England seems to traditionally have the toilet separate from the house and for some reason the bidet trend never caught on
Uh… wut?
Comment on why isn't the use of the bidet more widespread?
Mothra@mander.xyz 1 year ago
Today you have the bidets you can install on your toilet, but traditionally they were a thing on its own, that required about as much space as a toilet and all the extra pipework associated with it.
In some European/ Mediterranean countries (I suspect France may have started the trend) this caught on well, and bidets were a must have in most houses that had toilets as part of their main architectural structure. Most people in South America had bidets this way, it’s rare to see a house without at least one bidet, and this comes from the culture inherited from colonial times .
Now, things are different in othe parts of the world. England seems to traditionally have the toilet separate from the house and for some reason the bidet trend never caught on. This is in turn reflected both in USA and Australia. I don’t know about bidet popularity across all of Europe, but this is definitely a cultural thing and I suspect distance and language may have kept UK without bidets until relatively recently. And as you know, old habits die hard, so… Yeah in Australia I use the shower.
rah@feddit.uk 1 year ago
NuPNuA@lemm.ee 1 year ago
The UK has lots of old housing stock, built before the concept of indoor plumbing, so there was nowhere to put a toilet in lots of properties when they started to become a thing, hence you’d put it seperate from the house in an outhouse style set-up. We also lost less of the country to warfare during the two wars so didn’t have to rebuild whole cities, so the conversion to move those toilets inside was still going on as we moved to the later half of the 20th century. My old man didn’t have an indoor toilet in his childhood home until he was a teenager, he was born in the late 50s.
You still go to pubs these days that are old enough that the loos are disconnected from the main building as they’ve been there for so many years.
rah@feddit.uk 1 year ago
I live in the UK and nothing you’ve said here is congruent with my experience. I don’t recall ever being in any building whatsoever that had no indoor toilet, including pubs.
there was
In the past. A long way in the past.
as we moved to the later half of the 20th century
The move to the later half of the 20th century was 70 years ago.
NuPNuA@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Near where my sister lives on the edge of Bristol there are several pubs with outdoor toilet blocks. It’s usually country pubs or ones old enough to be listed. You’re not going to find many in cities these days.
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 year ago
This must specifically be like, row homes, right? Where it’s too tightly packed to fit a new room.
It’s not like houses here in sweden are brand spanking new and yet they all have toilets nowadays even if some of them are ancient.NuPNuA@lemm.ee 1 year ago
My old man’s was semi-detached, but yeah density is part of the issue here too.
Mothra@mander.xyz 1 year ago
This what I’ve been told- I’ve never been to England, my understanding is that back in the day this was the way especially for suburban and farmland, and that that’s why many old Australian houses still have the toilet separate. Obviously this doesn’t apply to dense or modern areas.
happyhippo@feddit.it 1 year ago
Lol. Out of ALL the European countries to pick as example, you chose the worst.
France definitely does not like bidets and French will even ask you why even bother having one, assuming they even know what it’s for.
Try again with Italy. Basically every household has one.
Mothra@mander.xyz 1 year ago
Interesting. Well, not losing sleep on that. Good on Italy and Spain though.
DonJefe@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Spain checking in here. Bidets are definitely popular in Spain. I suspect that’s how they made their way to south America.
Rescuer6394@feddit.nl 1 year ago
in Italy, there is literally a law obligating houses to have a bidet. the separated from the toilet kind.
Mothra@mander.xyz 1 year ago
Just another reason to like Italy even more.
JoshuaACasey@lemmynsfw.com 1 year ago
not surprised that Italy (who has a history of fascism and from what I heard currently has a fascist leader) has an authoritarian law requiring that people do things in their own homes (kinda like some HOAs in the US. Although, I have to admit, we must have lucked out with a HOA that’s not one of the shitty ones you always hear about)
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 year ago
fascism is when regulation
CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Yeah! Fucking fascists and their safety and building codes. Don’t even get me started on smoke detector and fire codes. Goddamn government always trying to keep slumlords down.
Nythos@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
“Hey you need to build the house with these features in order for it to be approved”
“Wuh what??? This is literally fascism”
Rescuer6394@feddit.nl 1 year ago
you are not obligated to use it.
Rescuer6394@feddit.nl 1 year ago
a funny story, a couple from England transformed it into a vase and planted flowers in it.
Oyster_Lust@lemmy.world 1 year ago
That would never fly in the US. They complain about water usage so much that they regulate shower heads so that they barely drip water, and toilets so that they don’t have enough water to flush solid waste. The bidet would just blow the regulators’ heads with all the water usage.
wahming@monyet.cc 1 year ago
Which would be short sightedness on their part, since bidets actually save water in the long run by reducing TP usage
Zippy@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I fixed then. My bidet has indefinite heated water. I can sit on it for an hour cleaning my ass. It is glorious.
TheYear2525@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Only if they sit on it backwards for the drying portion,
Donebrach@lemmy.world 1 year ago
this isn’t a thing at all.
chakan2@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I don’t understand how those work at all…seems like that would be a recipe for poop tracks from the toilet.
Rescuer6394@feddit.nl 1 year ago
well… it is time to explain to an internet stranger how we clean our bum.
the towel is generally personal, and we change it every couple of days.
chakan2@lemmy.world 1 year ago
That may have been sarcastic, but I appreciated the info. It beats having to take a shower.
someguy3@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
Legit question: Do you wash your hands again after that?
machinaeZER0@lemm.ee 1 year ago
What part of cleaning your ass could be misconstrued as gay? Feels like an unnecessary aside, haha. Thanks for the step by step though, that makes sense!