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: Outhouse
Feb 3, 2006

The question here is whether or not Obourne knew what was in there.

I can’t imagine living back in the day and only having outhouses to use. They didn’t have the strong scented odor detergents we have in portable toilets today… which are still no treat. I’ve read that before toilet paper rolls were invented they started with a handfull of leaves, and eventually moved up to pages torn out of mail order catalogs. Wow, let’s just stop there…

I was also curious where the moon symbol often associated with outhouses came from. Obviously it’s there to let light in and can provide ventilation. It’s placed high enough for some privacy, but why a moon? Apparently the moon is an ancient symbol for womanhood, and the sun for manhood. Speculation suggests that at one point there were separate outhouses for both men and women, represented by the symbol on the door… and that the men’s were not kept up as well, to the point of no longer being useable. So then both men and women would use the women’s and eventually the men’s outhouses were no longer around.

They do use outhouses in Antarctica, at their temporary research base camps and stuff, they are a lot more modern than the one shown in the comic. Although some of these oldschool ones still stand at the old stations there.

At any rate… I love my indoor plumbing and quilted bath tissue!

Oh… and have a great weekend!

33 Comments

  1. Kevin says:

    Takes me back to the days when my aunt had an outside toilet in her backyard – it may not have been a true outhouse, but for a kid who was only used to walking across the hall from his bedroom to use the bathoom, it was a bit of a shock to the system.

    I get the feeling that Osbourne had an idea of what was going on there. After all, he is a penguin…..

  2. David says:

    I guess it wouldn’t be so bad in Antartica as evrything woukd freeze and stop smelling as much before to long any way. Digging the hole would be a pain though. And I wouldn’t want to hang around to long…

  3. joan says:

    last february I spent a week in Kulusuk, Greenland, and there the toilet was just a bucket covered with a wooden “toilet seat”. we just called it “the bucket room”.
    and this was not just the facilities they provided for tourist who want to feel like they are on a real expedition, in the whole village there is only 1 water closet and thats in the home of some rather well off danish guy.

  4. Devon says:

    Poor Wally! Must have been a bit of a shock for him! I’ll bet Osbourne knew exactly what was in there…

    Also, the commentary underneath the comic is stellar, as always. 😀 I love this site!

  5. Spooky300310 says:

    Funny, yet sort of gross. LOL. :~ (that means I don’t know what to think of it)

  6. Mike says:

    EEEWWUuuuuuuuuu…… frozen ‘Snickers’ bars! 😀

    I remeber visiting the farm my Dad grew up on in North Carolina. he talked about using corn cobbs. They would run them thru the corn stripper (stripped off the corn… duh.) and then would take the cobbs and run them thru it about two more times and it would make it soft and feel like cloth.

    Thanks goodness for modern plumbing and good old ‘two ply’ PAPER!
    (I don’t think the good old days were really that good!)

  7. Daniel Meyer says:

    Eeeewwwwwww! Blue tongue! Gaahh!

    CUAgain,
    Daniel Meyer

  8. Sev says:

    I always thought the moon was an insult to the Turks.

    The croissant was invented to celebrate victory over the Turks.

  9. michael says:

    off subject again…

    noone seams to have deleted that wikipedia article I put up. I added some to it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_rocks_%28comic%29

    My blog: http://www.xanga.com/insanebirdman

    cool game: http://www.planarity.net

  10. Vermont Gypsy says:

    Poor Wally….I like the expression of anticipation on his face as he enters the outhouse. I do think the penguin set him up.

  11. Lee says:

    Wikipedia tends to be excessively exclusionist about any webcomic articles that aren’t considered “notable”. Seems totally mad to me considering all the articles about obscure TV shows, bands, politicians and mathematical theorems they don’t delete, but try reasoning with them…

    Anyway, what I’m saying s that an article about a webcomic, however professional, that’s only been established for 7 months has an unfortunately high probability of being deleted.

  12. michael says:

    welll… its been there for week or so…

  13. Matt D says:

    I think the bigger question is:

    Did Wally figure this out before or after he tasted what was inside?

  14. Sev says:

    Wally eats only the finest imported chocolates.

    Then again, in Antarctica, all the chocolate is imported.

  15. Ashley says:

    lol I just cant get enough of Wally and Osborne! They’re so cute and funy and you make it seem like they’re real! Keep it up!! 😀

  16. Kevin says:

    They’re not real? Have I been conned?

  17. Dad says:

    Grew up in Vermont with outhoses. First worry as a kid , does something live down there?…Biggest worry…someone tipping it over while you’re in it.

  18. michael says:

    /\
    Funny!

  19. Dad says:

    meant “outhouses” not “outhoses”.. daaa

  20. Tyler Martin says:

    There’s a lot of Vermonters around these parts here. 😉

    Maybe the outhose was used to wash down the outhouse when it got real messy inside.

  21. Julie says:

    Sorry, swamped at work and could not even read the comics until now.

    Anyway, had a funny outhouse story. It seems that growing up, my father’s family had an outhouse. When the family went to go on a trip, they all got in the car and drove off — leaving my father’s youngest sister in the outhouse.

    At least, that’s how the story was passed down to me.

  22. Izzieluv says:

    he he he he.
    Why didn’t wally see the moon, dosen’t he know that means it’s an out house?

  23. bobo says:

    it goes to show how smart i am i Dennet know is.

  24. mkahmvet says:

    The news post about the origin of the moon symbol is close. The moon symbol was for womens’ and the sun symbol was for mens’. Having a public restroom in a hostel in medival Europe was like having cable in a modern hotel room… you couldn’t attract clients without it. As there started to be more and more hostels, it began to be more cost effective for the proprietors to just have a ladies outhouse, and let the men go in the woods. Out of tradition the moon symbol stayed, though it eventually lost the male/female denotation.

  25. .. says:

    in australia there are outhouses in the countryside but they call it dunnies.
    they stink too with no deoderant to cover the smell

  26. waffle_man says:

    yay indoor plumbing ilove flushing stuff(even pudding)

  27. Metroplex says:

    😀 ➡ 🙄 😐 🙂 ➡ ……. 😳 ❓ ❗

  28. Metroplex says:

    ~~~~ 😀 ➡ 🙄 😐 🙂 ➡ ……. 😳 ❓ 😆 ❗

  29. Jenny says:

    It’s a porta-potty, not a snack storage, sheesh. Look more carefully, Wally!

  30. Sally says:

    Ha…so Wally was looking for chocolates in a ‘Ladies’ toilet

  31. baybay2 says:

    OMG, what if he ate or drank some!!

  32. MeCrazyBaboon says:

    Are you sure Wally? I thought I saw some chocolate in that bowl.

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