Fake Fly in Urinal
Status: Strange, but apparently true.
A pair of images showing a urinal with a fake fly etched into the porcelain is doing the rounds. (I'd guess it's been circulating for at least two years.) The images are accompanied by this caption:In Amsterdam, the tile under Schiphol's urinals would pass inspection in an operating room. But nobody notices. What everybody does notice is that each urinal has a fly in it. Look harder, and the fly turns into the black outline of a fly, etched into the porcelain. It improves the aim. If a man sees a fly, he aims at it. Fly-in-urinal research found that etchings reduce spillage by 80%. It gives a guy something to think about. That's the perfect example of process control.
Apparently this is true. Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam does sport fly urinals. (Though I'd be interested in getting first-hand verification of this.) The Straight Dope reports that New York's Kennedy airport is considering using the same fake-fly technology.
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Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
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That is sooooo cool....they would keep trying to pee on it.....lol....I can appreciate the humor in that....
Posted by X in McKinney, TX on Tue Sep 20, 2005 at 01:25 PM
I went to college in Liverpool in the 1970s and the Victorian pubs had large stand up urinals with flies glazed under the porcelain. Maybe from about 1880s. Nothing new, huh?
Posted by matthew in UK on Tue Sep 20, 2005 at 02:12 PM
Well, I've been to Schiphol Airport, and I don't recall the tiles being all that clean, or there being flies in the urinals, either. But my last visit there was some years ago. It might have changed.
Posted by Big Gary in Dallas in Dallas, Texas on Tue Sep 20, 2005 at 02:29 PM
in germany, ive experienced urinals in several different places which have tiny goalposts and a football (sigh.... 'soccer ball') suspended from a thread. with careful aim the ball can be directed neatly into the goal. limitless fun...
Posted by Nick in Merrie Olde Englande on Tue Sep 20, 2005 at 02:31 PM
I just have to ask, why do men do these things anyway? I've seen guys do that and I think it's awfully weird.
Posted by Winona in USA on Tue Sep 20, 2005 at 08:08 PM
Heh.. wha'ts next? little ceramic cigarette butts?
Posted by Bobcat on Tue Sep 20, 2005 at 08:52 PM
I was in Schiphol last month, and the flies were there. I thought it was pretty clever...
Posted by Alastair on Tue Sep 20, 2005 at 10:06 PM
Not only in Schiphol: I've seen the same model in several other places in Europe. Nearest to my home: the Woluwe Shopping Center in Brussels.
Posted by Enrique in Brussels on Wed Sep 21, 2005 at 12:27 AM
At least 10 yrs old. Next!
Posted by Jerry S on Wed Sep 21, 2005 at 01:00 AM
Why do men have such a problem getting it into the urinal?
I hear that cheerios does the same job.
Posted by Maegan in Tampa, FL - USA on Wed Sep 21, 2005 at 02:57 AM
I hear that cheerios does the same job.
I´m from Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and it is true!
On this site (dutch) you can order the fly sticker, at the bottom of the page under "Plassticker"
Posted by Beasjt in Earth on Wed Sep 21, 2005 at 03:47 AM
On this site (dutch) you can order the fly sticker, at the bottom of the page under "Plassticker"
I just mentioned this story to a friend of mine who's just been travelling round the US, and he says JFK already has these fly etchings. And he did indeed automatically aim at it.
Posted by Steevil on Wed Sep 21, 2005 at 05:06 AM
Like a few people said before, this is old news. It's pretty commonly used on public urinals in a number of European countries.
Posted by Nathan on Wed Sep 21, 2005 at 05:12 AM
its true, i live inn amsterdam and go regurlaly through the airport
Posted by jack on Wed Sep 21, 2005 at 07:29 AM
It's definitely true, Schiphol Airport has these, for quite some time actually. As do many pubs here. And it works!
LaMa (the Netherlands)
Posted by LaMa in Europe on Wed Sep 21, 2005 at 08:46 AM
LaMa (the Netherlands)
I can confirm that Terminal 4 at JFK, the international air terminal does indeed have the fly in the urinals and has since it's opening a few years ago.
Posted by WileE in NYC on Wed Sep 21, 2005 at 01:23 PM
I think it’s more to do with minimising splashback than actual spillage; you’d need to be seriously deficient to miss a urinal altogether. Any guy however will attest to the fact that there is usually a ‘sweet-spot’ which provides a safer whizz. I imagine the manufacturers would etch the flies in this area in order to keep the mess to a minimum. Then again, some urinals in the UK are just like a waist high ceramic wall and the resulting ‘piss-mist’ can be quite alarming, especially if you’re wearing shorts.
Posted by Tommy dry legs on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 03:50 AM
Men..lol they never cease to amaze me, they still need something to amuse themselves with when they go to the bathroom. You wanna know what we WO men get? we get to read the writing on the walls, there's not much fly shootin goin on in the women's bathrooms 
Posted by spazEabE on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 12:03 PM
I've seen plenty such ceramic insects over the years (and I don't make a habit of going into the gents'). More to the point, I once read somewhere, I forget where, that the Victorians liked their cultured little jokes and originally printed bees on their urinals (apis in Latin).
Posted by sue in UK on Fri Sep 23, 2005 at 06:31 AM
Are you telling me this is not a common trick throughout the whole world? These fake flies are everywhere in Dutch toilets. Some are even accompanied by real flies. Haha!
Posted by Scheisse in Amsterdam on Fri Sep 23, 2005 at 05:25 PM
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