# Urethra **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 17, 2014, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urethra/704850 "2014-11-17T13:38:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Henryunderborn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/58f4c7/32.png) [@Henryunderborn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henryunderborn)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urethra/704850/21 "2014-11-17T18:39:56Z")
you deliberately disregard the clear and present meaning of the sentence. because its not how you would write it. If you speak english, you know what that sentence means. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urethra/704850/22 "2014-11-17T19:01:05Z")
Um, no. Sorry. We “deliberately disregard the clear and present meaning of the sentence” because, as it is written, it is gibberish. Using a bigger word is not a sign of education. Using the right word is. Please, as I asked you earlier, restate your question using shorter words. You are not using the big words correctly. If you are a native speaker of English, you seem to be deliberately trying to be incomprehensible. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urethra/704850/23 "2014-11-17T19:13:04Z")
> [@Henryunderborn](#): > > you deliberately disregard the clear and present meaning of the sentence. because its not how you would write it. > > If you speak english, you know what that sentence means. [Moderating] No. Whatever you mean by it, that’s not the way a native English speaker would write it. Given that a number of native English speakers have told you they don’t understand what you mean, you should believe them. With all due respect, many of your posts are virtually incomprehensible. (Part of this is due to carelessness in punctuation and phrasing.) If you want to ask questions here and get responses, it would be best to get someone with better writing skills in English to help you rephrase your questions. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urethra/704850/24 "2014-11-17T20:56:45Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Now, I would have just assumed the upper one was always the urethra… Nope. They’re often kind of side by side. Sometimes the urethra is so small and smooth you can’t even really see it as a hole (which is when the wink is really helpful). It’s especially perplexing in obese women, where folds get foldier and up and down bear only a passing relation to theory, and body positioning in bed is rarely as precise as a diagram. Sometimes the urethra is even inside the vestibule of the vagina, which is a bitch to figure out. Really, if our bodies would just read the anatomy text and follow the directions, my life would be a lot easier. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urethra/704850/25 "2014-11-17T20:58:23Z")
> [@Henryunderborn](#): > > . . . if a deliberately nurtured individual, is raised eating appropriate amounts of sustenence, they might pee, 2-3 times a day. . . . . This is my guess at what you mean, just because people are commenting: “A person who is eating a proper diet, because they were raised right, might pee 2 to 3 times a day.” As an aside, I’ve heard people who push drinking 8 glasses of water a day claim that it’s normal to pee every 1 - 2 hours. I don’t agree with the 8 glasses idea, but if anyone was going to wear out a urethra, it would be those guys. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urethra/704850/26 "2014-11-17T21:57:32Z")
> [@Henryunderborn](#): > > excessively used urethra i tried explaining in the previous post > > if a deliberately nurtured individual, is raised eating appropriate amounts of sustenence, they might pee, 2-3 times a day. Where are you getting this information? My information (based on Bladder Training Guidelines for people with certain kinds of incontinence) is that: > [@](#): > > A normal fluid intake is between 1500-2000 cc’s (50-70 oz.) per day, which should produce 1200-1500 cc’s (40-50 oz.) of urine output. The normal bladder capacity before you feel any sensation of urge is about 300 cc’s (10 oz.). Normal voiding volumes are 210-300 cc’s (7-10 oz.) with the first morning voiding usually being the largest at 400-500 cc’s. [Associates in Women's Health Care - Associates In Women's Health Care is a leading provider of obstetrics, gynecology, urogynecology, and infertility care in Roseville, California.](http://www.aiwhc.com/patient-education-urinary-urgency.html) So, if you’re urinating 500cc’s (500mL) in the morning, and every 300 cc’s after that, that’s a _minimum_, not maximum, of 4 times a day. That’s assuming the largest volume of urine in the morning (500cc) and the largest volume at each urination (300cc) and the smallest total urine output per day that is considered normal (1200cc). 500+300+300+100 = 1200 Where are you getting the idea that 2-3 times per day is biologically normal? 5-6 times a day is more realistic for a healthy person who is voiding when their body demands (by signals of urgency) and not holding it in by force of will. ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urethra/704850/27 "2014-11-17T22:15:24Z")
Jeez, it’s odd syntax but not impossible to understand. Yllaria got it, too. A person eating the proper amount of a healthy diet. For the OP - the urethra is like the inside of your cheek. It’s not a rigid tube like a pipe or straw, and it’s normally collapsed flat, like one of those balloon-animal balloons that hasn’t been blown up. When urine flows through it, it stretches open, like your cheeks stretch to accommodate food. There is a limit to the stretch, however, just like there is with your cheeks. The normal passage of urine does not produce much wear and tear on the urethral lining. Infection or trauma (like passing a stone) can damage the lining, producing inflammation just like a burn or scrape inside your cheek would cause - the lining gets shaggy and oozes serum, or breaks down completely and is flushed away by the flow of urine, leaving a raw surface. Healing may proceed smoothly or may result in scar formation that leaves a less elastic surface behind which can be a problem in the future, serving as a focal point for further injury. If you get a lot of scarring, the urethra can’t expand as urine flows through it so resistance is high and peak flow rates decrease. Once a stricture forms the upstream portion of the urethra may dilate because the pressure there is persistently high. If there is enough dilation it can overstretch the urethra and lead to a loss of elasticity. So compared to the healthy starting condition (smooth, stretchy inside of cheek), a urethra damaged by infection or injury would be rough or shaggy or scarred, less elastic, and would have a smaller maximum diameter. You can drink water all day long every day without wearing out the lining of your mouth, but picture what would happen to the inside of your mouth if you were to severely burn it on boiling tea or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urethra/704850/28 "2014-11-17T22:16:11Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Now, I would have just assumed the upper one was always the urethra… inversion boots are a confusing health fad. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urethra/704850/29 "2014-11-17T22:18:36Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Nope. They’re often kind of side by side. Sometimes the urethra is so small and smooth you can’t even really see it as a hole (which is when the wink is really helpful). It’s especially perplexing in obese women, where folds get foldier and up and down bear only a passing relation to theory, and body positioning in bed is rarely as precise as a diagram. Sometimes the urethra is even inside the vestibule of the vagina, which is a bitch to figure out. You learn something new everyday. However, my interest in identification of such orifices has to date been recreational rather than professional.😉 > [@WhyNot](#): > > Where are you getting the idea that 2-3 times per day is biologically normal? I would think that kind of frequency would be more of an indication of dehydration. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urethra/704850/30 "2014-11-17T22:40:26Z")
I dunno. I’m pretty sure our urethra is made out of polyurethane. Why else call it a urethra? ---
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urethra/704850/31 "2014-11-17T23:08:58Z")
So, what does happen to individual cells of internal organs/structures when they (the cells) die? Do they fall apart and get reabsorbed as nutrients? Does some part of the immune system break them up? Are they simply shed into the blood stream (kind of like skin cells are into the air)? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urethra/704850/32 "2014-11-17T23:38:38Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > You learn something new everyday. However, my interest in identification of such orifices has to date been recreational rather than professional.😉 Ha! Yeah. I was so confidently confused when they made a big deal out of this in school. I was all, “what the hell? It’s the top hole, dur…” …and then I tried to place my first Foley in an actual person. Oy. People are so…squishy. > [@](#): > > I would think that kind of frequency would be more of an indication of dehydration. Absolutely would be a signal to me that I needed to ask more questions. Like, how much water do you drink? Do you eat lots of juicy vegetables and fruits? Are you perchance half camel, or have you worked as a Registered Nurse? (Same thing, really. 😃 ) Seriously, for all the joking about nurses holding their pee, it’s a bad habit to get into. Increases the risk of stones, UTIs and ruptures. Saw a bladder rupture from a car accident in clinicals. Yuck. Since I’m a nurse who drives all day, I have every mostly clean public bathroom mapped on my GPS. I do NOT want to get into an accident with a full bladder. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urethra/704850/33 "2014-11-17T23:47:33Z")
> [@dstarfire](#): > > So, what does happen to individual cells of internal organs/structures when they (the cells) die? > > Do they fall apart and get reabsorbed as nutrients? Does some part of the immune system break them up? Are they simply shed into the blood stream (kind of like skin cells are into the air)? Your body has these really cool white blood cells that gobble them up. For regular maintenance, fixed macrophages hang out around the body and do their job directly. For injured tissue, little “flags” called neutrophils find the damage and attach there, and macrophages are attracted to the neutrophil flags and gobble up the neutrophils and their attached damaged cells. Macrophages will also gobble up bacteria, and they digest the bacteria inside with the help of lymphocytes. Some of the components can be recycled, some end up in your urine or feces. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urethra/704850/34 "2014-11-17T23:50:54Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > It’s made of meat. You better believe him, he’s a doctor. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urethra/704850/35 "2014-11-18T02:10:35Z")
> [@brossa](#): > > Jeez, it’s odd syntax but not impossible to understand. Yllaria got it, too. A person eating the proper amount of a healthy diet. > > For the OP - the urethra is like the inside of your cheek. It’s not a rigid tube like a pipe or straw, and it’s normally collapsed flat, like one of those balloon-animal balloons that hasn’t been blown up. When urine flows through it, it stretches open, like your cheeks stretch to accommodate food. There is a limit to the stretch, however, just like there is with your cheeks. The normal passage of urine does not produce much wear and tear on the urethral lining. Infection or trauma (like passing a stone) can damage the lining, producing inflammation just like a burn or scrape inside your cheek would cause - the lining gets shaggy and oozes serum, or breaks down completely and is flushed away by the flow of urine, leaving a raw surface. Healing may proceed smoothly or may result in scar formation that leaves a less elastic surface behind which can be a problem in the future, serving as a focal point for further injury. If you get a lot of scarring, the urethra can’t expand as urine flows through it so resistance is high and peak flow rates decrease. Once a stricture forms the upstream portion of the urethra may dilate because the pressure there is persistently high. If there is enough dilation it can overstretch the urethra and lead to a loss of elasticity. > > So compared to the healthy starting condition (smooth, stretchy inside of cheek), a urethra damaged by infection or injury would be rough or shaggy or scarred, less elastic, and would have a smaller maximum diameter. You can drink water all day long every day without wearing out the lining of your mouth, but picture what would happen to the inside of your mouth if you were to severely burn it on boiling tea or whatever. Disease can cause the urethra to develop many holes, much like swiss cheese. ‘Watering-can perineum’, not much seen in the modern antiobiotic era. > **[Watering Can Perineum](http://roentgenrayreader.blogspot.com/2010/04/watering-can-perineum.html)** > > Watering can perineum refers to urination through the perineum due to multiple urethroperineal fistulas. Urethroperineal fistulas are most c... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urethra/704850.md?page=1)