Or the author saw it in a TV show or film. There's an episode of the old show, "My Name is Earl" which shows an art gallery and a urinal mounted on the wall. (Earl's brother Randy uses it and then comments how it doesn't flush.) That episode has been shown on TBS in the past week, so the author might have seen it.
Yup, and I did wonder about that (or generally if it was a recent pop culture reference). I checked google&IMDB before posting in case it was a quote. I didn't recall that MNIE episode - good spot.
