# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2021, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/121 "2021-04-26T20:23:20Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Poor English and inability to puzzle out stupid puns are certainly not covered by the ADA. Which I explicitly stipulated, to wit: > [@](#): > > Regarding this subtopic here, obviously the ADA itself would not apply to the plain labeling of restroom genders. If you missed that, there’s no telling what else you missed, so you may want to do a little more thorough reading so you don’t accidentally take things out of context. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2021, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/122 "2021-04-26T20:34:59Z")
A universally understood graphic will work. Whatever else someone wants can be added. You don’t have to read in any particular language or be literate. If one is a new arrival to our shores, or a guest, someone need only explain to you once what that ubiquitous, universal symbol means and what to look for to identify the location you want. These signs are cheap ($12.75 per) and easy to source. Much easier and cheaper than a cutesy-poo reference to hats or shoes or occupation. > **[Restroom Signs Direct from USA Manufacturer | ADA Sign Factory](https://adasignfactory.com/product-category/restroom-signs/?)** > > Get ADA-compliant restroom signs direct from the USA manufacturer! Restroom signs for Men, Women, Boys, Girls, Unisex, more. In-stock, ready to ship. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2021, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/123 "2021-04-26T20:52:00Z")
And if the establishment chooses to do that, more power to them. It’s not (or shouldn’t be) required by law. When I visited Paris all those years ago, how would I have found the exit? The sign said “sortie”. Should they have made a law also, to accommodate new arrivals and guests? I think not. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2021, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/124 "2021-04-26T21:17:37Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > It’s not (or shouldn’t be) required by law. Unambiguous, decipherable, universal restroom (and exit) signage should absolutely be required by law/regulation. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2021, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/125 "2021-04-26T22:34:57Z")
Typical ISO signs do not (necessarily) have any words on them: ETA they are not “required by law”, though… [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/ISO\_Exit\_-\_Left.svg/800px-ISO\_Exit\_-\_Left.svg.png](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/ISO_Exit_-%5C_Left.svg/800px-ISO_Exit_-_Left.svg.png) [![](https://cdn-01.media-brady.com/store/stfr/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/85e4522595efc69f496374d01ef2bf13/1514942580/d/m/dmeu_isodp_pf003_9_1_std.lang.all.png) ](https://cdn-01.media-brady.com/store/stfr/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/85e4522595efc69f496374d01ef2bf13/1514942580/d/m/dmeu_isodp_pf003_9_1_std.lang.all.png) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2021, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/126 "2021-04-26T22:42:11Z")
> [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > > [@D\_Anconia](#): > > > > It’s not (or shouldn’t be) required by law. > > Unambiguous, decipherable, universal restroom (and exit) signage should absolutely be required by law/regulation. I agree about exit signs. But one generally has enough time to inquire about the restrooms. And as a practical matter, there are very few restaurants that have visible signs for the restrooms until you have already found them. If i go to a new restaurant, or want to use the restroom at a mall or supermarket I’m not familiar with, i assume i will have to ask where they are. I’ve never found this a significant hardship, it and I’m surprised you think signage ought to be mandated. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2021, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/127 "2021-04-26T22:55:37Z")
I should have been more clear: I think the doors to the restroom(s) should have a mandated, universal signage, such as required by the ADA in the US. How you get to within sight of those universally signed doors I am not suggesting a required system of signage. That’s a kindness to users in a building or structure, but if the owners choose not to, the market will out. I think fire/disaster safety requires universal signage, even more so than restrooms. Suffocating in a fire would be much worse than a person of another gender/excretory physiology wandering into my bathroom of choice. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2021, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/128 "2021-04-26T22:56:38Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > But one generally has enough time to inquire about the restrooms Actually, not always. Plus, doing so in another language, being of another culture may create a huge barrier. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2021, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/129 "2021-04-26T22:57:25Z")
Ah. Whereas i think most restrooms should be unisex, so if someone with the wrong parts wanders into the one I’m in, i don’t much care. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2021, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/130 "2021-04-26T23:01:06Z")
I have no story about funny restroom signs, only a recollection about my very first full-time job (and probably the very best, most idyllic job I’ve ever had) at a major university with a classically beautiful old-school style campus. I could hardly believe I was actually being paid just to have fun with computers in a beautiful environment with great funding and great people to work with. The first time I needed to go to the bathroom I went down the hall looking for one and popped into the first one I saw. It seemed a bit odd (no urinals, and some other oddities that I paid no attention to) and it was only after I left that I noticed I had used the women’s restroom. I was just too excited about my new job to notice. Fortunately, I found where the nearest men’s restroom was, and had no further potential embarrassments for the nearly ten years of fun and experimentation that the university saw fit to pay me for. Mentored a number of graduate students in the process, too. I presume they all used the right bathrooms! ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2021, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/131 "2021-04-26T23:03:14Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Whereas i think most restrooms should be unisex, so if someone with the wrong parts wanders into the one I’m in, i don’t much care I agree completely. I’m just fine with using unisex bathroom. I’d like it if the urinals were screened by waist high partitions or something similar but I wouldn’t balk at less, I don’t mind pointing and smirking. If they are ‘gendered’, that’s when the unambiguous universal signage needs to happen. A sign indicating ‘bathroom’ or ‘restroom’ would be nice but if I was in another country I would expect to study before the need arose what those labels would be. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2021, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/132 "2021-04-26T23:04:58Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > so if someone with the wrong parts And I don’t think there are any ‘wrong parts’. Perhaps maybe ‘parts I don’t want to see at the moment’. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2021, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/133 "2021-04-26T23:21:01Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > And pretty much,“Princes and Princesses” aint hard to figure out. Maybe if you see and compare the two. But if you just saw one door, Princes is close enough to Princess to confuse somebody in a hurry. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2021, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/134 "2021-04-26T23:28:59Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Princes is close enough to Princess to confuse somebody in a hurry. Or very confusing to a preliterate English speaker or any person not conversant in English as a second or subsequent language. ---
**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 27, 2021, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/135 "2021-04-27T00:15:08Z")
Much of universal signage is aimed at people with low vision. They are not blind, they are not illiterate, and in the USA the vast majority speak and read English just fine. Provided they can see it. They need stuff drawn simply using large strokes and in high contrast to tell what it is from more than a few inches away. Even better if, as in the triangle and circle backgrounds we started with so many posts ago, the background color or shape of the whole sign carries additional information. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/136 "2021-04-27T01:04:29Z")
Fair enough. Any parts that aren’t making you sick are good and right. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/137 "2021-04-27T01:29:04Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Much of universal signage is aimed at people with low vision. They are not blind, they are not illiterate, and in the USA the vast majority speak and read English just fine. Provided they can see it. I’m not sure that universal pictograph signs are primarily intended for people with low vision. I think they are mainly for people with limited fluency in the local lingua franca – thus the similarity of signage whether you’re in America, France, Germany, or even Russia. Still, as valuable as internationally standardized pictographic signage may be, I think it’s still important to have actual words on those signs too (in the local language at least, and possibly other languages). Pictographs alone can be misinterpreted. My anecdatum: I went hiking on a trail one hot dry summer day. At the trailhead was a large sign with something like six pictographs, some of them surrounded with a red circle and a red slash over them. We all know what THAT means! One such was a silhouette of a person walking with a walking stick and a backpack on his back. I took that to mean “No Camping Here”, because of the backpack. A ways up the trail I encountered a park ranger on a horse, who told me the trail was closed due to fire danger and I didn’t belong there, and didn’t I see the sign at the trailhead? One sign that seems to be quite internationally agreed upon is the red octagonal STOP sign, with the word STOP written in whatever the local language is. I’ve seen photos of Stop signs in Quebec or France with ARRÊTE on them, and a photo of a stop sign in Moscow with СТОП and it was clear what they meant. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/138 "2021-04-27T01:32:40Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Any parts that aren’t making you sick are good and right How did you get that ⬆ out of this: ⬇ “Perhaps maybe ‘parts I don’t want to see at the moment’?” I even said just before that “there are no wrong parts”. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/139 "2021-04-27T01:34:35Z")
I think they may have meant that literally. Like a bad kidney. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791/140 "2021-04-27T10:55:01Z")
I was agreeing with you about there being no bad parts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restroom-doors/939791.md?page=8)