"Squat, Sit and Shit"

Was suffering some creative anxiety at work, and came across this piece from a time when i obviously didn't.


And it actially gave me a very welcome smile.

The Bidetto
Sunday, November 22, 2009

The only thing more Italian than "La Dolce Vita" is an old French invention made in porcelain.

The bidet is not only frequent in finer facilities. It’s represented in every bathroom. Even the worn down warehouse WC, which I happened to visit the other night, offered the possibility to fulfill my dump by a refreshingly cold shower where the sun never shines.


The Bidet has become the national symbol of Italy and has consigned pasta, opera and the Oedipus Complex further down on the podium.

For those of you who have never encountered this phenomenon, I can tell you that a bidet is a low-mounted plumbing fixture or type of sink intended for washing the genitalia, inner buttocks, and anus.

Originally a French word, in English bidet is pronounced UK-ish “bɪˈdei” or US-ish “biːdeɪ”. Bidet is a French word for pony (in Old French, "bider "meant to trot). This etymology comes from the fact that one rides a bidet much like one does a pony.


But why is there this Italian passion for it?

I’m usually too fast to conclusions, but here I’ve got no other clue than the fact that I saw some plums at breakfast. Or maybe today's love of the bidet comes with the Italian generation who grew up using the old form of Italian WCs, the traditional “squat-, sit- and shit- hole”.

It’s not always that a good balance comes together with being an anal sniper. Much more than one pasta person must have tripped over, and banned the lack of a power shower.


If you have a better idea or some knowledge, please enlighten me.

But if you come to Italy, just remember one thing…

… first shit, then straddle.

// T.