Everybody collects something.

Me? I collect bathroom signs. A friend of mine has a motto when she travels: “First You Pee, Then You See.”

I follow that motto, too, so I’m always on the lookout for bathroom signs.

Here are a few of my favorites:

I call this sign Mr. Null and Ms. Void.

When I first came to Europe, I was perplexed by the 00 that appears on so many bathroom signs. A quick internet search gave me some answers.

Some say 00 is simply the the room number assigned to the WC. Others speculate that 00 is a shorter version of 100 which, in some places, is a euphemism for WC and may be the source of the English word Loo.

Still others say the 00 represents the holes that used to be cut in the door so you could see if the bathroom was occupied.

My favorite explanation, though, is from Germany. ‘Null’ is the word for zero, thus 00 is pronounced null-null … the English equivalent of which is null-and-void.

Kind of appropriate, don’t you think?

This next sign is similar to the one above, but suggests that nulling and voiding is only permitted from 12 – 1.

I’m not sure the word “Gentleman” is appropriate in this case:

And ladies are apparently only welcome if they bring a ball on a fork:

In some cases, people need to be told where not to go to the bathroom:

And of course, we can’t forget our doggy friends:

Now that I’m on the lookout for funny bathroom signs, I think I’ll have to change my motto:

First I’ll See, Then I’ll Pee.