At the hardware store the other day, I noticed the horseshoe-shaped toilet seats are being sold as “institutional”, whereas the circular ones are presumably marketed as residential.
Why would one be preferred over the other? What’s the point of the gap in front?
Some guy named Cecil has a clue: Why are public toilet seats always “U” shaped?
Well it seems to me if I’m standing up and neglect to put the seat up, some of the dribble will make it through the crack, rather than on the seat.
And if I’m sitting at home, my peter tends to rub the front of the seat. I woldn’t tolerate that in a public bathroom
Probably to make whoever has bad aim not spill so much on the toilet seat.
Color me embarassed. I spent half an hour searching the message boards and forgot to check Cecil’s archives.
And having read it now, I am ashamed to be associated by gender with any moron who leaves the seat down when taking a leak. Pigs.
Darn, I figured it out myself, and my post came out late. Sucks to be me. Well, I’m glad you know the reason now.
I always heard it was so bars wouldn’t get sued when the lid fell on a barfing drunk, breaking his neck.
“breaking his neck”?
You must have dang heavy toilet seats up there in Alaska!
all the ice from off target pee freezing on them.
I just have to point out that these are also used in women’s public restrooms. So it’s clearly entered the realm of tradition.
The gap is there because when you’re sitting down to do your business (I assume most of you men will, like me, urinate while defecating) and then you stand up when you’re finished, your genitalia passes over the front of the rim. If you’re like me, there is often an “afterthought” dribble as you stand up. The gap in the front of the seat allows that dribble to continue into the bowl, or onto the rim, rather than onto the seat itself.
This issue is addressed more by the elongated shape of the bowl than by the gap in the seat.
It’s there so that in a pinch it can double as an ox harness.
Funny that this is all centered around men. Women do not have to have specially designed toilet seats to meet their “special needs.” (Kind of like the “special class.”) We learned to pee efficiently and effectively. Funny that men create a new toilet seat rather than correcting their peeing inabilities. Just a thought.
… Because when you raise the seat it looks like a horseshoe, and everyone knows horeshoes must have the “points up” so the luck doesn’t leak out …
So have you learned to menstruate efficiently and neatly, yet?
I have a related but slightly different question in my mind, bugging me from quite sometime. Now I see this old thread, thought of adding my question here! Male penis does touch the front cover in most of the residential toilets and I always felt it to be disgusting.
Someone in the thread just mentioned elongated seats are the solution for that. I am wondering why anyone would manufacture non-elongated ones at all in the first place unless the place is really cramped and owner of the place cannot afford 2-3 inches more space and better hygiene.
Also, why only elongated seats should be a solution for this issue? What is the issue if there are split toilet seat covers even at our homes? I just don’t get it as I don’t see any drawbacks in making such design more or less universal, without limiting it to just public restrooms.
I think they’ve given up on women. A lot of them tend to squat and spray it all around the seat. Even removing a bit from the front isn’t going to help with that golden shower.
Who said that U shaped seats are only in mens washrooms?
The stop gap in front is for visual verification that you have stopped peeing. It should result in cleaner bathrooms, but people don’t use it.
They aren’t used in the vast majority of UK toilets.