# RE: Why does asparagus make your pee smell funny? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 19, 2001, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-why-does-asparagus-make-your-pee-smell-funny/62550 "2001-04-19T15:20:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Non-Curved\_Narcotic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@Non-Curved\_Narcotic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Non-Curved_Narcotic)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2001, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-why-does-asparagus-make-your-pee-smell-funny/62550/1 "2001-04-19T15:20:07Z")
I was recently browsing through the Straight Dope archives, just doing a little light reading, when I came across the entry on asparagus and why eating it makes your pee smell funny ([http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_383.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_383.html)). In it, Cecil makes the following comment: It is said that in a venerable British men’s club there is a sign reading “DURING THE ASPARAGUS SEASON MEMBERS ARE REQUESTED NOT TO RELIEVE THEMSELVES IN THE HATSTAND.” What I find alarming is that this supposed sign implies that outside of the asparagus season it is perfectly acceptable to pee in the hatstand! Just what sort of things go on in these “men’s clubs”? Are the members too lazy to walk all the way to the bathroom, so they just pee wherever they feel like it? (edited to fix link. For a valid link, it can be as simple as including the web page location in your post, as long as there is a space **before** and **after** the text of the URL. Otherwise you have to use [vB code](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/index.php?action=bbcode)). [Edited by Arnold Winkelried on 04-19-2001 at 12:17 PM] ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2001, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-why-does-asparagus-make-your-pee-smell-funny/62550/2 "2001-04-19T18:15:30Z")
Boy, another urine-related thread! With Tycho Brahe and this one, I sense a theme starting. How could people pee **in** a hat stand? The hat stands I’ve seen look like [this one](http://www.ravenna-direct.co.uk/hat_stand.htm). Maybe the sign should read “ **umbrella** stand” or “ **on** the hatstand”. As far as the appropriateness of relieving myself on such a piece of furniture, if I pay for membership in a club, one of my privileges should be the ability to follow the call of nature whenever and wherever I want. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![onigame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9fc29f/32.png) [@onigame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/onigame)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-why-does-asparagus-make-your-pee-smell-funny/62550/3 "2001-04-23T16:04:52Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried \* > How could people pee **in** a hat stand? The hat stands I’ve seen look like [this one](http://www.ravenna-direct.co.uk/hat_stand.htm)._\* Well, perhaps not a wrought-iron hat stand, but if it were made out of metal tubing… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-why-does-asparagus-make-your-pee-smell-funny/62550/4 "2001-04-23T23:03:59Z")
Yoiks, Arnold, you Europeeans are just a bit too je n’sez kumquat fer us prudish Yanks…