# Is pissing in public (as in behind some bushes) such a bad thing?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 18, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pissing-in-public-as-in-behind-some-bushes-such-a-bad-thing/496809 "2009-05-18T02:49:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pissing-in-public-as-in-behind-some-bushes-such-a-bad-thing/496809/41 "2009-05-19T16:44:33Z")
> [@CyclopticXander](#): > > I really don’t know how you could begrudge any poor soul who follows these basic rules of consideration. Unless someone tried to make a slippery slope Well, that can only happen if it’s below freezing outside anyway. > [@DrDeth](#): > > Or the entire \*\*Tenderloin \*\*district of SF. Heh. > [@Johanna](#): > > In India I saw many walls along streets with a cryptic message written in big letters: > > DONT PASS YOUR IN HERE You realize it says “Don’t pass urine here”, right? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pissing-in-public-as-in-behind-some-bushes-such-a-bad-thing/496809/42 "2009-05-19T16:54:52Z")
> [@CutterJohn](#): > > Pissing(and shitting) is permissible on any patch of dirt of decent size. > It is also ok into any natural body of water. No, it’s not OK to \*shit \*into a natural body of water. That spreads diseases. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pissing-in-public-as-in-behind-some-bushes-such-a-bad-thing/496809/43 "2009-05-19T17:11:22Z")
> [@Cat\_Fight](#): > > If it’s an emergency, okay. But if you just can’t bother to hold it in a little longer or don’t have the foresight to whiz before you leave a bar or house… well, it really doesn’t put you much above a dog. Even toddlers can hold it in while Mom or Dad looks for a washroom. Well said. How often is it really an “emergency”? I think lots of men do it because they can and that is frankly not a man I want to be around. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pissing-in-public-as-in-behind-some-bushes-such-a-bad-thing/496809/44 "2009-05-19T17:21:42Z")
> [@CyclopticXander](#): > > - Prevention is key! Go before you leave or don’t drink a gallon if you know you will likely be separated from a restroom for a while Go before you leave, ay? I did that once, peed before I left - before getting stuck for _over four hours_ in a traffic jam from hell on the Damn Ryan expressway. Let’s see… I can cross 6 lanes of traffic _that_ way and climb up a concrete wall then cross another two lanes of frontage road and piss in the bushes over there… or cross 3 lanes of traffic _that_ way and piss on the third rail of the south end of the Red Line El. Hmm… decisions, decisions… I pissed in a half crumpled paper coffee cup and dumped it out the door onto the pavement. A further annoyance was that the capacity of my bladder exceeded that of the damaged cup by a factor of 3 or 4. The only thing worse than desperately trying to hold it in is having to _stop_ pissing and hold it again until you get the cup emptied and can start filling it again. No, there wasn’t a discrete way to exit the vehicle and “whip it out” - I’m a girl, shorts around my ankles just isn’t that discrete. I guess my point is that if you HAVE TO go in public be absolutely as discrete and unobtrusive as possible. Also, for some reason I felt compelled to share that story. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pissing-in-public-as-in-behind-some-bushes-such-a-bad-thing/496809/45 "2009-05-19T18:41:54Z")
> [@Cat\_Fight](#): > > If it’s an emergency, okay. But if you just can’t bother to hold it in a little longer or don’t have the foresight to whiz before you leave a bar or house… well, it really doesn’t put you much above a dog. Even toddlers can hold it in while Mom or Dad looks for a washroom. Reminds me of a time I was stuck in a traffic jam. Not even a jam really, a highway had flooded out, closing the road and people were stuck…for hours. After about hour 3 I saw both driver’s side doors open and an older woman got out of the front passenger seat, walked around the car and stood between the two doors. Then she squatted, I see from under the door pants around the ankles then the telltale yellow stream. Then she arranged herself and walked around the car and got back in, looking a little embarrassed. I really felt for her, she had probably never had to do anything like that before. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pissing-in-public-as-in-behind-some-bushes-such-a-bad-thing/496809/46 "2009-05-20T00:44:38Z")
Was stuck in a 3 hour wait to get across the Canadian Border at Blaine, Washington. Some of the adjoining fields were dotted with large bushes, etc. Noticed quite a few folks, particularly with kids, exit their cars, disappear behind a bush, and shortly reappear looking much happier. Seems that if the Gov’t is really worried about that ( and a 2 - 3 hour wait at Blaine is not all that uncommon) they could provide some Porta Potties spaced out at intervals. Although this alfresco arrangement did seem to be working pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![MarcinCiez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b38774/32.png) [@MarcinCiez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcinCiez)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pissing-in-public-as-in-behind-some-bushes-such-a-bad-thing/496809/47 "2009-05-20T01:21:50Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > It was such a problem in the West End of London that Westminster Council have installed [on-street urinals](http://www.lacockgullam.co.uk/projects/city_westminster.shtml). What a great idea!! ---
**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:** [May 20, 2009, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pissing-in-public-as-in-behind-some-bushes-such-a-bad-thing/496809/48 "2009-05-20T01:28:31Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I think lots of men do it because they can and that is frankly not a man I want to be around. Sounds like lyrics from a country song. > [@bufftabby](#): > > I’ve been known to pee in all sorts of strange places Yep, definitely. 😃 I guess it was inevitable that a poster would show up to decry laws against public urination as an example of Americans being too straitlaced about sex. 😕 Piss on that, I say. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pissing-in-public-as-in-behind-some-bushes-such-a-bad-thing/496809.md?page=2)