FartFilter

May 9, 2018 10:16 AM

Is it permissible to audibly pass gas in front of strangers, while using a urinal?
posted by BuddhaInABucket to Human Relations (37 answers total)

yes
posted by rd45 at 10:19 AM on May 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

yes.
posted by entropone at 10:19 AM on May 9, 2018

actually it depends on where the urinal is.

in a bathroom?

you're good.
posted by entropone at 10:20 AM on May 9, 2018 [22 favorites]

yes, right? I'm guessing yes? I mean it is a bathroom?

My understanding of the code is that it's on everyone else to pretend not to hear what goes on in shared bathrooms.
posted by fingersandtoes at 10:20 AM on May 9, 2018 [7 favorites]

Yes. It's all men in there, and we don't care.
posted by w0mbat at 10:27 AM on May 9, 2018 [4 favorites]

Yes! And it's also worth noting that this may not be something that is avoidable anyhow (if you are concerned about others' farts). There was an AskMe thread talking about whether or not you can "hold farts in" and some people can and some people can't. So more to the point: it's ok because it's unavoidable.
posted by jessamyn at 10:28 AM on May 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

If you can't fart in a bathroom--the kind of room which is for exactly that and more--then I don't know where else you'd fart.

Yes it is fine
posted by obliterati at 10:45 AM on May 9, 2018 [21 favorites]

I think there is a sort of implied sense of "is it permissible to intentionally pass gas in front of strangers..." and I think in that case, you might want to exercise a little discretion. For example, if you walk into the restroom and there is already someone in there finishing up, maybe hold on for another 15 seconds until they leave? But, yes, generally we should not judge anyone for performing their anatomical functions in a bathroom.
posted by Rock Steady at 10:48 AM on May 9, 2018 [4 favorites]

Yes. It's all men in there, and we don't care.

Um. Call me guilty of fartshaming or whatever, but I'd rather not have total strangers (or anyone, really,) ripping farts while standing right next to me.
posted by Funeral march of an old jawbone at 10:53 AM on May 9, 2018 [15 favorites]

At the urinal? I wouldn't find it *IM*permissible. I probably wouldn't even remark upon it to others afterward, unless it was particularly resonant. As your urinal-neighbor, I wouldn't be PLEASED, but I probably wouldn't reach the point of judging you.

In a stall, though, you're 100% fine, IMO.

In either case, if it's really audible, just make sure to say "God bless me!" afterward.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 10:57 AM on May 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

I mean, I'm not super pumped about someone pissing next to me or taking a dump a foot away on the other side of some coke-can thick piece of sheet metal either. I don't think anyone is enthusiastically in favor of anyone doing anything in a shared bathroom.

But that's what the room is for, so if someone tried to make you feel bad for using it, they are bad and they should feel bad.
posted by Krawczak at 11:32 AM on May 9, 2018 [9 favorites]

Not to abuse the edit window:
Some people are enthusiastically in favor of being near others who are carrying out bathroom functions, and they are not bad for liking that. But they are an incredibly small minority.
posted by Krawczak at 11:33 AM on May 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Related Question
posted by craven_morhead at 12:00 PM on May 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

The only thing you shouldn't do in a bathroom is talk on a cell phone.
posted by bondcliff at 12:04 PM on May 9, 2018 [17 favorites]

Response by poster: It appears there has been quite a shift in fart protocol in the 7 years since that related thread.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 12:04 PM on May 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

Many years ago as a teen, I was in a bathroom stall where scrawled on the wall we're the sage words, FART that's what you're here for so I reckon that opinion still stands.
posted by pointystick at 12:06 PM on May 9, 2018 [8 favorites]

I should really check in on Ask more. What an awesome thing to see complete consensus on.

I remember very clearly the minute, about 20 years ago, when I found out/decided that this must be OK: A friend of mine was one urinal over and farted, like, there was an echo. And without thinking, I just said "dude!" or something else reprehensible... And he said "What? It's part of the experience." And there's just no disagreeing with that.
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 12:16 PM on May 9, 2018 [4 favorites]

If it's not, my co-workers must really hate me.
posted by kevinbelt at 12:23 PM on May 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Of course it's permissible - you're passing liquid in front of strangers while using a urinal, what's there to be ashamed of?
posted by gyusan at 12:26 PM on May 9, 2018

You can, but I will probably involuntarily giggle a little. I'm mid-30s and farts are still funny, okay? Actually, that strikes me as a reason to do it.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 12:59 PM on May 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

Toot away.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 1:33 PM on May 9, 2018

If it's wrong, I don't want to be right.
posted by no1hatchling at 1:36 PM on May 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

> shift in fart protocol

say that three times fast

anyway I've only once been in a bathroom - a nice tile-covered and echo-y resonant one - when a guy just really let go. Initially I was like "WHAT" and then had the realization of what everyone upthread said: if there's any room in any building where that's permissible ...

also hey it's all pressure-based systems inside there and if you start letting pressure out of some outlets other things shift and it can all come apart quick so jessamyn's right, sometimes it just can't be held.

No excitement for people doing it, but no shame either.
posted by komara at 1:36 PM on May 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

That is what bathrooms are for.
posted by fimbulvetr at 1:54 PM on May 9, 2018

Permissible: Farting in a public bathroom.
Impermissible: Lighting a fart in a public bathroom.
posted by mosk at 1:58 PM on May 9, 2018 [4 favorites]

You will find that as you get older the fart imperative will tend to increase. Get your self to a bathroom with old guys, and you will see what I mean. They know a thing to two about getting the job done, and this includes strategic relaxation.
posted by Midnight Skulker at 2:25 PM on May 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Yes. It's also acceptable to say "Ahhhh..." afterwards.
posted by Rob Rockets at 4:17 PM on May 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

This, from FAMOUS MONSTER in the old thread on the appropriate reaction to urinal farts, still holds up:
“An incredulous glance in the general direction of where he's standing in the room, through the walls of the stalls. A sour face is appropriate if it is a fart which somehow manages to be notable in a room full of piss and shit and farts; the sourness of the face may scale with the notability of the fart. It is also entirely appropriate to stifle laughter, since farts are kind of hilarious. But that's all.”

I miss FAMOUS MONSTER.
posted by Kwine at 11:52 PM on May 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

It is permissible to let Nature have her say. Also, I'd like to see you try avoid it.

(I don't use urinals for that very reason. I want to toot in peace).
posted by Namlit at 3:51 AM on May 10, 2018

Is it permissable? Who would, uh, im-permit it?

(I'm still however unpleasantly haunted by the time someone let one rip in a stall and then moaned in a way that conveyed deep pleasure.)
posted by zippy at 9:02 AM on May 10, 2018 [2 favorites]

...farting in restrooms is permitted; also underrated. I've ambiguous feelings about editorializing afterward, unless it's absolutely merited. You'll know. A simple Ahh will do. It's not necessary for listeners to shout Bravo.
posted by mule98J at 9:33 AM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]

Honestly, as you get older, you may no longer have a choice.
posted by scrump at 9:47 AM on May 10, 2018

Wow. Is this a gender lines thing? Because as a female I don't think this is ok to do in a bathroom and I've rarely ever heard a woman do this in the bathroom and if she does then she does that game of hiding in the stall until everyone who could have possibly been in the bathroom when it happened has left (just like she does if she has to poop and it makes any kind of noise beyond the acceptable quiet sploosh into the water). Men seem to live such free-er lives sometimes.
posted by TestamentToGrace at 10:18 AM on May 10, 2018 [5 favorites]

Wow. Is this a gender lines thing? Because as a female I don't think this is ok to do in a bathroom and I've rarely ever heard a woman do this in the bathroom and if she does then she does that game of hiding in the stall until everyone who could have possibly been in the bathroom when it happened has left

I'm aghast (no pun intended, honestly) at this thread, but I guess I'm clearly in the minority of guys who don't actively enjoy farting in front of strangers (and, apparently, actively enjoy listening to and smelling strangers' farts in dingy closed spaces?) And I'm sorry, but the last thing in the world that I want to listen to --aside from your farts-- is any weird sighs of pleasure you might make to accompany them. I don't know... maybe a regional thing? I don't encounter many deliberately conspicuous farters in public restrooms in stuffy/stoic old New England, but maybe I've just been lucky my whole life.

I mean, I get that bathrooms are for bathroom functions, and I laugh as hard at farts as any 12 year old kid, but I'm totally alienated and squicked out by the "YEAH! Farting's great guys! High five, random guy at the urinal next to me!" attitude.
posted by Funeral march of an old jawbone at 2:31 PM on May 10, 2018

I have had to restrain myself from audibly approving when someone produces a quality fart in a restroom.

Farting in a restroom: OK
Encouraging people to fart in restrooms: Questionable
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 3:03 PM on May 10, 2018 [4 favorites]

> Wow. Is this a gender lines thing? Because as a female I don't think this is ok to do in a bathroom and I've rarely ever heard a woman do this in the bathroom

I have farted in toilet cubicles, and have heard many other women fart in toilet cubicles. If women farting in toilet cubicles is wrong, I don't want to be right.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 4:05 AM on May 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

This isn't much of a drifting topic, but as an older male, I sometimes have to give up an audible sigh during a successful bout at the urinal, and I find myself nodding in empathetic communion when I hear a fellow oldster expressing his own surprise and relief. The usual etiquette in this situation is to nod a bit while keeping one's eyes directed at his own, as it were, firing line.
posted by mule98J at 10:50 AM on May 12, 2018