Is having to pee a modern phenomenon?

[cgannon64]

I was in a long car ride this weekend, and I had to go badly. It made me wonder: Is the sensation of having to pee only found in modern civilied countries?

Think about it. Before urbanization, the places to pee were nearly limitless. The only place one's ability to urinate was restricted was in the home. Now that we've made cities, the places open to the public for peeing are extremely limited - perhaps only a few square feet on any given city block. Of course, the anthropologists on this website can come in here: Was it socially unacceptable to pee in full view of someone else? Was it necessary to go find a river or stream, or was peeing on the ground OK?

So, do you think premodern societies ever felt the pain of having to pee badly?

 

[Tenochtitlan]

Interesting, never thought about it before. It might just be.
But then again, pee smells bad, and the evolutionary reason for that is so that man would not drink it and die. So when prehistoric people had to go, they will have had to go to another space where other people are.

Moreover, since there is pain involved, then the people who didn't feel that pain might have died off. The pain is there for your protection.

I am sure there has been an prehistoric situation where man was hunting or being hunted and could not go at that moment because he had to run after or from a monster.

 

[El_Machinae]

I have learned that you can always make it to the bathroom. I've been in utter agony many times, yet I have never exploded. Whew.

 

[cgannon64]

My experience agrees with you, but not others'.

I was talking with a friend, once, about how the urge to be increases exponentially when you're at your door - your body is so stupid it sees that it's home so it really gets ready to let 'er rip (but it doesn't know you're in front of a toilet yet) - and he said it was so bad once that he had to pee in his bushes.

Also, once I did start to go unconsciously. I was all in position but not quite ready, but my body just took over. Thankfully I was 9/10ths there...

 

[taper]

I doubt the feeling of needing to pee has changed much since civilization came around. I know that at times in history you could dump anything into the gutter, and people would often do their business in clay pots and them dump them in the street.

BTW, urine in the body is generally sterile, but it can pick up germs as it's leaving the body. It is safe to drink your own urine, and in emergencies you mix it half and half with fresh water to extend your supply. Don't pee in river though, go at least 50 feet from the neartest body of water if you're out in nature, and pee on rocks, not trees. Wildlife will lick the dried urine for the salt, and that'll take bark off trees.

 

[skadistic]

People still pee in the gutter in Japan.

 

[BCLG100]

people pee everywhere when drunk so if you want to get back to your roots get smashed!

 

[Perfection]

What about Inuits, how often do they get to go pee? They got all those crazy layers, ya know.

 

[punkbass2000]

I don't know about everywhere, but somewhere in Europe in the 12th century people peed more or less anywhere that was mildly discreet and there was a movement to start painting crosses in alleys and other common peeing spots to discourage people from peeing there.

 

[cgannon64]

people pee everywhere when drunk so if you want to get back to your roots get smashed!

As a rule, I never pee in public unless I'm really drunk and really need to. I've only peed in public about twice. Of course, there really isn't any reason to pee on the street when you live in a city - Starbucks abound, with very decent facilities.

I don't know about everywhere, but somewhere in Europe in the 12th century people peed more or less anywhere that was mildly discreet and there was a movement to start painting crosses in alleys and other common peeing spots to discourage people from peeing there.

Don't pee in river though, go at least 50 feet from the neartest body of water if you're out in nature, and pee on rocks, not trees. Wildlife will lick the dried urine for the salt, and that'll take bark off trees.

The problem is, trees are really the only places that offer some privacy in the wild or in parks. It's strange, I know, to want some kind of wall in front of you when there's only one or two other people around and they're looking the other way - but I feel more comfortable with it, for some reason.

(Except, of course, the time I peed off a cliff. That was sweet.)

 

[BCLG100]

Theres some rule in the UK that you can pee in the middle of the road if your car is parker and you have your left hand on the the engine or something along them lines.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Ever since we had houses, people have had to deal with controlling where they pee.

http://www.muswell-hill.com/foxandco/pages/history_toilet.htm

Sitting type toilets in human history appeared as early as 2500 BC being water borne toilets linked between houses with drains covered with burnt clay bricks. Archaeological excavations confirm the existence of sitting type toilets in Egypt (2100 BC). Although the mechanics of working these toilets had been achieved, the basic format of the system remains the same. In Rome, public bath-cum-toilets were also well developed with holes in the floor above flowing water. There was no shyness in the use of toilets. It was frequent to see at dinner parties in Rome, slaves bringing in urine pots made of silver, while members of royalty relieved themselves and continued to socialise at the same time.

 

[Fifty]

I generally wear Goodnites, even during the day. I'm a regular poster on the wonderful Goodnites bedwetting forum. I just let it flow, joe.

 

[The 777 Hoax]

Here, urinating in public is considered littering and you get a $500 fine (or whatever it is).

 

[Marla_Singer]

Interesting, never thought about it before. It might just be.
But then again, pee smells bad, and the evolutionary reason for that is so that man would not drink it and die. So when prehistoric people had to go, they will have had to go to another space where other people are.

Moreover, since there is pain involved, then the people who didn't feel that pain might have died off. The pain is there for your protection.

I am sure there has been an prehistoric situation where man was hunting or being hunted and could not go at that moment because he had to run after or from a monster.

You're completely right. Pee has always stunk and has always been made far from the place where people sleep. I do believe that cavemen didn't pee in their cave.

Actually, that remembers me an old story I've read a while ago. I don't know if it's true. It's about a servant from king Louis XIV who had badly to pee when the King asked him to go for a trip accross the country. The guy hasn't peed during hours and hours and hadn't one minute to do so. Finally his bladder couldn't resist to the pee pressure and exploded, and the guy died a bit later because of infection. I've read that story more than a decade ago in a History book. While this have strong chances to be a hoax, I've always wondered if it could be possible... as usually, when you can't hold it anymore you simply pee in your pants.

 

[Marla_Singer]

Here, urinating in public is considered littering and you get a $500 fine (or whatever it is).

But do cops really respect that law ? In France, when a cop sees someone peeing in the street, he just yell at him and say that next time he'll be fined.

 

[The 777 Hoax]

But do cops really respect that law ? In France, when a cop sees someone peeing in the street, he just yell at him and say that next time he'll be fined.

I dunno, never tried it

 

[cgannon64]

You have to be pretty stupid to get caught by the police for peeing.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Here, urinating in public is considered littering and you get a $500 fine (or whatever it is).

I couldn't help but remember this tibit:

There was also some well documented bad boy controversy when Jagger, Jones and Wyman were arrested and charged with urinating on the wall of an East London petrol station. Such scandalous behaviour merely reinforced the public's already ingrained view of the Stones as juvenile degenerates.

 

[Marla_Singer]

You have to be pretty stupid to get caught by the police for peeing.

Actually, I've seen this on TV not later than this evening. There was a documentary about Police students which were followen during their year of training. In the end, they were patrolling on the field and at a late hour they've caught some drunk youngster peeing on a wall. It was actually funny as once the guy realized cops were yelling at him, he freaked out and immediately stopped peeing and put back his zipper on. Actually I was surprized as I've always thought that once you've started to pee, you couldn't stop untill it was done.