Old-School Bathroom Graffiti Finds New Life Online

Bathroom graffiti used to be everywhere, scribbled jokes, crude drawings, and the occasional surprisingly thoughtful line. These days it’s rarer, though every now and then some self-proclaimed poet still leaves their mark on a stall door. Online, people sometimes look back on that era with a strange kind of nostalgia, remembering the humor and randomness that once filled public restrooms.

History of Graffiti

Although modern graffiti took shape in the late 1960s in Philadelphia and New York City, its roots stretch back thousands of years. Early humans left stenciled handprints on cave walls more than 30,000 years ago, and civilizations like the Romans and Egyptians etched messages, political slogans, and drawings into stone surfaces.

Tagging hasn’t really changed much over the past 30,000 years, but the 1960s and ’70s saw a memorable wave of classic bathroom poetry. Lately, some people online have been feeling a bit nostalgic, swapping stories about the scribbles and verses they used to find in rest area bathrooms.

Read More: Viral Michigan Police Cruiser Escape Inspires Bunny Stunt

The Bathroom Poet: A Viral Blast From the Past

Recently, someone on a Michigan Reddit page posted a photo of a rest area stall covered with political stickers on the door. The conversation soon shifted to reminiscing about the classic bathroom graffiti that has filled stall walls for more than 50 years.

I was reminded of an old line I’ve seen in countless men’s rooms: “Our aim is to keep this bathroom clean; your aim will help.” It’s popped up in stalls all over the country, and it still gets a laugh every time. Here are a few of the other lines people recalled and shared in the Reddit thread.

You’d think that, being from Michigan, I would have come across the one about the state trooper, but I was much more familiar with the phantom.

This is definitely a classic line as well as the name s#!t house poet.

I'm sure the line above has been translated into over 100 languages it’s such a bathroom graffiti classic.

I've never seen the pole vaulting crabs line before but the joke in your hand has been on many Michigan bathroom stalls.

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There are many more lines that are too edgy to post, but you can see them or add one that is missing here.

👇BELOW: Graffiti: Vandalism or Art?👇