this post was submitted on 17 Jul 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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[–] Stillwater@sh.itjust.works 95 points 1 month ago (18 children)

We "go" to lots of things that aren't places. Im going to prove it with this sentence.

[–] whimsy@lemmy.zip 40 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Can you do it after we go to lunch?

[–] expatriado@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I think I'm going to vomit.

[–] Goun@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] Deconceptualist@leminal.space 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

No, my stomach is going to town with all this regurgitation.

[–] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

In English, ‘go to’ can be used as the future subjunctive tense of the verb being conjugated.

[–] hoshikarakitaridia@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

Sounds fancy. I hope it's not expensive to use.

[–] TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 month ago

Planning to go into detail, or was that it?

[–] Empricorn@feddit.nl 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

if you insist ;-)

[–] megane_kun@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 month ago

I've got to go think about it for a second, and then I get to realize what it meant.

[–] pruwybn@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 month ago

I'm going to go to sleep.

Double going!

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[–] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 23 points 1 month ago (3 children)

you don't go places when you sleep?

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

As a stress sleepwalker, yes I do.

[–] TheWeirdestCunt@lemmy.today 8 points 1 month ago

I wish I did, I don't dream so for me it's pretty much just skipping anywhere from 6 to 10 hours and suddenly it's the next morning.

[–] TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 month ago

I sure do. Just last night, I went to a store that was closed. The shopkeeper had hired a very tall and furry troll to guard the store at night. She said the shop is closed, and seemed a bit irritated. We shook hands for no apparent reasons, and then I went away. I sat into a car, we drove off, accidentally drove off road, plowed through the 1 m thick snow, fell off a cliff. We nearly crashed into a house, but somehow managed to land on a road right next to it.

That’s why you don’t try to do your shopping in the middle of the night.

[–] Zachariah@lemmy.world 22 points 1 month ago
[–] EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 19 points 1 month ago (4 children)

In Spanish, they talk about hunger and thirst as if they are physical objects.

[–] teft@piefed.world 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I think that's more that tener (to have) doesn't always mean a physical thing.

As an example in spanish they use tener for age. As in tengo 20 años literally is "I have 20 years" but it means "I am 20"

Or ten cuidado means "take care" or "be careful" but literally is more like "have care". Both phrases use tener in a nonphysical sense in the same way as in english we use "to have". Like to have compassion or to have doubts.

[–] IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (8 children)

but it works because abstract concepts are things an individual can own.

Like "Tengo quidado" is "i own the the abstract concept of care".

it could work in English, but it just sounds strange or poetic, like "i have hunger"

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[–] Deconceptualist@leminal.space 10 points 1 month ago (3 children)

German too. Ich habe Hunger. Sie haben Durst.

[–] LogicalDrivel@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 month ago

Sie haben Durst

Durst

Heh, Fred Thirst

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[–] Schwim@lemmy.zip 15 points 1 month ago (2 children)

"It's time to achieve unconsciousness, kiddo."

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

The void calls ceaselessly, child.

[–] moonburster@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

In Dutch “go” means to go do a thing as well and I use it English in a similar fashion. Never thought of it weird before

[–] MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Edit-preface: I am not a grammarian. I don’t know what the technical names for the different types of “to” are or if they are even recognized as distinct by experts in the field.

English is does indeed use “go” to mean “go do a thing”, but not with directional “to” (as in “go to the library”).

“Go run!”, “Go running”, “I’m going running”, and “I’m going to run” are all valid uses. (In that last case, the “to” is not a directional “to”, but is actually part of the infinitive verb “to run”, as in “I want to run”). However, you wouldn’t say “Go to run!” to tell someone to run.

"Go to run" could make sense with a causal “to” (“Go, in order that you might run”) but that separates “go” and “run” in to separate actions. Causal “to” is the “to” in “push to open” and “press F to pay respects” this is not the “to” in “go to sleep”

“Go to sleep” feels like it is in the directional sense, like "go to bed"

Edit: Now you’ve got me thinking. “Go to sleep” and “go to bed” are a little unusual . “Go to [location]“ without an article is usually reserved for proper nouns or pronouns (“Go to France”, “go to Curicó”, “go to Walmart”, “go to John“ “go to her”). When the location is a general noun, you usually use an article or a proper/pro-noun in the possessive form (“go to a restaurant”, “go to the party”, “go to Bob’s house”, “go to your room”). So what makes “bed” and “sleep” so special? The only other case I can think of at the moment is “go to ground” and that is different because it is an idiom, and the rule for idioms is “they mean what they mean”

Edit-edit: meals don’t use an article either: “to lunch”, “to dinner”, “to breakfast”.

Edit-edit-edit: AAAAAH! It applies to some other prepositions too: “in bed”, “at lunch”; but not “under the bed”. What is going on‽

Edit-edit-edit-edit: Causal “to” might be a use of the infinitive case?

Edit-edit-edit-edit-edit: “go to work” does not use an article either.

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[–] Nemoder@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 month ago

If you have trouble going to sleep then try falling asleep instead.

[–] apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] PineRune@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

I'd rather leave a piss.

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] TachyonTele@piefed.social 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

That's what i say in the bathroom, like it's a team sport.
Goooo Poop! 🤾🏅

[–] WhatGodIsMadeOf@feddit.org 12 points 1 month ago

I wish it was. I wish it was...

[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

I'm going to go, to my bed, to sleep.

[–] leadore@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

The word "go" has lots of meanings besides physically moving to a place. It also means to change state ("the milk went bad", "he'll go crazy when he finds out") and to indicate immediate future tense ("I'm going to read this book now"). Not to mention some other less relevant uses.

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

It's a state.

[–] hedge_lord@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

Yeah I think it's going to make me go insane

[–] xep@fedia.io 6 points 1 month ago

Sleep is my go to when I'm tired!

[–] neatchee@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

I'm 90% sure that it was originally in the form of "to go <there/place> and " and has just been shortened over time. A refined colloquialism, if you go for that sort of thing

[–] Bigfishbest@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] gilgameth@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Instructions unclear, summoned Cthulhu.

[–] davidgro@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

The Dreaming

[–] Goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

In german we say either say "go" or "laying to sleep/rest"

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Huh that's funny, "laying to rest" in English is an expression for burying someone after they have died

[–] Goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah we also say "they are not yet under the world of the living" if someone is still asleep

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[–] Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org 4 points 1 month ago

We also call the event of publicly watching soccer matches etc. "public viewing" so...

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