What do the French call a urinal?

What do the French call a urinal?

pissoir
A pissoir (also known in French as a vespasienne) is a French invention, common in Europe, that provides a urinal in public space with a lightweight structure. The availability of pissoirs aims to reduce urination onto buildings, sidewalks, or streets.

Are there female urinals?

While urinals for men and boys can be found almost everywhere in public toilets, unisex and female urinals are still niche products. Many people feel that this is satisfactory because of anatomical differences that make use of a urinal more convenient for the male population than it would be for the female population.

What are the different types of urinals?

Urinal types Although there are many different brands and models of urinal, there are only two basic types: trough urinals and bowl urinals.

Do Parisians pee on the streets?

Ariel Weil, mayor of the 4th district of Paris, has called it “une invention de génie” (an invention of genius) that could solve a problem that persists in cities such as Paris, at least until it rains. “If we don’t do anything, then men are just going to pee in the streets,” Weil told Reuters news agency.

Does Paris actually smell like pee?

Almost all places in Paris smell like urine, avenues, alleys, squares, monuments, walkways of subway stations, among others. Wherever you are, the smell of urine will chase you. Many factors in the city have not allowed the elimination of the urine problem in Paris. In the first place, the French like having dogs.

How many pissoirs are there in Paris?

At the peak of their spread in the 1930s there were 1,230 pissoirs in Paris, but by 1966 their number had decreased to 329. By 2006 only one remained, on Boulevard Arago.

Who invented the pissoir?

The pissoirs were conceived in 1834 by Claude-Philibert Barthelot, Comte de Rambuteau—a French official who pioneered and implemented improvements to the existing sewer system in Paris. Haussmann would be instrumental in helping install pissoirs of varying styles and sizes all around Paris. Plateau del’ambigu Boulevard du Temple 1875.

When did Paris get rid of the urinal pissoir?

The nail in the urinal’s coffin came in 1960 as they began to be removed, starting in the city’s most desirable quartiers – but by then the pissoir was inexorably part of Parisian culture.

What is the purpose of the French pissoir?

During World War Two, French Resistance members used the pissoirs as places to meet for a private conversation or to leave a message for someone without the Nazis finding out. From 1980 they were replaced systematically with new technology, a unisex, enclosed, automatically self-cleaning unit called the Sanisette.