# Restroom doors **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 11, 2021, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791 "2021-04-11T11:35:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/21 "2021-04-12T01:58:06Z")
Nautical-themed restaurants often have “Buoys” and “Gulls.” ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/22 "2021-04-12T02:02:52Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Nautical-themed restaurants often have “Buoys” and “Gulls.” - A more devious theme would be seahorses. The pregnant one would be the men’s room. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/23 "2021-04-12T02:05:37Z")
Yes, and I understand that, we took my Great Grandmother there for her 98th birthday, she has a blast, but yes, she did have to have us read some things for her. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/24 "2021-04-12T15:10:30Z")
On family vacation near Charleston, SC as a kid, a seafood restaurant labeled the washroom doors ‘Inboard’ & ‘Outboard.’ I didn’t get it for years. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/25 "2021-04-12T15:38:00Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > There used to be a bar in Tucson where the women’s room said: > > Men’s > That way ➡ > > and the men’s room said: > > Women’s > ⬅ That way The old pub at UC Riverside (Bull & Mouth) had signs like that. You quickly learned that the Men’s was on the right and didn’t bother getting confused by the signage. My observation is of the signage on the Staff restrooms at school. In addition to the words, they of course have the standard outline representations of man and woman. The male sign is slim. The female sign…isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/26 "2021-04-12T15:50:58Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > and the women all had speech balloons The [one I’ve seen](https://i.redd.it/o60tdcvgg1901.jpg) was where the men’s room door had a single “bla” and the women’s door was covered in “bla bla bla bla bla” And when all else fails, the men’s room is on the left because women are always right. (Not sure I agree…) [Whatever, just wash your hands, please!](https://imgur.com/r/funny/8UfxSUH) ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/27 "2021-04-12T16:30:28Z")
According to Rich Hall’s “sniglets” being confused by themed restaurant restroom doors is known as [genderplex](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-05-14-vw-19196-story.html). ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/28 "2021-04-12T16:44:03Z")
I was in a nasty, dirty, dive bar. There was a single restroom, with a sign that read, “NO COUPLES!!” hand painted on the door. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/29 "2021-04-12T17:48:27Z")
Let’s not forget the kids. [![](https://blushybabe.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/11-23.jpg) ](https://blushybabe.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/11-23.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/30 "2021-04-12T18:06:50Z")
Or hobbits, maybe. Is it in New Zealand? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/31 "2021-04-12T18:10:39Z")
I don’t think it said. Didn’t notice. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/32 "2021-04-12T19:54:35Z")
I had the same experience at a Chi-Chi’s restaurant in the 1980s when I was about 8 or 10. Not knowing any Spanish at all, I just had to guess which was the right one, and I was right. A few years ago I was in Maastricht, the Netherlands, and one set of bathrooms was marked by single letters corresponding to M (men) and W (women) but in Dutch. Again I just took a guess and was correct. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2021, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/33 "2021-04-13T23:25:45Z")
My first trip into a Starbuck’s had me confused by unlabeled doors of its two one-holer, no urinal, pansex bathrooms. My question is, why are these types commonly referred to unisex bathrooms? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2021, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/34 "2021-04-14T00:20:11Z")
“Unisex” as a term actually meaning “pansex” dates from the liberated late 1960s. Didn’t make sense then either. At least not to anyone who was thinking. Must’ve been all the pot smoke & free love. Anyhow, I grew up in SoCal in the 1960s. At a time when substantially everything was new in the last 15-20 years. So everywhere had separate bathrooms for men & for women. At about age 35 I move to St. Louis, a city whose heyday was 1880-1930. Lots of public places like shops & restaurants in the old parts of town were small, cramped, and had just one unisex (=pan-sex) bathroom. Really felt weird for the first year or so. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/35 "2021-04-18T12:28:29Z")
I guess that’s less confusing than labeling them bisexual bathrooms. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/36 "2021-04-18T14:09:16Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > I had the same experience at a Chi-Chi’s restaurant in the 1980s when I was about 8 or 10. But not nine. Because you remember you were an even number of years old… ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/37 "2021-04-18T14:23:11Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > The old pub at UC Riverside (Bull & Mouth) had signs like that. Thank you for the reminder-I really miss that place. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/38 "2021-04-18T14:25:20Z")
Crab races! ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/39 "2021-04-18T14:26:34Z")
It is where I got hooked on amaretto sours. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/40 "2021-04-18T14:34:38Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > “Unisex” as a term actually meaning “pansex” dates from the liberated late 1960s. Didn’t make sense then either. At least not to anyone who was thinking. Must’ve been all the pot smoke & free love. Uni refers to the room itself I think, so one room for all the sexes. (Not rooms for the one and only sex) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791.md?page=3)