
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### Author:  [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2024, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-sit-in-the-toilet/1008514/40 "2024-10-07T13:17:50Z")
> [@snowthx](#):
>
> that’s probably a discussion for another thread.
The OP is in a very tolerant mood. And curious.
> [@pjd](#):
>
> I was thinking that “sit” was the typo …
What then, squat? [Donnerbalken](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnerbalken)!
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