Apparently this design was popular in Germany a hundred years or so ago. Its key advantage was allowing the user to examine their stools for signs of digestive health problems.
Story time: I once briefly lived in a place that had an old toilet bowl like this. You can still find them in older houses. One day I took a massive shit and then found out that the flush wasn't strong enough to get it down from there. And there wasn't a brush. Yikes. Just wanted to share that with you guys.
Those are actually French toilets. They were designed like this so you can check for blood and other abnormalities. British toilets were designed so the poop would fall in the water, reducing the stench. The British design proved more popular, yet the French design is better with less splashing and for checking. It's important to check, to find out if there's something wrong with your intestines like cancer (black blood) or a tapeworm. The British didn't find this important, just like washing hands after pooping.
Another good bit (not in the video) is that Zizek thinks that's why Germans can endure great pain and sacrifices for an ideal…if you are strong enough to observe your shit for health reasons, there's nothing you can't do!
I’m a bit shocked with reactions I read. You’ve probably never heard of figure shitting. I tried to figure shit some letters of the alphabet. I’m great at the letter P and R.
I know the meme is that people use it to look at their poop, but honestly the main advantage is the 0% chance of water splashing up.
I will take this design over the "standard" ones any day.
Flanders here. Those shelved ones are not common but also not omg this is strange. But in kindergarden they are ( where i saw) mostly the norm. Handy to check stuff. ( Is it solid, no worms,... )