![Urinal Etiquette Urinal Etiquette](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/square/000/019/118/urinal.jpg)
Urinal Etiquette
About
Urinal Etiquette is an exploitable image series based on a four-pane comic depicting an awkward moment of two strangers using the urinals immediately adjacent to each other out of an entire row in the men's bathroom.
Origin
While the authorship of the original comic remains unknown, the image has been circulating online since as early as 2010 with the earliest known instance posted on the Brazilian humor site Capinaremos[1] on March 2nd. The four-pane illustration begins with a man using a urinal in an empty men's bathroom, before a second man enters and intently chooses to use the urinal right next to the first man, despite there being an entirely row of unoccupied urinals.
![Seriously?](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/031/966/15f.jpg)
Precursor
The proper etiquettes surrounding the use of urinals in the men's bathroom has been a long-standing topic of online discussions and jokes, with the earliest known example found in a PSA-style animation video produced by Kurt Nellis and uploaded to YouTube on July 12th, 2006.
In addition, xkcd webcomic artist Randall Munroe also covered the urinal etiquette at length in a blog article titled "Urinal Protocol Vulnerability,"[5] posted to his website on September 2nd, 2009 (shown below).
![XKCD Let's take a look at the efficiency of this protocol at slotting everyone into acceptable are five urinals, they fill up like this: ιιιιι 0 The first two guys take the end and the third guy takes the middle one. At this point, the urinals are jammed no further guys can pee without Awkwardness. But it's pretty efficient, over 50% of the urinals are used. On the other hand, if there are seven urinals, they don't fill up so efficiently: ιιιιιι(5) There should be room for four guys to pee without Awkwardness, but because the third guy followed the protocol and chose the middle urinal, there are no options left for the fourth guy (he presumably pees in a stall or the sink). For eight urinals, the protocol works better: ιιιιιιιι](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/031/969/e6d.jpg)
Spread
Between 2010 and 2013, the image was posted on dozens of internet humor sites across many language zones. On January 2nd, 2013, Shaq O'Neal posted the image to his Facebook page with the message: "This is an automatic fight in my bookβ¦β¦.LMFAO" (shown below).[2][3]
![Shaq Oneal's Post Shaquille O'Neal Like This Page 10 hours ago This is an automatic fight in my book....LMFAO Like Comment Share 3 26,958 people like this. 4,106 shares D View previous comments 156 of 999 Kenneth Powell A straight beet down 6 hours ago via mobile Like Damen Christophir LMFAO i agree shaquille 6 hours ago Like Ozy Smith lol big time g 6 hours ago Like Brendin Kern That's when you stop and move down maybe he will get the hint 6 hours ago via mobile Like Mack A Fee brendin kern the hint of what to do was the long row of toilets, thats the hint to stay at least a few of them thangs away from the otha dude and his thang. dang. 6 hours ago Like Sayjuan Readous I will have kick his ass 6 hours ago Like Write a comment...](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/031/968/e7f.jpg)
On May 13th, 2013, the image was resubmitted to FunnyJunk in a post titled "Maximum Overtroll."[4] On October 6th, 2015, Tumblr user pi4nobl4ck[8] posted an edited version of the image with the second character declaring his veganism to the man next to him (shown below). The post garnered over 39,000 notes within the first two weeks. On October 15th, the exploitable comic was picked up by the Tumblr meme research group[9] Meme Documentation. Throughout the month, more than a dozen of alternately captioned and photoshopped parodies surfaced on Tumblr.
Various Examples
![Urinal Etiquette](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/031/975/4ab.jpg)
![W-- BRO γ£ dude what the f--- γ£](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/031/979/41d.png)
![Mitochondria is the Powerhouse Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. γ£](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/031/982/317.jpg)
![Communism communism will never work, because all humans are inherently greedy 1 TrtttrtTttstttttt](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/031/978/f2f.jpg)
![God Is a Delusion r1 God is a delusion](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/031/983/58b.png)
![Small Talk r1 I hate small talk. I want to hear about your childhood and your favorite scents, what types of mus γ£](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/031/977/07e.jpg)
Search Interest
External References
[1] Capinaremos β This Is Unethical
[2] Huffington Post β Shaquille O'Neal Peeing Facebook Post Spurs Anti-Gay Responses
[3] Jezebel β Shaq Posts His Feelings on Urinal Etiquette; Homophobic Trolls Go Nuts
[4] FunnyJunk β Maximum Overtroll
[5] XKCD β Urinal Protocol Vulnerability
[6] I am bored β The Worst 2 Minutes Of Every Guy`s Day [Pic]
[7] NikeTalk Forums β Restroom Etiquette
[8] Tumblr β Guigo Reader's Post
[9] Memedocumentation β Urinal Meme Explained
[10] Bodybuilding Forum β How do you decide which Urinal you choose?
[11] BuzzFeed β Urinal Etiquette
Top Comments
GameGodMike
Oct 20, 2015 at 04:38PM EDT
Ghost Walker
Oct 20, 2015 at 03:27PM EDT