Snowpea. Thought-provoking piece. Cultural differences should have been the subject of one of the chapters in Dave's book, and that it wasn't probably means there just isn't enough known about this. But I think it's too bad you got into the 2 girls 1 cup video, as I think this will grab all the attention and really has little to do with this site or your question. (I myself have stayed away from the video -- I'm more drawn to the 2 cups, 1 girl variety.)

This may be a generalization regarding poop humor, but I think the use of such humor can be related to the degree of taboo in a particular culture. In this country there is a high degree of shamefullness when it comes to certain bodily functions, however the humor seems to be everywhere. I would imagine that in a country such as India, which has little shame (probably due to poverty), the fart/poop jokes would be at a minimum. Maybe Dave can back me on this one having travelled to India.

LJ, Thought-provoking indeed, for sure it would be interesting to study the cultural aspects of attitudes towards poop, for instance, I believe some desert bound Arabs, who eat with thier hands, only ever eat with the left hand, the right hand is for mopping up the remains of the semi digested pickled yak bollocks, or whatever it is they eat, I'm sure you get the picture. But it illustrates one such difference in culture. The video, fetish by all accounts, will be avoided at all costs.
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like a constipated accountant- I worked it out with a pencil.

PD, I'm opening a book (gambling) giving odds as to when you knock Bildge off the number 15 slot.

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like a constipated accountant- I worked it out with a pencil.

or even 'Bilge'

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like a constipated accountant- I worked it out with a pencil.

As long as Bilge continues spewing his excellence, I will continue to follow his wiley ass. We intend to both knock off Dave in about 60 or so years.

No thanks to the video. I don't watch porno flics. I would be interested in how other cultures respond to farts and poop. I have always been curious of how hispanics feel about farts. Hispanics eat ALOT of beans and I've never heard one fart. I always wondered about hispanics and their bean farts.

Probably Mexicans, rather than Hispanics in general, are the bean-eaters who pique your curiosity, sitting. The most common beans we eat today originated in the Americas, along with corn, tomatoes and and peppers - Mexican food. It would also be interesting to know the difference in physiology in the digestive tracts and poopshoots of eaters of hot stuff. I know the burn, but I think my love of hot stuff has made some changes, since the afterburner seems less scorching than it was when I first began to enjoy the torture of hot peppers and curries.
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No ooze is good ooze.

Given the reputation of Indian food, not to mention some of the sanitary conditions I've seen, you'd think Indian life would revolve around poop. But they're actually far more reserved about it than I expected. I almost never hear poop or fart jokes.

One of the most striking examples is illustrated in the post I made a few months ago about the signs in the bathroom here at work. Give them a good read and notice what's NOT mentioned. Even though the issues are a lack of flushing and people peeing all over the seat, this was not mentioned in the signs. Instead of talking about the issues directly, they skirted the issue with platitudes about "hygiene" and "sanitation" and "germs." I guess it would be too uncomfortable to address poop or pee specifically, even in the bathroom itself.

I feel like Americans would be much more direct about the issue, and that the signs would say something like, "Don't pee on the seat, you slob!" I'm often tempted to post such a sign, but I think they would backfire. Read chapter six of my book to find out why.

Cultural differences should have been the subject of one of the chapters in Dave's book, and that it wasn't probably means there just isn't enough known about this.

The reason I didn't write much about other cultures is that I didn't feel qualified to make generalizations about cultures I didn't know. There are people who, for instance, have contrasted Germans, English, and American cultures based on their toilets. Zizek does it here. But anything I would have written about other cultures would have been based only on other people's ideas, and not my own first-hand knowledge. So no point in even trying.

It's only after five months in India that I feel comfortable enough to begin trying to analyze their bathroom culture here. But from what I understand, "India" is much different than Delhi, so what I know about this country is severely colored by my experience in the big city.

Dave, your first post sort of backs up my hypothesis that the more taboo the culture, the more humor. It seems the only signs we see on bathrooms are either not addressing any of the functions directly, or are made into cute little dittys using words like "sprinkle", "tinkle" etc. I think we need a contest to create some real world warnings for public bathrooms. This country needs to be more shameless, and the humor should become more mainstream, however I'm not sure we can have the best of both worlds.

Baron von Crapalot said: I believe some desert bound Arabs, who eat with thier hands, only ever eat with the left hand, the right hand is for mopping up the remains of the semi digested pickled yak bollocks, or whatever it is they eat.

It's the other way around, Baron. Right for above the waist, left for below. Never try to shake left hands with a Middle Easterner.

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You have the right to remain Silent but Deadly....

RC13, thanks for that, but you get the idea. Baroness Von Crapalot also corrected me, it would be pickled camel bollocks, not yak.

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like a constipated accountant- I worked it out with a pencil.

A smile is considered a universal gesture, as is the concept of the word "no," as being relatively universal in so many languages as being an "n" sound followed by some sort of vowel to elongate the "n" sound which is considered a universal suggestion of verbal denial.

Is there such a thing as a universally funny gesture or act? To me, the closest I can imagine anything being to universally funny is to unleash a cloud and blame it on the guy next to you.

Heironymous is right, farts are funny! Just because the French and Germans (according to that gross little degenrate pervert, snowpea) are just too uptight to admit it, doesn't mean it isn't so. FARTS ARE FUNNY!
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Happy Crappin'
Homegrown Media Network

I think the universal acknowledgement of a fart is usually a silent but deadly look cast at the perceived offender. Offender being unknown, a pinch of the nose and a Pee-u should get the message across. And yes, the universal equation (I think Einstein would agree) is Farts=Funny.

Oh, BVC, with which hand did you handle that bike seat? You might not want to eat with it for several months.

Fascinating article hmmmmm 2 girls 1 cup why do I think I will be traumatized if I go there yet I am so curious about it....... back in a sec........
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The Thunderous Crapper 63 Enjoying home toilet advantage since 2004!

Its official I am traumafuckingtized! MY GAWD there are people who get turned on by this?? WOW! I have seen MANY a disgusting display in my life but this has now made its way to NUMERO UNO or should I say Number TWO?
Look peeps, fart humor is okay and so is poop humor. Poop is funny and farts are funny too HOWEVER when you take it to THAT level that 2 girls one cup does that is just SICK. OKAY I gotta make an appointment with a psychologist talk to yas later.
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The Thunderous Crapper 63 Enjoying home toilet advantage since 2004!

I finally remembered to look at those two videos, (hatchet vs genitals) and they're not that big a deal. All the video reactions cropping up reminds me of myspace angles. A silly fad. But I was laughing at the parts where people would go AHH@!@# and was unmoved by hatchet. It's hard to disturb me. The video reactions HAD to be trussed up.

Although I can't speak for all Aussies, I should point out that the general sort of pictured (stereotype) Aussie bloke is a yobbo with a beergut and a can of beer in his hand, standing with his mates around a barbie, ripping out farts to the great amusement of all within earshot.
I must admit that I find farts hilarious, especially the musical types, or the unexpected loud ones at inappropriate times.
However, as Australian cities become more 'multicultural', the appreciation of fart humour seems to be diminishing. Practical jokes involving grogans seem to be less popular these days, too **insert wistful sigh**.

You mention Australians and farts in the same sentences and now I'm thinking of how funny it would be to hear a kangaroo fart, better yet, kangaroo hopping farts.

I like comedian Greg Proops line about Australia: "It's an entire country wearing a no-fat-chicks t-shirt."

When I now picture an Aussie, I picture some strapping fun guy wearing a shirt that says "Poopreport, mate" sitting astride a cool motor bike. Dirty boots required.

As to poop humor in different cultures, the only thing I have to offer is that the only forum account request I've seen from the middle east was a spammer. Maybe this suggests that poop humor there just isn't. Or Poopreport is blocked.

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.....hugging bunnies since 1969
www.daphneszoo.com

PD, Damn it man! I cant remember! Now what do I doo-doo? I wonder if that Oxy Cleanse thingymabob would work on hands, nose, top lip and tongue? What the heck, I'll order some now.

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like a constipated accountant- I worked it out with a pencil.

When my wife was teaching foreign students, she had some from Japan, who would fart freely and loudly in the classroom, thinking nothing of it. Some students from other countries would look at them funny.

So MSG, what does a fart sound like in Japanese?

You'd think, given those Japanese game shows where contestants are fed beer and cold spaghetti and other crap-inducing foods, then have to "hold it," for as long as possible that the Japanese would be all about the poop humor.

regarding the French:

when someone is taking themselves too seriously, one French insult goes something like: "go sit in the bath and make bubbles."

This may explain champagne.

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.....hugging bunnies since 1969
www.daphneszoo.com

Madame Daphne,
Might I recommend the Dom Skatole, 1969?
It's a humorous vintage flavored with dingleberries and...

Madame?... Madame?

Merde! Now I'm stuck with another open bottle...

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You have the right to remain Silent but Deadly....

I'll (hic) drink it.

Never seen "2 Girls, 1 Cup" and I don't plan to. And I'm still a shameless pooper.

On the issue of culture, I have noticed the most hilarious fart humor videos come from the Japanese for some reason. They come up with things like "How To Escape A Fart", for example. Or the man who blows up balloons with his ass. (But the Japanese are also known for some really disgusting anime porn involving tentacles, monsters, and raping tenticles,so who knows what's going on in their heads.)

The British have a video clip about two guys on a battlefield that are caught and shot when one of the guys have horrible gas, so I would say the Brits have some pretty good fart humor as well.

So I would say if we were going to rate who has the best fart humor, I'd put the Japanese and British in a tie, with America in second place.

Really when it comes down to it, I've noticed a change in American fart humor in my lifetime. When I was a kid it was almost unheard of to hear a fart joke on TV. Censors even muted out the farts in "Blazing Saddles" for television. About the mid-1980s Nickelodeon showed "You Can't Do That On Television" and the whole fart humor in America thing changed forever. Now even the Disney Channel has fart and poop jokes. This is why I have moved my rating of American bathroom humor from somewhere around ninth place to second in recent years.

As for the French being killjoys about fart and poop humor, that's not surprising. The French never did have a sense of humor. If they did, they wouldn't like Jerry Lewis.

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Born right the first time.

Now Daphne, I am very confident that poopreport is blocked in Sand Land. The internet moguls and whatnot have a monopoly going on in most places over there as I understand, so if they don't like it, you don't get it. They did the same thing to Maddox.xmission.com. I think the United Arab Emirates blocked his website from being viewed in that whole COUNTRY.

I think we need more stories about camel poop, and wiping our asses with sand. Maybe they'll come around.

PD, sand! sand! you've got it! Genius man!
If we powder, (not wipe) with sand, the clingons will clot with the sand, and just drop off (gravitas fallioffisnus), Im off to the local garden center to get me some butt powder!
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like a constipated accountant- I worked it out with a pencil.

Have you ever seen or smelled camel poop Prarie Dog? I've heard it is WOEWAH! KNOCK-U-DOWN! BAM! Lately my bottom has been so raw it feels like I'm wiping with sand. If I have a little extra money from insurance, I am considering purchasing one of those toi-dets, a toilet/bidet tiolet. The constant wiping is killing me. I'm going to end up requiring skin grafts to the perineum before I need the colectomy at this wiping rate.

I though perineum went down with atlantis? I could be wrong tho'

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like a constipated accountant- I worked it out with a pencil.