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 92 points 2 weeks ago (18 children)

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

[–] whimsy@lemmy.zip 38 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Can you do it after we go to lunch?

[–] expatriado@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago

I think I'm going to vomit.

[–] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 17 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

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

[–] hoshikarakitaridia@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago

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

[–] TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 weeks ago

Planning to go into detail, or was that it?

[–] Empricorn@feddit.nl 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

if you insist ;-)

[–] megane_kun@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 weeks 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 2 weeks ago

I'm going to go to sleep.

Double going!

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[–] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 23 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

you don't go places when you sleep?

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

As a stress sleepwalker, yes I do.

[–] TheWeirdestCunt@lemmy.today 8 points 2 weeks 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 2 points 2 weeks 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 21 points 2 weeks ago
[–] EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 18 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

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

[–] teft@piefed.world 11 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks 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 2 weeks ago (5 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"

[–] sneezycat@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I don't think so, it's not like you can have a monopoly on hunger or sleepiness. "Tener/to have" doesn't mean to own.

In English you can say "I have feelings" but not "I have sadness", because they don't consider emotions to be "things".

[–] IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

yet you can have depression?

[–] sneezycat@sopuli.xyz 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

English being inconsistent, who would've thought.

sucks that English became the international language, that language is painfully inconsistent.

although preferable to french

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[–] Deconceptualist@leminal.space 10 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

German too. Ich habe Hunger. Sie haben Durst.

[–] LogicalDrivel@sopuli.xyz 3 points 2 weeks ago

Sie haben Durst

Durst

Heh, Fred Thirst

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

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

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

The void calls ceaselessly, child.

[–] moonburster@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks 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 3 points 2 weeks 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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[–] apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)
[–] PineRune@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

I'd rather leave a piss.

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] TachyonTele@piefed.social 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

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

[–] WhatGodIsMadeOf@feddit.org 11 points 2 weeks ago

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

[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago

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

[–] leadore@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks 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 2 weeks ago

It's a state.

[–] hedge_lord@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

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

[–] neatchee@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks 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

[–] xep@fedia.io 5 points 2 weeks ago

Sleep is my go to when I'm tired!

[–] Bigfishbest@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] gilgameth@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

Instructions unclear, summoned Cthulhu.

[–] davidgro@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

The Dreaming

[–] Goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

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

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks 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 2 weeks 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 2 weeks ago

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

[–] GuyFawkes@midwest.social 2 points 2 weeks ago

Naw, just a state of mind.

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