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Author Topic: Bathroom stall anthropology.  (Read 2179 times)

BorkBorkGoesTheCode

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Bathroom stall anthropology.
« on: July 02, 2016, 10:07:09 am »

Has anyone studied the stuff carved, drawn or smeared on stall walls? I mean an actual study?




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Teneb

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Re: Bathroom stall anthropology.
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2016, 05:18:22 pm »

Has anyone studied the stuff carved, drawn or smeared on stall walls? I mean an actual study?
If I was coursing anthropology instead of history, I would certainly do so. Instead I am merely content with preserving them through photos.
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Baffler

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Re: Bathroom stall anthropology.
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2016, 05:46:12 pm »

I hate to just link a search results page, but look through these results to find what you're after. I see some promising looking titles, but I know next to nothing about the reputations of journals in the social sciences.
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nenjin

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Re: Bathroom stall anthropology.
« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2016, 05:51:48 pm »

I often find myself asking this question when I see graffiti. There's a lot of graffiti in Germany and when ever I asked Germans about it they were really dismissive (except for the super artsy graffiti in Hamgburg.) But I always wonder about the layers and layers of messages they represent.
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BorkBorkGoesTheCode

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Re: Bathroom stall anthropology.
« Reply #4 on: July 02, 2016, 06:07:42 pm »

I hate to just link a search results page, but look through these results to find what you're after. I see some promising looking titles, but I know next to nothing about the reputations of journals in the social sciences.
Thank you, those links look promising.

I often find myself asking this question when I see graffiti. There's a lot of graffiti in Germany and when ever I asked Germans about it they were really dismissive (except for the super artsy graffiti in Hamgburg.) But I always wonder about the layers and layers of messages they represent.
I have also wondered. There seems to be a connection between the social mores of an area and the content of the graffiti.
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nenjin

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Re: Bathroom stall anthropology.
« Reply #5 on: July 02, 2016, 06:12:03 pm »

There are plenty of links you can draw if you have a mind to do so. The actual meaning behind graffiti is so highly distorted, on purpose, that it makes me wonder what a lot of it actually stands for. Bathroom stall messages tend to be a little more straightfoward :P I find it interesting where you don't see bathroom stall engravings though. You'd think airport bathrooms, where all of humanity takes a seat, would have them everywhere. But they don't at most airports. Maybe because they're rigorously maintained. Or because people traveling don't have the time to be expressive. Or because there's simply too many people around for being mischievous. Or maybe because bathroom graffiti is largely done by people who use the same bathroom often. (As is the case with Truck Stops and Bars.)

Ironically I remember a bathroom at this one bar in Germany that was covered, wall to wall every surface except the toilets and sinks, in graffiti. Just to bring this post full circle.
« Last Edit: July 02, 2016, 08:15:02 pm by nenjin »
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Teneb

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Re: Bathroom stall anthropology.
« Reply #6 on: July 02, 2016, 06:27:07 pm »

Proposal: turn this thread into a collection of stall scrawlings/graffiti/messages. Excluding NSFW stuff, of course.
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BorkBorkGoesTheCode

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Re: Bathroom stall anthropology.
« Reply #7 on: July 02, 2016, 06:27:42 pm »

There are plenty of links you can draw if you have a mind to do so. The actual meaning behind graffiti is so highly distorted, on purpose, that it means me wonder what a lot of it actually stands for. Bathroom stall messages tend to be a little more straightfoward :P I find it interesting where you don't see bathroom stall engravings though. You'd think airport bathrooms, where all of humanity takes a seat, would have them everywhere. But they don't at most airports. Maybe because they're rigorously maintained. Or because people traveling don't have the time to be expressive. Or because there's simply too many people around for being mischievous. Or maybe because bathroom graffiti is largely done by people who use the same bathroom often. (As is the case with Truck Stops and Bars.)

Ironically I remember a bathroom at this one bar in Germany that was covered, wall to wall every surface except the toilets and sinks, in graffiti. Just to bring this post full circle.

I have seen genitalia pics, "for a good time call" "call this person for a good time", gang sign, magical symbolism, poetry, attempts to curse the reader with bowel trouble, "I exist", "they exist", "we exist" (I haven't seen anybody say nothing exists), "[outgroup/person] is [negative trait or behavior, as seen by the writer] and [commits disgusting and evil deeds, as seen by the writer]".

I find it interesting where you don't see bathroom stall engravings though. You'd think airport bathrooms, where all of humanity takes a seat, would have them everywhere. But they don't at most airports. Maybe because they're rigorously maintained. Or because people traveling don't have the time to be expressive. Or because there's simply too many people around for being mischievous. Or maybe because bathroom graffiti is largely done by people who use the same bathroom often. (As is the case with Truck Stops and Bars.)
Maintenance does seem to play a large part, as well as the tools available to the writers.
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BorkBorkGoesTheCode

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Re: Bathroom stall anthropology.
« Reply #8 on: July 02, 2016, 06:30:01 pm »

Proposal: turn this thread into a collection of stall scrawlings/graffiti/messages. Excluding NSFW stuff, of course.
Kinda difficult to do that, but I think that is a great idea.
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nenjin

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Re: Bathroom stall anthropology.
« Reply #9 on: July 02, 2016, 07:20:12 pm »

I got some photos from my trip last year, so 'ere ya go....
















Translates to “The Bible is a fairy tale.” Love that sunny German outlook!





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Helgoland

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Re: Bathroom stall anthropology.
« Reply #10 on: July 02, 2016, 07:22:55 pm »

PTW.
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Tawa

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Re: Bathroom stall anthropology.
« Reply #11 on: July 02, 2016, 07:28:46 pm »

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nenjin

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Re: Bathroom stall anthropology.
« Reply #12 on: July 02, 2016, 07:32:50 pm »

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VIII.2 (in the basilica); 1904: O walls, you have held up so much tedious graffiti that I am amazed that you have not already collapsed in ruin.

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« Last Edit: July 02, 2016, 07:37:04 pm by nenjin »
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
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Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
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Always spaghetti, never forghetti

Cthulhu

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Re: Bathroom stall anthropology.
« Reply #13 on: July 02, 2016, 07:44:06 pm »

There was a Stephen King story about a guy who collected bathroom graffiti.  Most of the examples seemed like things the author had actually seen and were pretty weird.  Not a horror story, more subdued.  All That You Love Will Be Carried Away was the name of the story but my favorite graffiti from it was "SAVE RUSSIAN JEWS, COLLECT VALUABLE PRIZES"

One of the best examples is HALFDAN WAS HERE, carved into the rock of the Hagia Sophia by some centuries-dead varangian guardsman.  It is immortality of a sort.
 
« Last Edit: July 02, 2016, 07:52:49 pm by Cthulhu »
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crazyabe

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Re: Bathroom stall anthropology.
« Reply #14 on: July 02, 2016, 07:59:59 pm »

PTW
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