MetaChat - Why are we embarrassed about our poo smells?

MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.

28 March 2006

Why are we embarrassed about our poo smells? →[More:]

I mean, maybe you're not. But I know I am. I just came out of the office can, having left behind the distinct odor of poo, when I bumped into someone headed in. She said "Oh, good timing!" I smiled and walked away and muttered under my breath: "No, not really."

Everyone poops, so what's up with my poo shame? I'm an earthy chick. I can fart and laugh about it! So why can't I poo and ~~be proud~~ not be embarrassed?

post by: Specklet at: 13:15 | 44 comments

We are brain twins, Specklet, I was wondering the same thing this morning- along the lines of where this idea of a "courtesy flush" came from.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 28 March | 13:17

everyone may do it, but that dosen't mean it dosen't smell nasty. (except yours, of course, speck, which smells like roses and candy)

posted by jonmc 28 March | 13:18

*fingers in ears*
girlsdontpoopgirlsdontpoopgirlsdontpoop

posted by mike9322 28 March | 13:21

it's either harsh toilet training or some basic biological instinct to let us know it's not good stuff to eat (or both.) but you're right, there's no reason to be ashamed.

posted by shane 28 March | 13:21

girlsdontpoopgirlsdontpoopgirlsdontpoop

what was that old catcall? I'd wade through a mile of her poop just to see where it came from...

posted by jonmc 28 March | 13:23

Well, when you poo, you create a scent that is unpleasant for others. Much like you might feel a bit shy if you knew you had bad breath or body odor. It's probably less a matter of shame about the poo, than feeling bad about having created a less than pleasant odor.

Fortunately, mine smells like roses.

posted by amro 28 March | 13:24

Well, Pink, I know an interesting version of the courtesy flush: in Asian ladies' rooms, everyone flushes as they pee, so as not to subject others to the sound of their piss hitting the water. Weird, but there you have it.

Of course my poo does smell like roses and candy. But it's not simply about bad smell: I still have specific poo shame. If I open my fridge and something smells bad (like cooked kale that's gone bad, oooh that smells bad), I don't writhe in embarrassment like I do if someone knows I just pooed because they can smell it.

Mike, my mom always said (incredibly tongue-in-cheek) that girls don't poop, they fart pink powder.

posted by Specklet 28 March | 13:24

My daughter is still proud of her poops. I shall encourage this behavior to continue into her adulthood, Specklet! I'm shifting paradigms, baby.

posted by mike9322 28 March | 13:25

like cats, we want to hide it from predators and prey.
unlike bunnies who eat it.

posted by ethylene 28 March | 13:27

My daughter is still proud of her poops

get them bronzed, man.

girls don't poop

they don't fart, belch or sneeze either. Therefore, they must bitch or they will blow up.

I'll see myself out..

posted by jonmc 28 March | 13:30

Is sneezing gross? Sneezes are cute.

posted by amro 28 March | 13:34

I'm suddenly filled with memories of college...

posted by sciurus 28 March | 13:34

People used the urinals in your dorms for #2 too, eh, sciurus?

posted by mike9322 28 March | 13:36

like cats, we want to hide it from predators and prey.
unlike bunnies who eat it.

Cats and dogs eat their own poop. A few years ago I lived in a house with a cat that had a bowel condition. I don't know what it was specifically, but the poor cat would just spray chunks of shit all over the litter box, and look really embarrassed about it, almost apologetic for the noise (and it was noisy; I could hear him from my bedroom). They smelled terrible. There was also a dog in the house, a really adorable dog, her name was Sassafrass, and she loved to eat cat poop. They were better than dog biscuits for her; she would pick her favourite nugget from the box and take her time savouring it. So we'd often come home to find gooey chunks of cat shit strewn around the living room. We'd yell "SASSAFRASS! NOT AGAIN!", but she would win us back with her cuteness.

I don't know where I was going with that, so all I can say is, Specklet, don't be like Sassafrass.

posted by cmonkey 28 March | 13:38

dodgy ate all the cakes
blame him, fake froggy bastard

posted by ethylene 28 March | 13:39

never been with a poop eating cat.
don't plan to, either.

posted by ethylene 28 March | 13:40

I would like to second cmonkey's admonition. Specklet, don't be like Sassafrass.

posted by mudpuppie 28 March | 13:41

Sneezes are cute.

well, little 'ka-choo' sneezes can be cute. big ol' projectile Jackson Pollock paintings on the wall snotshots are not.

posted by jonmc 28 March | 13:44

My dog eats her poop sometimes.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 28 March | 13:44

My cat's breath smells like cat food.

posted by amro 28 March | 13:49

EAT POOP YOU CAT

posted by sciurus 28 March | 13:55

This reminds me of a weird situation I was in once.

I'd had a heavy night drinking lots of cheap, crappy lager and came into work feeling and looking like complete shit. After about an hour at work I wandered off to the toilets for a piss. I'm standing at the urinals and just about to "begin" when the chairman of the company not only appears next to me but decides to engage me in conversation.

"Ah, dodgy" he says, "How are you getting on with the new database application?"
"Well" I say
* parp *
"It's going quite well"
* quack *
"All the data from the old system has been converted"
* parp quack quack *
"There's just some more work needed on the interface"
* quack quack parp quack parp *

Anyway, you get the idea.

posted by dodgygeezer 28 March | 14:01

Funny, my late cat that had a bowel condition would also seem really embarrassed after she finished using the litter box. But maybe she was just in pain.

posted by matildaben 28 March | 14:04

what was that old catcall? I'd wade through a mile of her poop just to see where it came from...

You are so not coming over tonight, jon...

posted by TrishaLynn 28 March | 14:11

All cats I've known get that embarrassed expression from time to time. Like when they try to cover up their food with the linoleum floor. They have that look like "I know what I'm doing is idiotic, but I can't help myself." It's the look on Lance's face in this picture.

We're anthropomorhpizing them, for sure, but I still believe.

posted by mike9322 28 March | 14:11

I just love that you have a cat called Lance.

posted by gaspode 28 March | 14:16

I believe, too. My cat (who is long-haired and was never big on allowing me to brush her) used to get the lion cut every year or so. She was always clearly and painfully embarassed about being seen by anyone new until it grew back.

She also went through a stage, after a surgery, where she couldn't make it to the litter box. Same look.

In case you're unfamiliar with the lion cut (not my cat):
≡ Click to see image ≡
≡ Click to see image ≡
There is no way that we are simply anthropomorphizing. Look at that face.

posted by amro 28 March | 14:17

I'm assuming those are hotlinking images and not the images you intended to post, amro, but I am laughing hysterically. If your cat looks like that, then you're right - there's no way we're anthropomorphizing!

posted by mike9322 28 March | 14:24

Damn! That's what I get for hotlinking! I stole the cat images from here.

posted by amro 28 March | 14:30

My cat is typically very upset by her poop. After a visit to the litterbox, she'll wander into the living room, wailing some very surprised and indignant wails. She does not like it, and needs to .

Sometimes I wonder if she maybe has hemorrhoids or something.

posted by Miko 28 March | 14:39

needs to complain, that is. Not needs to like it. Although that would be nice, too.

posted by Miko 28 March | 14:39

My favorite is the post-poop sprint. After mine finish covering up, they bolt from the litter box and down the hall at full speed. (The two cats I had in college did it too.) I'm going to start trying that.

posted by mike9322 28 March | 14:41

That's one reason I really don't like dogs. They eat cat shit and then want to lick your face. My sister had a dog that was always eating the contents of the cat's litter box and then kissing everyone. Ugh!

posted by essexjan 28 March | 14:41

I love EAT POOP YOU CAT!

Specklet, don't be like Sassafrass.

I will do my best. Let it be that the only way in which I emulate Sassafrass is the part where I win you back with my cuteness.

posted by Specklet 28 March | 14:46

Aaaw, all this poopy-talk made me feel a twinge in my heart. I miss my cats!!! *group hug*

posted by dabitch 28 March | 14:48

Parp. Heh heh heh.

posted by Specklet 28 March | 16:19

In an amazing coincidence, I was halfway through reading this thread when a friend called to tell me she has a couple of buckets of manure for me that I can come pick up any time. Yay! Manure! A lovely and seasonal gift!

posted by mygothlaundry 28 March | 16:22

very seasonal

posted by ethylene 28 March | 16:23

What a shitty thread.

posted by chewatadistance 28 March | 16:51

I think it's the same reason we're somewhat embarassed about anything relating to bodily functions.
I mean, yeah, we all do it, but we don't ANNOUNCE it (well, most of us don't).

Like how at a wedding reception we all know the bride and groom are going to leave to have sex, but no one comments on it.

posted by kellydamnit 28 March | 17:49

what was that old catcall? I'd wade through a mile of her poop just to see where it came from...
We use to say "I would crawl a mile over broken glass just to smell one of her farts". Pretty much the same sentiment, I guess.

posted by dg 28 March | 19:10

To actually answer your question, we are embarrased because our poo smells like shit, of course. Well, mine does, anyway.

posted by dg 28 March | 19:20

"Like how at a wedding reception we all know the bride and groom are going to leave to have sex, but no one comments on it."

My sister—the evangelical minister/missionary—had her wedding in a cabin in Winter Park, Co., but their honeymoon was going to be in a different cabin. Also, you may have guessed that they were chaste. Anyway, she finished changing clothes before her husband did and was waiting for him to be ready. On videotape we have my sister expressing her frustration: "What is taking him so long? Doesn't he know what comes next??"

posted by kmellis 29 March | 00:37

So we'd often come home to find gooey chunks of cat shit strewn around the living room

Ok, no one's allowed to call me Sassafrass as a nickname ever again.

posted by SassHat 29 March | 12:28

← Woke up with this song in my head. || WHO let the inline images out? WOOT! W00T. -woot? →

HOME || REGISTER || LOGIN