Are you sure this isn't in a Men's room (toilet, WC). Dutch cafes / clubs have those recks too, and they're mostly used for watery relief.

Exactly. In grade one in Sydney Mines we had a similar device. Despite my recollection for the lack of concern for where and when by your average Dutch guy on a pubby night out, the location of this by a workplace building entrance would be off putting to most Canadians.

I must have missed your irony! :-)

I avoid irony.

Just a resonance, a harmonic across 35 years and maybe a cheeky joke by the architect but no irony.

|the lack of concern for where and when by your average Dutch guy on a pubby night out

Well, I found this ironic, because you're right here too. But then if it was not meant ironically, probably my own funny recollections coloured my "judgement". So no offense here, really.

(Btb luckily, nowadays, you can get fined for public "watering". That is if you get caught. And a genuine apologies to the ladies for these observations.)

No problem at all. I am down on the use of "irony" these days through over-exposure to its misuse as a descriptor for everything from mere duality to mistaken insult. Statements and circumstances can both be ironic but they mean somewhat different things. A statement is only "ironic" when it is:<blockquote><i>witty language used to convey insults or scorn</i></blockquote>It is close to scorn or priggery but the first is not as dual in its presentation and the second is not so clever. So I would only be ironic in my observation if I was saying something intentionally mean about the habit of Dutch males peeing 5 feet from the front doors of pubs. I merely observe it as a cultural fact. That being said, as you have more experience I would guess exiting Dutch pubs and inadvertently stepping in the borrowed beer of others, your association of the phenomena with ill-spirited thought is entirely natural.<p>By comparison, ironic circumstnaces are more about the resulting ends than the means - the effect rather than the intention - but the ends or effect has to arise from an unanticipated external intervention. To step in pee upon exiting a Dutch pub at a certain hour would not, for example, be ironic as it should be expected.

|witty language used to convey insults or scorn

Uhm, aren't you confusing sarcasm here?

Yes and no - sarcasm is not as witty. Only the clever are supposed to see the ill intention in the ironic statement. See, irony has been blanded out to mean something and nothing. I am hoping to start a crusade to redraw the lines so that ironic statements will once again be the plaything of clever bastards.

For consideration, here are the three <i>Concise Oxford English Dictionary</i> meanings:<blockquote class="smalltext">1. an expression of meaning, often humourous or sarcastic, by use of language of a different or opposite tendency...<p>3. the use of language with one meaning for a privileged audience and another for those addressed or concerned.</blockquote>It is the tool of the clever prick rather than the prig. Meaning #2 addresses the different concept of the ironic circumstance:<blockquote class="smalltext">an ill-timed or perverse arrival of an event of circumstance that is in itself desireable.</blockquote>

See here where something called <i>The American Heritage Dictionary</i> has a blander meaning that could be covered by any number of other good words such as juxtapose or contrast. Perhaps the "heritage" being described is dumbing down. Scroll for the more specific nastiness required. See too here where the different contextual meanings are described.<p>Later: and see how problematic it can get when you use a bland broad meaning of "ironic" for something like "saucey humour" in this post about Hindus being upset at a car company using their gods in an ad. As if we would think it funny to have Christ on the cross selling cars at Easter. The thing is this - the Hindus are getting the real irony and that it is directed at their faith and is disparaging by implicit diminishment. <p>Consider too this post I made after 9/11 (scroll) about the end of irony and cynicism.<p>Consider too too this short essay on "verbal irony". It considers sarcasm a class of itonic statement and notes that the root of sarcasm is "from the Greek sarkasmos, which in turn derives from the ugly verb sarkazsein, "to tear the flesh" (used of dogs)."<p>Consider next this 1913 Websters Dictionary definition of "irony":<blockquote class="smalltext">
1. Dissimulation; ignorance feigned for the purpose of confounding or provoking an antagonist.
2. A sort of humor, ridicule, or light sarcasm, which adopts a mode of speech the meaning of which is contrary to the literal sense of the words.</blockquote>Antagonism and ridicule.

As we all like to do on a Friday noontime - again consider the Greek etymological root of "irony":<blockquote class="smalltext">The Greek Quick Summary:
A native or inhabitant of GreeceGreek etymology of the word "irony", είρ�?νεία (eironeia), means pretence, from είρ�?ν (eiron), the one who makes a question pretending to be naive, and είρειν (eirein), to speak. The Semitic root of the Greek word is derived from the Akkadian Quick Summary:
An ancient branch of the Semitic languages Akkadian term erewum, "covering", by means of which irony appears as a device to avoid the direct impact of an explicit word.</blockquote>Something of a trick is implied.