this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2026
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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

If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.

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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[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 hours ago

That's why I always thought it weird when these famous US celebs did these ancestry checks and were so amazed that one of their ancestors was a slave owner or something

Yeah, I'm sure most people will have ancestors that owned slaves. That doesn't say anything about you, or me though

Sins of the father and stuff like that

[–] FinjaminPoach@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

Might not be true, just statistically likely

[–] 58008@lemmy.world 5 points 16 hours ago (2 children)
[–] FreddiesLantern@leminal.space 6 points 14 hours ago

Look at this show off. Has a post dedicated to them and still upset.

/s

[–] yesman@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Ancestry is weird. You've got 2 parents, 4 grandparents and so on. Do the math and you'll have a billion ancestors in like 40 generations. Obviously, we can't all have a billion unique ancestors, so mathematically there must be plenty of people in my family tree that are also in yours. No matter the geographic spread or race nonsense.

However it's also true that you've got 50% of your parents DNA, ~25% grandparents and so on. Which means eventually, you'll have an ancestor that you share no genetic markers with. It's usually about generation 12 where this happens.

So it's true that we're all related and it's also true that your not related to your 12^th^ great grandfather.

[–] bluGill@fedia.io 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

As you get back more than 12 generations it is highly likely the same person appears more than once in your family tree.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

4 generations if you're european royalty

[–] bluGill@fedia.io 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

3 generations for rednecks... Cousin marriage is often legal and not unheard of, though most people try to avoid such close relatives. By 3rd cousins - 5 generations - you often don't even know everyone and so it wouldn't be a surprise if you don't even know you are so closely related until long after you have kids. Generally there is enough separation that this isn't a genetic issue. Even first cousins don't typically share enough genes for issues to be much more common than otherwise. (kids of brothers-sister pairs often have genetic issues).

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 2 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I think Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were distant cousins of some kind

[–] bluGill@fedia.io 2 points 22 hours ago

It wouldn't surprise me, but as an American I have an objection to monarchy in general and so I don't care enough to look it up.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Kinda interesting that at the certain point, only the surname survives

[–] bluGill@fedia.io 4 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Even that changes. My surname is what it is because English doesn't have the same accents of the old German script (which isn't used in Germany anymore), and so the spelling changed. Then over time how we pronounce it has changed to match the spelling.

[–] Mac@mander.xyz 1 points 16 hours ago

Mine also changed a few generations ago. Not drastically, but still.

[–] Astronut@lemmy.zip 23 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I’d have to go all the way back to my brother. The stupid sumbitch voted for trump!

[–] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 23 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That's not really back...that's more to the right.

[–] Astronut@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 day ago

But I only go left. And no I don’t mean nascar left!

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Step one: Dad's a MAGA cultist, alcoholic (i can tell you how an interlock device works), who also builds ghost guns in his garage.

[–] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 6 points 23 hours ago

I mean.. it sounds like you could solve those problems with a couple phone calls to the FBI

[–] Return_of_Chippy@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Comments like that gonna get you/him raided lmao

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Oh I live very far away from him, and have tried to get him raided.

[–] backalleycoyote@lemmy.today 2 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Just try and make sure those ghost guns are in good hands before you do. Be a shame to waste perfectly good antiMAGA gear that MAGA wasted their time and money stockpiling.

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

... No I mean... I live on the other side of the country now, my family probably thinks I am dead.

That was years ago now.

... my user name is an allusion to a ghost for multiple reasons, that's one of them.

The last time I talked with him, he quite literally spent 25 minutes trying to explain to me that Tom Hanks's son is part of a cult of pedophile child rapist blood drinkers... and then proceeded to segue from that into 'well hey, lemme show you this ar-10 with no serial stamp on the reciever that I'm working on!'

Full on Q Anon nutcase. Lifelong Rush Limbaugh/Fox News fan. Would routinely tell me I have no idea what I'm talking about in... fields that I have degrees in, lines of work that I have near a decade of experience in.

That was the last time I wore a mask and pretended any of his completely insane behavior was safe to be around.

[–] backalleycoyote@lemmy.today 2 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Sounds similar to my relationship. I have no clue where they reside now or if they’re even still alive, and would be disappointed to find out they were so I never look. Also on the Rush/QAnon train, and intensely evangelical to boot. Which is the great irony of the “Hollywood blood drinking pedo cult” conspiracy, since their God knocked up a teenager and they drink blood symbolically every weekend to celebrate his torture-kill. Every accusation is a confession.

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 18 hours ago

They're literally perfect hypocrites... its actually insane.

... sorry you're in a similar situation, but also, good fucking riddance.

[–] z3rOR0ne@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 day ago

Yeah, most people don't have to go that far back at all.

Sometimes I'm pretty sure I don't even have to look at my family, I can just look in the mirror.

Anyways, that's enough self loathing for the next 10 seconds, enjoy your shower and your thoughts.

[–] WhatYouNeed@lemmy.world 3 points 20 hours ago

I just need to look in the mirror to find that person.

[–] mech@feddit.org 4 points 22 hours ago

I don't have to go back far, since one of my grandfathers invaded Poland and the other one exploited POWs as forced labor to build roads.

[–] Codpiece@feddit.uk 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If you go back far enough, your ancestor is a different species.

[–] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 3 points 23 hours ago

I don't think I have to go that far back.

[–] daannii@lemmy.world 2 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Based on my knowledge of a lack of family wealth, I am fairly certain it's mostly petty theft and prostitution.

Which is way better than , for instance, slave owner, or being one of those factory owners that locks employees in so they die in fires.

There are comforts in knowing I come from a long line of poverty. At least none of us were the worst of the worst.

[–] Kacarott@aussie.zone 1 points 13 hours ago

Sounds like you just aren't going far enough back to find the true monsters

[–] toiletobserver@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

3 generations back was... Vernon. The farm family he came from had tons of kids. Just the boys had a rhyme to remember them all. There was Ed, and Ted, and leather head, and Jim, and John, and Walt, and Vernon. But Vernon was a crook, so after you said his name you spit the juice from your tobacco chew to get his bad name out of your mouth.

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] toiletobserver@lemmy.world 1 points 23 hours ago

It was a nick name

[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 2 points 1 day ago

Like Wullerton! (spits)

[–] Dearth@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago

In the span of 30 minutes i learned i had an ancestor who lived to be 104 and was a civil war veteran. He left his home in Alabama to join when he was 16. I then learned her fought for the union.

To find the real shitty people you've got to go back on the other side of the family to the conquistadors in California.

[–] PiraHxCx@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

you probably have hundreds of rapists in your ancestry

Yup. And it is our moral duty to denounce them if the topic is ever brought up.

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

And someone who did something important.

What you do with your life isn't tied to either of those.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 4 points 1 day ago

Probably more people who did something important, such as fighting in wwii or helping out with a good cause. For every horrible person, there's other people who've contributed to society well

[–] Vinylraupe@lemmy.zip 2 points 22 hours ago

The dragon warrior! It's me!

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 2 points 1 day ago

Ghengis Kahn

[–] beefmayonnaise@feddit.org 1 points 22 hours ago

We still haven't left this single apple behind, have we?