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Monday 9 July 2007

Who came up with these signs?


When I first arrived in Poland I ran into some trouble straight away when I had to go to the toilet. I was confronted with images similar to those in the photo and I used my higher brain function to both logically try to figure this little puzzle out and subdue my urge to release. After what seemed like days and no native poles noticeably male or female needing to enter, I needed to bite the bullet myself. I had just seen and read the Da Vinci code and in this moment thought I was extremely clever for remembering the bit about the 'Sacred Feminine' symbol which was a triangle and represented a woman's hips and womb (the one in this photo is upside-down by the way). In my moment of revelation while confidently marching in to the opposite door I didn't even notice the lack of urinals and needless to say soon after there were a few shocked and red faces especially on my part.
I think these signs are unique to Poland but I have yet to find out why they are used or where they come from. If anyone knows who reads this please comment as it is one of those things that continue to niggle me especially on those occasions when I still find myself going into the wrong room (usually on a night out). Is it just me that finds this hard? Otherwise I hope I don't have a subconscious preference for women's' toilets and use this as an excuse!
I might as well talk about an experiment I done at uni since it's related, well kind of. I studied microbiology and one thing I remember was having to measure the amount of microorganisms, namely bacteria, in the air of the male and female toilets in the department. Hence we were measuring the cleanliness of each and guess which toilet was filthier? The women's'!!! Ha. All that time that women spend doing their hair, make-up and holding board meetings in there contaminates the air. Of course I realise the floor is a different story as men like to hit everything apart from the urinal but that is not part of this experiment and therefore irrelevant :)

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your blog is very interesting and absorbing for both Polish and English. Keep it up!

jw connolly said...

I will try :)

Anonymous said...

Lithuanians have similar signs but instead of a circle and a triangle they use only triangles :) (one pointing upwards and the other one pointing downwards). I was as puzzled as you were :) when I saw that. And I don't remember which is which :) (I was there more than 10 years ago). As to the origins of the Polish signs, well, uh, think of the male and female genitals and how they might be presented in a graphic form.

jw connolly said...

Thank you for your input, I will now think of pictures of genitals when I go to the toilet so I don't get confused :)
I think the lithuanian system must be the most tourist unfriendly.

Unknown said...

I was also puzzled when I went to Poland, almost 20 years ago.
I just read on a blog that the origin of these symbols is in old Polish tarot cards...
Have a look:
http://www.polishforums.com/archives/2009/everyday-life-7/toilet-signs-poland-continental-europe-40523/
By the way, I saw other pictures of the triangle pointing up, just like in yours.

Anonymous said...

I'm from Poland and I was always told that the upside-down triangle symbolizes man's body shape - broad shoulders, thin waist. If it comes to circle... well I guess it would be more adequate to use a triangle, like Lithuanians >> woman = wider hips, etc. But maybe circle is a connotation with curvy, soft shape of woman body?

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