this post was submitted on 30 Jun 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:

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    • 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.
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Edit:

Together they can make the combined-arms-gulls.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 hours ago

If seagulls fly over the sea, then what flies over the bay?

Bagels.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 hours ago

Captain Planet Gull: "Give me those chips and I'll poop on you!"

You: "... don't you mean 'or' you will poop on me, not 'and'?"

Captain Planet Gull: ...

You: ...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 hours ago

I never knew that. I thought it went from beagle to seagull and then on to eagle…

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 hours ago

Don't forget heartgulls. Everyone always forgets heart.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

Wrong.

Seagulls imply the existence of Rivergulls, Lakegulls, Mountiangulls, Desertgulls, Forestgulls, Plaingulls, Valleygulls, Hillgulls, etc.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 hours ago

No no no, you're all wrong. It goes Agles, Beagles, Seagulls, Deegles, Eagles, etc. We've proven the existence of 3 of these species already, but the search continues for these other mysterious creatures the certainly must exist. In this TED Talk, I will...

[–] [email protected] 8 points 16 hours ago

Archipelagulls

[–] [email protected] 17 points 20 hours ago

I've seen many seagulls in my life.

But I've never seen any of the others.

And that's terrifying. Stay vigilant.

[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I think a "landgull" would just be a pigeon

[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Nah, that's an airgull. A landgull would be a chicken.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Nah, that's a farmgull. A landfill would be an ostrich

[–] [email protected] 20 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

No that's where garbage goes, landgull would be a peacock

[–] lemmyng 13 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

No, that'd be a fancygull. A landgull would be a rat.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

No that would be a politigul. A landgull would be a gopher.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

No, that's a dirtgull. A landgull would be a kangaroo.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 23 hours ago

In light of the above, then, I hereby propose that squirrels get renamed to "treegulls."

[–] [email protected] 29 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

It's all fun and games until the firegull nation attacks.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 23 hours ago

My brother and I discovered the new Gulliver...

[–] [email protected] 24 points 23 hours ago (3 children)

If there are armadillos, where are the legadillos?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 19 hours ago

Given how much cuter a goldfish is than a silverfish, whatever a bronzefish is must be a absolutely disgusting.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

And what about the Dillos who don't want to be armed?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 18 hours ago

unarmadillos?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 19 hours ago

Stands to reason, yes. Maybe also navyadillos and airforcadillos.

[–] corsicanguppy 9 points 20 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 19 hours ago

Bay-hull; loves explosions.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 23 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 36 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 14 hours ago

Attention Bajoran workers...

[–] [email protected] 8 points 21 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 13 points 22 hours ago

Reminds me of a John Hodgman bit - we have ice hockey, field hockey, and air hockey, implying the existence of fire hockey.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

Most of what we consider "seagulls" dont actually go out to sea. It's all lies.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

The seagull is the state bird of Utah. About 400 miles from the nearest ocean.

[–] dubyakay 2 points 12 hours ago

So they are lakegulls then.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 19 hours ago

They're seaadjacentgulls.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 23 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 14 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

I used to study animal management and there was a lecturer who wrote his uni thesis on "seagulls" and any time he heard someone call them seagulls he'd shout down the hallway "They're herring gulls!"

[–] [email protected] 10 points 23 hours ago

Seagulls are not just herring gulls though. The term is used for any gulls people see near the sea. In the UK that's herring, great black backed & and lesser black backed, black headed, common, and kittiwakes.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

A birdwatching friend of mine has decided that if he ever discovers a new species, he's naming it "seagull" regardless of where he finds it or what it looks like just to piss off all the ornithologists.

[–] Stalinwolf 3 points 17 hours ago

Don't forget THA GOOD SHIP MERRY GULL!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 23 hours ago

Long ago, the four gulls lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the fire gulls attacked...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 19 hours ago

Don't forget bay-gulls. They love fish, especially smoked salmon

[–] [email protected] 8 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

We have Baygulls. They are tasty with cream cheese.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 23 hours ago (1 children)
[–] lemmyng 4 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

"By your powers combined, I'm Captain Gull!"

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 23 hours ago

I live in Colorado and there are gulls here, we are far from the sea.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

Water-Gull. Earth-Gull. Fire-Gull. Air-Gull. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire-Gull Nation attacked.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 23 hours ago

Water. Earth. Fire. Air. My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days, a time of peace when the Avatar kept balance between the Seagulls, Landgulls, Firegulls, and Airgulls. But that all changed when the Firegulls attacked.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (2 children)

You have to go pretty far back (to proto-Celtic, it looks like) to find a linguistic ancestor for the word "gull" that doesn't just mean "that specific bird."

But in proto-Celtic, it looks like "weilanna" probably meant "wailer." As in, "one who wails," though we don't know exactly what the suffix "-anna" means. A similar word in that language would've been "wailos," which even though it sounds similar seems to have been unrelated to our modern term "wolf," as it comes from a different proto-indo-european root.

Anyway, the word "gull" does refer to the sounds that it makes more than anything else. So in figuring out what a landgull, airgull, and firegull might be, we need to find something noisy. Or just something annoying, given the derisive connotation of "wail."

Edit: This is, of course, assuming that we're looking for different existing types of animals to be these creatures, rather than just (for instance) creating new, elemental forms of gulls; or "reskinning" seagulls with different elements; or inventing all-new animals to fill those roles.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Wailos or wailer is wolf, is that because they “wail” (howl?) Or is that just a coincidence?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 hours ago

It's probably the result of a taboo. It's why people say "bear" (the brown one) or "medved" (the honey knower) instead of "arth" or "ursus".

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