this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2025
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. No politics
    • If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
    • A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS

If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.

Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.

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[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

Clearly you've never half-bathed in gas station restrooms while hitchhiking cross country. Hint: it doesn't involve the toilet.

But I'm puzzled that a room with only one plumbing fixture is called a "quarter bath" regardless of whether that fixture is a sink, toilet or shower. Dat don't make no sense.

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

So is this a good time to bring up Hillary's email server? Cuz I thought merely using an improperly secured server was a super huge deal to conservatives, many of whom screamed treason and demanded prison for her. And I don't think any vital information was ever actually leaked through it.

[–] CrazyLikeGollum@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

True, we should call it the "shit 'n rinse."

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago

Excuse, where's the shitrinse located at?

Would you mind if I used your shitrinse?

Yeah I think it works.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

It is half a bathroom

No you don't get to ask why a bathroom is called a bathroom. It is like questioning the origin of a hot dog.

[–] CidVicious@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 days ago

It's a euphemism. "Water closet" is another old fashioned word for a bathroom.

[–] Thorry84@feddit.nl 61 points 1 week ago (1 children)

On the other hand, if you say you are going to the bathroom, nobody expects you to take a shit in the bathtub

[–] thefartographer@lemm.ee 26 points 1 week ago

Which is what makes it all that much more satisfying when the next person goes in

[–] mp3 35 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Never heard "half bath", and I always called those washrooms.

[–] CidVicious@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 days ago

Real estate term.

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 29 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

It is common in the US, frequently they will be listed as 2 & 1/2 baths if they have two with tubs and one without.

Haven't paid enough attention to know how they list multiple 1/2 baths but pretty sure they don't add up like regular fractions...

I always found the term 1/2 bath weird.

[–] kSPvhmTOlwvMd7Y7E@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

that's some realtor math. they are known to magically inflate surface before you buy it, and shrink it back once you bought / rented it. Mathematicians can't explain that !

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 13 points 1 week ago (2 children)

And a room with a toilet, sink, and shower stall is a 3/4 bath.

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

Anything to avoid the metric system!

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I’ve never heard of this before. I have what you describe as 3/4 bath, but it was listed as a full bath in MLS.

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

If you put a bedpan and a washbasin in your closet, it's a 1/8 bath.

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

A litter box and some hand sanitizer in a wheelbarrow is a 1/16 bath.

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 1 points 6 days ago

Hole in the ground next to a pile of wet leaves? That's a 1/32 bath.

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[–] jewbacca117@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Imagine getting a half bath but only the back half so you don't even get a faucet

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[–] Ledivin@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

Haven't paid enough attention to know how they list multiple 1/2 baths but pretty sure they don't add up like regular fractions...

They'd either list them separately or as a whole and then clarify. E.g. "two full- and two half-baths"or something like "four bathrooms - two full"

[–] jol@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Whatever we call them, it's always some euphemism hiding the fact tha it's the pooping room.

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[–] JackFrostNCola@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Commonly called called a 'powder room' in australia.

Maybe it's a class difference thing but I've more commonly heard it referred to as "the shitter," "dunny," or "toilet."

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 1 points 6 days ago

Powder room is where you store amino.

[–] sowitzer@lemm.ee 1 points 6 days ago

I’m in the US and powered room is used in places I’ve lived. But on real estate listings it is common to call it 1/2 bath.

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[–] FlexibleToast@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It's a way to conveniently talk about the number of bathrooms. You can say a house is "three bedroom, two and a half bath" and you convey that there are two bathrooms and one "washroom".

[–] sowitzer@lemm.ee 1 points 6 days ago

What gets confusing are these large homes, or McMansions that list 5 bedrooms and 7 and a half baths. So are they listing 3 powder rooms at 1.5 baths? I can’t afford them, so I only see it online; but that part gets weird. I have seen descriptions that then list full and partial though.

[–] Steve@startrek.website 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Or 5 powder rooms and zero bathtubs

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[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 32 points 1 week ago (3 children)

You can bathe half your body in the sink and the other half in the toilet.

[–] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 1 points 4 days ago
[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

And now I'm going to touch grass

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 1 points 6 days ago

Don't forget to bathe after!

[–] psoul@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

Cursed comment, but I’ll add on to it: If you plug the door slit with a towel the whole room becomes your tub.

[–] kitnaht@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Bath doesn't refer to the tub, it refers to bathing. You can 'sink bathe' with a rag and running sink water.

So a half-bath, contains 1/2 of the common furnishings for bathing.

[–] TomAwsm@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Yeah, a "full" bathroom with just a shower also has zero bathtubs.

[–] samus12345@lemm.ee 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The real weirdness originates from any room with a toilet being called a bathroom despite many not having bathtubs.

[–] kevincox@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 week ago

Technically if it doesn't have a bathtub or shower it is called a powder room. But that phrase is rarely used. (Mostly because 90% of the time when we say bathroom we mean toilet.)

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 11 points 1 week ago (2 children)

You'd be amazed how much bathing some people manage to do with just a sink.

[–] despicable@lemmy.today 2 points 5 days ago

Probably around half?

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 3 points 6 days ago

You've been to McDonald's I take it

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

At that point you're halfway to having a standard bathroom, so it makes sense to me.

[–] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 8 points 1 week ago

We'd just call that room "the toilet"

[–] Noel_Skum@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 week ago

And in the UK a “cloakroom” is very rarely a place specifically to hang your cloak…

[–] Marty_TF@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

in german that room is just called "das klo" (the toilet)

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[–] TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 week ago

If you chop a bathtub in half and place the parts in different rooms, you can have two half baths. If you bring four such parts in the same room, you’ll get a double bath. Probably still not very good for actually bathing, because a half tubs don’t hold much water.

[–] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 6 points 1 week ago

Good news! Most of the world would find that extremely weird (as with calling a room with no baths a bathroom). I think it's due to the euphemism treadmill.

[–] lugal@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

And if you had half a bathtub, you could as well have no bathtub at all

[–] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 6 points 1 week ago

If it's fixed to a waterproof wall, it would work. Weird, but work.

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