This saying sounds familiar! Triggered by a sign at an Airbnb we stayed at recently I got curious to see if I could find its true origin. The search yields plenty of signs with a rich selection of designs and also contents. Amazing what people can envision to flush – beyond the expected items that have common presence in a bathroom there are self-written poems, T-shirts, diapers, kittens and puppies, old phones, your ex’ sweaters, gum, unpaid bills, junk mail, goldfish, old phone bills, cherry bombs, leftover salad, frogs, love letters, random socks, your money, toys and bowling balls…..this is when I stopped searching. Upon some consideration it is fair to say that flushing things down the toilet puts them out of sight immediately and cuts off all other sensations associated with it. (Note: That may not hold if you are the owner of the device that clogs during the action). Hopes and dreams are the only non-material items on the list. They can get crushed or lost and hence an association with the disappearance during flushing is not out of line. This association could date back as far as the Middle Ages, namely around 1592 when Sir John Harrington created what is believed the first flush toilet for his godmother Queen Elizabeth I. Everyone has hopes and dreams or at least wishes – which is also reflected in their popularity in music. HubPages lists 97 songs about hopes and dreams – the oldest dating back to 1954 but I am sure more extensive research into the archives with an eye on the Middle Ages again would yield a significantly larger number. So don’t flush them! Apparently, those signs are supposed to be funny and breach an otherwise awkward subject with some humor. The fact that I noticed the sign at our Airbnb and read it indicates it seems to work!