Make Room for Dinner

One of the most disturbing and odd facets of masculine culture is the reflection and embrace of our digestive systems, particularly the strange communion many men have with the porcelain throne. Beyond the establishment of gaseous expulsions as a hilarious form of art, men commonly seem to want to discuss the quality, quantity, and enjoyment of eliminating solid waste.

Descendants of this fascination include numerous euphemisms and contexts for when one really has to take a shit. Dropping the kids off at the pool, the deuce, and a myriad of others have become commonplace, if unpleasant, phrases. One of the more common concepts of this milieu is the idea of "making room for dinner." The concept underlying this is that if one was to use the facilities, dinner would be better received, as one would have "made room."

It always bugged me when people said this. In general, I never really enjoy hearing about folks fecal fun. It bugs me only slightly less now that I know that this mythos of masculine misanthropy is actually a legitimate fact.

The gastroileal reflex is a system by which distension of the stomach actually triggers increased movement in the ileum (part of your small intestine), and dilates a sphincter allowing food to pass from the small intestine (where it is absorbed into the body as nutrients) to the large (where it is prepared to be expelled). A natural peptide called gastrin, released to increase stomach acidity and break down the various products you consumed, teams up with your autonomic nervous system to literally "make room for dinner."

Which doesn't actually make saying it any less tacky.