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:

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. No politics
    • 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.
    • A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS

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Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.

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Edit:

Together they can make the combined-arms-gulls.

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[–] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 11 hours ago

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

Bagels.

[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours 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: ...

[–] Noel_Skum@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 hours ago

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

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago

Don't forget heartgulls. Everyone always forgets heart.

[–] listless@lemmy.cringecollective.io 23 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

Wrong.

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

[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours 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...

[–] HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 18 hours ago

Archipelagulls

[–] MrJameGumb@lemmy.world 46 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I think a "landgull" would just be a pigeon

[–] maxwells_daemon@lemmy.world 45 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Nah, that's an airgull. A landgull would be a chicken.

[–] NoForwardslashS@sopuli.xyz 23 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Nah, that's a farmgull. A landfill would be an ostrich

[–] WhyIHateTheInternet@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No that's where garbage goes, landgull would be a peacock

[–] lemmyng@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No, that'd be a fancygull. A landgull would be a rat.

[–] Waywardmessiah@lemmy.world 6 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

No that would be a politigul. A landgull would be a gopher.

[–] irmoz@lemmy.world 4 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

No, that's a dirtgull. A landgull would be a kangaroo.

[–] MimicJar@lemmy.world 17 points 21 hours ago

I've seen many seagulls in my life.

But I've never seen any of the others.

And that's terrifying. Stay vigilant.

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 41 points 1 day ago

In light of the above, then, I hereby propose that squirrels get renamed to "treegulls."

[–] db2@lemmy.world 29 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's all fun and games until the firegull nation attacks.

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 day ago

My brother and I discovered the new Gulliver...

[–] three@lemmy.zip 24 points 1 day ago (3 children)

If there are armadillos, where are the legadillos?

[–] moakley@lemmy.world 4 points 21 hours ago

Given how much cuter a goldfish is than a silverfish, whatever a bronzefish is must be a absolutely disgusting.

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

And what about the Dillos who don't want to be armed?

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 3 points 19 hours ago

unarmadillos?

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[–] the_abecedarian@piefed.social 21 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 36 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)
[–] Kernal64@sh.itjust.works 3 points 15 hours ago

Attention Bajoran workers...

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 8 points 22 hours ago
[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 9 points 21 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Tattorack@lemmy.world 3 points 20 hours ago

Bay-hull; loves explosions.

[–] remon@ani.social 17 points 1 day ago
[–] pruwybn@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 23 hours ago

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

[–] Grimy@lemmy.world 6 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

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

[–] Carcel@lemmy.ml 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 2 points 14 hours ago

So they are lakegulls then.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 6 points 20 hours ago

They're seaadjacentgulls.

[–] TheWeirdestCunt@lemmy.today 14 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I used to study animal management and there was a lecturer who wrote his uni thesis on "seagulls" and any time he heard someone call them seagulls he'd shout down the hallway "They're herring gulls!"

[–] Diddlydee@feddit.uk 10 points 1 day ago

Seagulls are not just herring gulls though. The term is used for any gulls people see near the sea. In the UK that's herring, great black backed & and lesser black backed, black headed, common, and kittiwakes.

[–] ch00f@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

A birdwatching friend of mine has decided that if he ever discovers a new species, he's naming it "seagull" regardless of where he finds it or what it looks like just to piss off all the ornithologists.

[–] MSBBritain@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

Long ago, the four gulls lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the fire gulls attacked...

[–] Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca 3 points 19 hours ago

Don't forget THA GOOD SHIP MERRY GULL!

[–] Illegalmexicant@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

We have Baygulls. They are tasty with cream cheese.

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[–] huxley75@lemmy.world 4 points 21 hours ago

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

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)
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[–] Taco2112@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

I live in Colorado and there are gulls here, we are far from the sea.

[–] stupidcasey@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Water-Gull. Earth-Gull. Fire-Gull. Air-Gull. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire-Gull Nation attacked.

[–] teft@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Water. Earth. Fire. Air. My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days, a time of peace when the Avatar kept balance between the Seagulls, Landgulls, Firegulls, and Airgulls. But that all changed when the Firegulls attacked.

[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day 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.

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 2 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

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

[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 1 points 59 minutes 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."

[–] Aqarius@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours 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".

[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 1 points 58 minutes ago* (last edited 58 minutes ago)

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

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