# Toilet seat poll **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 2, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390 "2010-02-02T16:08:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390/21 "2010-02-02T18:24:57Z")
So far toilet lid down is winning. I don’t get it. Most of you people think peeing in the shower is okay but the toilet lid up is gross? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390/22 "2010-02-02T18:25:27Z")
Toilet seat poll: What people use besides their foot to open and close the toilet seat. Normal size is ten foot long. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390/23 "2010-02-02T18:54:10Z")
Male, live alone. The only time the seat goes down is when I have to #2, and it goes right back up when I’m done. ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390/24 "2010-02-02T19:02:05Z")
Lid down. It looks nicer, and my cats can’t throw things in there. Also, I can’t count the number of times I’ve accidentally knocked a hairbrush or make-up brush in there. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390/25 "2010-02-02T19:08:53Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Male, lid closed. For what other purpose is a lid supplied? To be open. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390/26 "2010-02-02T19:35:05Z")
What, no option “leave it as is”? ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390/27 "2010-02-02T19:36:01Z")
My faith in humanity has been restored looking at the poll results so far. Both men and women who have answered prefer the lid down. I can rest now. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390/28 "2010-02-02T19:39:21Z")
I try to close the lid before flushing, because of [toilet aerosol](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1317/does-flushing-the-toilet-cause-dirty-water-to-be-spewed-around-the-bathroom). There is, of course, seldom any reason to re-open it before the next use. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390/29 "2010-02-02T19:40:08Z")
I had no idea so many people like the lid down. I’ve never lived anywhere where that was done. Every once in a while ours ends up down for some reason, and I go in and sit down. That _really_ hurts when you aren’t ready for it. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390/30 "2010-02-02T19:41:46Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > Lid closed, to keep the cats from drinking from the toilet. Also keeps dropped objects from falling into the toilet. This. Well, mainly the latter. When I was a teenager I had what I thought were the ultimate in cool sunglasses. I’d pushed them up onto my baseball cap and forgot they were there. I took my hat off to wash my face, and my beloved shades flew into the toilet! Never again! Lid closed! ---
**Author:** ![legalsnugs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@legalsnugs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legalsnugs)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390/31 "2010-02-02T19:54:11Z")
I voted lid down, but that’s a faily new condition for us. Before we got Hoot the Bad Kitty, we left it seat down, lid up. Hoot the Bad Kitty likes to chase balled up paper towels. We throw them and he chases them and a good time is had by all. He discovered, however, that even though we had finished playing with him, he could still have a grand old time by dropping them in the toilet, fishing them out and dragging sopping wet paper towel wads around the house. This was a great middle-of-the-night game for him and we’d find them, usually by stepping on them, first think in the morning. We are now diligent lid-lowerers. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390/32 "2010-02-02T20:12:24Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > So far toilet lid down is winning. I don’t get it. Most of you people think peeing in the shower is okay but the toilet lid up is gross? I don’t pee in the shower, and I always leave the toilet lid down… that is, when it’s not lifted at a 35 degree angle. ---
**Author:** ![UncaStuart](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncastuart/32/404_2.png) [@UncaStuart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncaStuart)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390/33 "2010-02-02T20:49:57Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Male, lid closed. For what other purpose is a lid supplied? Yep. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390/34 "2010-02-02T21:10:48Z")
> [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#): > > This. Well, mainly the latter. When I was a teenager I had what I thought were the ultimate in cool sunglasses. I’d pushed them up onto my baseball cap and forgot they were there. I took my hat off to wash my face, and my beloved shades flew into the toilet! > > Never again! Lid closed! I found out the hard way that a toothbrush dropped into the toilet will not eventually clear out of the pipe. We’d been plunging that damn toilet every time we wanted to flush it for months, then Mr. Neville rented a toilet augur and got it out. I also learned that you won’t always know if you drop or knock a potentially clogging object into the toilet. Klutzy people + small bathroom (so there’s not the option of storing stuff away from the toilet) + leaving toilet lid up is not a good combination. The above plus cats that might drink from the toilet and like to bat things off table-like surfaces like toilet tanks is probably even worse. Luna even carries her toys around in her mouth, and cats have been known to “drown” their toys… ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390/35 "2010-02-02T21:31:33Z")
Male. Seat down. Personally, I don’t really care but my wife and daughter appreciate having the seat down so I accomodate them. People appreciate the little things so why not? ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390/36 "2010-02-02T21:54:37Z")
I used to be lid down, BUT I read that having the lid up can provide a pet with emergency water if you have some sort of crisis situation where you can’t get home. We live in NYC, and this was right after 9/11 and there was a lot on the local news about pets stuck in apartments and their owners couldn’t get to them. In some cases, having the toilet seats up gave the pets enough water to hold out until pet rescuers arrived. After that, we started leaving the lid up. The cat doesn’t bother with the toilet anyway – I might feel differently if he had annoying habits. ---
**Author:** ![MitzeKatze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@MitzeKatze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MitzeKatze)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390/37 "2010-02-02T21:59:21Z")
Lid closed. Between the pets drinking from it and the shelves invariably above the toilet, it is just safer that way. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390/38 "2010-02-02T22:24:04Z")
Lid closed! Because in every apartment or house I’ve lived in for the past 15+ years, there has been a medicine cabinet or storage shelf set over the toilet. After a few incidents of fumbling while reaching for the stuff stored up there, once for Band-Aids and once, in a particularly ironic twist, a roll of toilet paper, resulting in what I’ll call a Dunkage Situation, I now realize there is no good reason ever to leave the lid up when not in use. ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390/39 "2010-02-02T23:32:02Z")
Lid up and seat down. I’m surprised at how many said lid down. I have never met anyone who leaves the lid down. Unfortunately I have met plenty that left the seat up and that is a big no-no. Especially if you don’t have the cleanest bowl. When my son was a teenager his friends would leave the seat up. I would walk right up to them and say, Does my house look like a bus station to you? They would say, No. I would say, then get in that bathroom and put the seat down! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390/40 "2010-02-03T00:01:31Z")
> [@Perciful](#): > > When my son was a teenager his friends would leave the seat up. I would walk right up to them and say, Does my house look like a bus station to you? They would say, No. I would say, then get in that bathroom and put the seat down! I admit, it’s been awhile since I’ve been in a bus station, but I don’t understand the connection between bus stations and the seat being up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-seat-poll/527390.md?page=3)