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ICE LE R T A E B
“The practice of writing on walls is so universal that it almost qualifies as a human characteristic� The Economist, 2004
Toilet graffiti has been known by many names:
bog house miscellany, folk epigraphy, shit house discourse and latrinalia.
When looking at the history of writing on walls it can be seen in ancient civilisations such as the Egyptians, Pompeiians, Ancient Greeks and even further back to cave paintings. However, the first written acknowledgements of graffiti date back to 1731, when Hurlo Thrumbo (pseudonym) brought some together for a collection.
A study documenting 100 public bathrooms cubicles in London (Dalston, Soho, Shoreditch, Camden and Peckham) throughout 2016 by Scott Kelly and his team gave us some intereswting facts about latrinatlia...
Of the 40 times the word love was used, men used it only once -
‘Alex loves pussy’
Women wrote love notes for 37 different men. Men wrote 0 love notes for women.
46% of all drawings by men were penises, their most popular subject. Women only drew penises 1.4% of the time, but when they did they drew them longer than men.
Women’s most popular drawing of choice was the love heart, 183 in total.
Expressions of humour occurred equally as often between men and women, the only time they were equal.
7% of all female messages were uplifting statements, that’s 5 times more often than from men.
Men referenced politics 10 times, which is 10 more times than they displayed romantic affection.
Men were more likely to reference religion, but not more likely to be positive about religion.
Expressions of humour occurred equally as often between men and women, the only time they were equal.
There were only 13 spelling mistakes overall, 10 by men. Although 8 of them were corrected by other men.