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Comment by wilfra | Hacker News Reader

For working class white American men, that is not limited to public restrooms. They're doing it at home too and laughing about it to their wives/girlfriends/kids - who probably call them disgusting to which they laugh even more.

People with more class and manners tend toward the French way of doing it.

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You mean people who are snobs tend toward the French way where as people who are fun and warm hearted have no problem laughing at farts.

I would much rather be with a person that thinks farts are funny then one who doesn't. To each their own.

I wasn't passing judgement on either group, simply stating the facts as I know them to be.

Those are hardly 'facts' as much as they are anecdata. From the working class families I grew up in and around, I could assert with just as much first hand data how baseless your assertions are.

Funny or not (I don't think I'm any different from the natives in that regard), that doesn't explain why they would find it perfectly reasonable to share the joy in public where "fun" is certainly not the aim.

This is an excellent example of circular reasoning, as I see it.

"More mannered people are more mannered because they do not do things I consider ill-mannered."

A fart is a fart. Go to southeast Asia, it's still just a fart that people laugh at. Go to Europe and fart and now leave a bad impressions due to culture? I see which is the optimal setup for practicality and sanity.

I don't think that "class" and "manners" are very healthy in this case. Farting is very natural and happens consistently. You shouldn't have to hide that or be embarrassed about it.

That said, I tend to look for bathrooms to relieve myself privately.

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