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:

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    • 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
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Edit:

Together they can make the combined-arms-gulls.

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[–] MrJameGumb@lemmy.world 47 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I think a "landgull" would just be a pigeon

[–] maxwells_daemon@lemmy.world 44 points 3 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] NoForwardslashS@sopuli.xyz 23 points 3 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] WhyIHateTheInternet@lemmy.world 20 points 3 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] lemmyng@lemmy.ca 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] Waywardmessiah@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] irmoz@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

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

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 41 points 3 days ago

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

[–] db2@lemmy.world 29 points 3 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 8 points 3 days ago

My brother and I discovered the new Gulliver...

[–] listless@lemmy.cringecollective.io 23 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Wrong.

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

Archipelagulls

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...

[–] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 3 days ago

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

Bagels.

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

If there are armadillos, where are the legadillos?

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 3 points 3 days ago

unarmadillos?

[–] moakley@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

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

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[–] MimicJar@lemmy.world 17 points 3 days ago

I've seen many seagulls in my life.

But I've never seen any of the others.

And that's terrifying. Stay vigilant.

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

Attention Bajoran workers...

[–] remon@ani.social 17 points 3 days ago
[–] TheWeirdestCunt@lemmy.today 14 points 3 days 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 3 days 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 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days 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.

[–] pruwybn@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 3 days ago

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

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] Tattorack@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

Bay-hull; loves explosions.

[–] MSBBritain@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago

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

[–] Illegalmexicant@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

We have Baygulls. They are tasty with cream cheese.

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[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] lemmyng@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

"By your powers combined, I'm Captain Gull!"

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[–] Grimy@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago (3 children)

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

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 6 points 3 days ago

They're seaadjacentgulls.

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[–] Taco2112@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago

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

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: ...

[–] stupidcasey@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days 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 3 days 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.

[–] huxley75@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

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

[–] Noel_Skum@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago

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

Don't forget heartgulls. Everyone always forgets heart.

[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days 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 3 points 3 days 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 2 days 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 3 days 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 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

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

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[–] Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca 3 points 3 days ago

Don't forget THA GOOD SHIP MERRY GULL!

[–] NONE_dc@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It's Called seagull

It flies

With that logic, firegull are penguins.

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