Etiquette

Urinal etiquette & the science of the men’s room

The science and folklore behind where men stand, look and aim.

Start with the full code: The Unwritten Rules of the Urinal.

A man at a urinal while an annoyed cleaner stands next to a wet floor sign

Etiquette

How to stop urinal splashback, according to physicists

Fluid physicists filmed urine splash in slow motion. The fix isn’t aim or pressure, it’s angle. Here’s what the BYU Splash Lab and the 2025 urinal redesign found.

A row of seven empty urinals on a cream tiled wall with a teal stripe

Etiquette

The 1976 study that timed men at the urinal

In 1976 psychologists timed how long men took to start peeing when a stranger stood next to them. What they found, and why it still matters.