You may have noticed that public toilet seats are not the same as the one in your home.
It's an anomaly that has left many people wondering just what the gap at the front of the seat is, and why it is shaped like a letter U.
Well ponder no more because here's the answer, reports the Mirror .
The gap in the seat is all down to hygiene and comes from the United States, where they have specific plumbing guidelines to follow.
It's designed to give the user a bit more room to reduce the chance of you touching the seat with your genitals and gives one less place for urine to splash.
The U-shape is also meant to make it easier for women to wipe without coming into to contact with the toilet, according to Lynne Simnick, the senior vice president of code development at the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials.
In yet another benefit, the seats are cheaper to produce and makes them less likely to get stolen, because it would be totally embarrassing if someone came round your house and you had a U-shape seat and not a full donut.
For toilet history fans, the seats were brought in as part of the American Standard National Plumbing Code in 1955 and then later in the Uniform Plumbing Codes in 1973.
The code in California states: "All water closet seats, except those within dwelling units, shall be either of the open front type or have an automatic seat cover dispenser."
So next time your in the toilets of a bar, try telling everyone the fascinating reasons behind the mysterious U-shaped toilet seat and you'll probably be handed free drinks for the rest of the night.
