this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2025
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

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    • If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
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Edit:

Together they can make the combined-arms-gulls.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Seagulls aren't a thing. Just gulls.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

Captain Planet Gull: "Give me those chips and I'll poop on you!"

You: "... don't you mean 'or' you will poop on me, not 'and'?"

Captain Planet Gull: ...

You: ...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

I never knew that. I thought it went from beagle to seagull and then on to eagle…

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago

If seagulls fly over the sea, then what flies over the bay?

Bagels.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

Don't forget heartgulls. Everyone always forgets heart.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

Don't forget THA GOOD SHIP MERRY GULL!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Most of what we consider "seagulls" dont actually go out to sea. It's all lies.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

The seagull is the state bird of Utah. About 400 miles from the nearest ocean.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

So they are lakegulls then.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago

They're seaadjacentgulls.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

Don't forget bay-gulls. They love fish, especially smoked salmon

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

Bay-hull; loves explosions.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 days ago

I've seen many seagulls in my life.

But I've never seen any of the others.

And that's terrifying. Stay vigilant.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

Or at the very least a rivergull

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago
[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Wrong.

Seagulls imply the existence of Rivergulls, Lakegulls, Mountiangulls, Desertgulls, Forestgulls, Plaingulls, Valleygulls, Hillgulls, etc.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

No no no, you're all wrong. It goes Agles, Beagles, Seagulls, Deegles, Eagles, etc. We've proven the existence of 3 of these species already, but the search continues for these other mysterious creatures the certainly must exist. In this TED Talk, I will...

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago

Archipelagulls

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

I love baygulls.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 days ago

Reminds me of a John Hodgman bit - we have ice hockey, field hockey, and air hockey, implying the existence of fire hockey.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

Some live by the bay. They're baygulls.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

Dumpster chickens

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Surely they’re airgulls as they don’t live in the sea?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

seagull

looks inside

landgull

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

You have to go pretty far back (to proto-Celtic, it looks like) to find a linguistic ancestor for the word "gull" that doesn't just mean "that specific bird."

But in proto-Celtic, it looks like "weilanna" probably meant "wailer." As in, "one who wails," though we don't know exactly what the suffix "-anna" means. A similar word in that language would've been "wailos," which even though it sounds similar seems to have been unrelated to our modern term "wolf," as it comes from a different proto-indo-european root.

Anyway, the word "gull" does refer to the sounds that it makes more than anything else. So in figuring out what a landgull, airgull, and firegull might be, we need to find something noisy. Or just something annoying, given the derisive connotation of "wail."

Edit: This is, of course, assuming that we're looking for different existing types of animals to be these creatures, rather than just (for instance) creating new, elemental forms of gulls; or "reskinning" seagulls with different elements; or inventing all-new animals to fill those roles.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Wailos or wailer is wolf, is that because they “wail” (howl?) Or is that just a coincidence?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

Sorry for being unclear--proto-Celtic calls wolves "wailos" for the same reason as they call gulls "weilanna," because of the noise, yes. The coincidence is that the modern word "wolf" sounds like the proto-Celtic word "wailos."

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It's probably the result of a taboo. It's why people say "bear" (the brown one) or "medved" (the honey knower) instead of "arth" or "ursus".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Interesting. I knew about "bear" but I did not know about "medved" as another minced-taboo. Thanks for that.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

I propose that cobras be referred to as firegulls. The hissing for the noise, and the venom spit into your eyes is “hot” (spicy).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

That's if it's specifying aquatic vs other elemental gulls. Perhaps it's specifying what type of body of water it's from instead. That'd imply oceangulls, rivergulls, bagels, pondgulls, lakegulls, etc

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL!!!!!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

I prefer earthgulls.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

I’ve said the same about Ground Turkey for years.

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