Eric Pateman wants to get something straight: When it comes to men urinating in the restrooms of his Vancouver restaurant, they do not have to obey the sign that forbids doing so while standing up.”Look, I’m a guy, I piss standing up,” Pateman tells Seattle Weekly. He says that the Internet-wide freakout over the signs is a big misunderstanding–but one he’s thoroughly enjoying.It started when Vancouver Sun reporter and “Curious Dad” blogger Chad Skelton visited Edible Canada, a gourmet bistro located on Granville Island in Vancouver, and saw a sign in the bathroom with a little stick figure taking a leak and a no-smoking-style line drawn through him.The implication was clear: No peeing standing up.Chad SkeltonNaturally, Skelton blogged about the signs, and within hours the story had gone viral. Gawker, Drudge Report, SodaHead all carried the story with terms like “sissified” and “extreme” and “might as well have asked him to cut off his balls [and] flush them down the toilet.”Pateman, however, insists that the signs aren’t a rule, just a gag.”We came across the signs when we bought the glassware. They made us giggle and we thought they would make a good conversation piece,” he says. “They’ve become so popular that people have been stealing them and we’ve actually started selling them.”The signs themselves are made in imported by Vancouver company Puddifoot.Pateman says he thinks they came from Sweden (a Puddifoot representative didn’t return a call seeking confirmation).Wherever the signs are made, it seems that even in “sissified” Canada, men are still allowed to practice their inherent right to attempt to get most of their urine into a toilet bowl while aiming from far above (some farther than others).Follow The Daily Weekly on Facebook and Twitter.