(I did a quick search of the General Questions and I don’t believe this has been asked before.)
And by “inward”, I mean towards the place where the people go do their business. Wouldn’t it be more hygenic to have the door open the other way so I don’t have to touch the doornob? After all, not everybody who visits the procelain goddess bother to wash their hands afterwards. :eek:
I think by Law the Handicap Acess stalls have to open outwards.
If someone is in there, doing their business, and the door opens inward, a swift kick will often stop the unwanted incursion. No such maneuver is effective when the door opens outward!
[QUOTE=dotchan Wouldn’t it be more hygenic to have the door open the other way so I don’t have to touch the doornob? [/QUOTE]
How do you open a door without using a doorknob? I have never accomplished the fete on a fully closed door.
When you open the door after finishing your business, the small wind you create tends to push the noxious gasses out through the vents and windows instead of sucking them into the rest of the house.
Every little bit helps, I say.
Peace,
mangeorge.
:smack: I meant door handle, of course, the kind that you pull.
And I meant the actual bathroom door, not the stall door.
On retrospect, perhaps part of the reason they open inwards is that in some businesses the male and female restrooms are set so close together that for them to open outwards would cause the doors to knock into each other.
In most homes and businesses, bathrooms are usually accessed from a corridor or hallway. If the doors opened outward, they would tend to block the general passage of traffic in these areas – especially since
the default bathroom door position in most homes (and in businesses with single-user bathrooms) is open – a closed door indicates that the room is in use.
Most multiple stall bathrooms I’ve seen, the doors to the rooms do open outwards, possibly to be ADA accessible, but these are usually the type of doors that close themselves.
There was a thread on this before somewhere but I’m too lazy to look it up.
Another reason they open inward (not counting handicapped stalls because those have to open outward): Think of a person riding a bike by a car. Now say that car’s door suddenly opens. Picture this happening between a drunk and a stall door in a bar restroom late at night.
I think there’s a whole host of reasons they do, all of them good.
at the Wally World where I work, the handicap stalls doors open inward…
I’m not sure how opening outward would be any easier, cuz even if it was reversed, the said handicapper would still hafto open it towards them to get out.
irreguardless… there is a lot of manuevering room for those stalls… so I suspect it makes little difference.
err… i mistyped there… irreguardless of which way the door swings, you’ll be opening it both ways, via entering or exiting.
I tend to believe the rationale expressed by meowpossum, particularly given that bathroom doors in a commercial/institutional setting are sometimes inset 4’ from a corridor and can then be outswing for those exiting without the door entering the corridor space.
I answered this in post #41 of this thread.
Ironic post of the week, unless jester21 intentionally misspells famous non-words just to astound and irritate pedantic self-righteous language mavens like me. If that’s the case, mission accomplished!
Irregardless is a word. According to Merriam-Webster it means the same thing as regardless. That dictionary has this to say about it:
“usage Irregardless originated in dialectical American speech in the early 20th century. Its fairly widespread use in speed called it to the attention of usage commentators as early as 1927. The most frequently repeated remark about it is that ‘there is no such word.’ There is such a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech although it can be found from time to time in edited prose. Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.”
It’s not that it’s not a word. It’s that it is an unneeded word.
My guess:
The doors of almost ALL rooms in a house open inward, including the bedrooms. This is because it’s less likely to surprise someone in the bedroom than it is to wack someone walking down the hall. Imagine all the accidents if doors flew open into hallways and heavy traffic areas.
yes, i’m aware of it’s supposed “non-word” status (assuming you were refering to my use of Irreguardless)… (see the post after yours)…
and yes, it is used quite intentionally jest to irritate language mavens 
I *didn’t * say it was not a word. I said it is a *non-*word.
either way, regardless doesn’t have a U. its not reguardless…
sorry. please continue about bathroom doors and whatnot.
A very good reason is to permit kicking the door in, if latched, in the event of an emergency.
Anyway;
Have you seen Robert McNeal’s Do You Speak American on PBS?
Well, irregardless of whether you have or haven’t, the show addresses your complaint directly.
Boy, now that was hard to come up with.