Toilet Paper

[Ozone]

I'm sure everyone has argued their opinion on the subject of weather a roll of toilet paper should be installed on the dispenser so that it comes over the top and down in front, or drop down the back and come from underneath when you unroll it. My question is this. Not regarding which way you like the toilet paper to go, why is everyone you talk to so passionate about their point of view about it? I've seen people get down right mean, calling people with the other point of view an idiot for making their toilet paper go the other way.

There are so many other things that our opinions differ on, like what we like on a hamburger, but you don't hear people getting into heated arguments over the fact that one of them likes ketchup and the other one doesn't.

Why the hang up with TP? Anyone have any ideas?? :)

[Demo]

Well, TP is something you usually have to use every day, sometimes multiple times a day. If you ate hamburgers every day, I'm sure your views would be much more passionate.

I'm a TP out person, myself. I've found that most TP-outers are more concerned with the utlitarian aspect and TP-iners are more concerned with the aesthetic aspect. Just an observation.

[Devil In Disguise]

I'm a TP out person, myself. I've found that most TP-outers are more concerned with the utlitarian aspect and TP-iners are more concerned with the aesthetic aspect. Just an observation.
Well as a TP-inner, I just find I can pull and tear the the stuff easier that way. When it is on the outside the stuff just keeps streaming off the roll and never tears. Would be more than happy to convert if I could get the stuff off the roll and tear it with one hand like I can with it on the inside.

[guitarmax_99]

Just thought I'd say that I've never even discussed this issue never mind got into a heated debate over it. Just curious how many times you've broached this subject with others and how many times it came to fightin' words?

[Arnold Winkelried]

Maybe not arguments about hamburgers, but hotdogs can give rise to much debate! As a matter of fact, Cecil Adams has written several columns about hot dogs.

Why do hot dogs come 10 to a pack while buns are 8 to a pack? (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_350.html)
Why is there no ketchup on a properly made hot dog? (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_095.html)

I personally put the toilet paper over the top, which is the best way, IMHO (hint, hint.)

[Mr. Cynical]

My WAG is that it is easier for a child or pet to unroll the TP when it is hanging on the OUT side, as you put your hands on the roll and spin it down easier than spinning it upward. Go try it. Don't pull it, just use your hands and spin it. Think Lumberjack rolling a log. If the paper is hanging in the IN side, spinning it downward, toward yourself, will not make it unroll.

Wait till you have kids. You'll see.

[Milossarian]

Your OP got me thinking ...

Another similarly heated debate is whether the toilet seat should be left up or down.

Must be we feel our toilet experience is very personal, and we fiercely defend the way we want it.

[Demo]

MrC, but it's so cute to see a kid pull all the toilet paper out and get all wrapped up in it and stuff it in the toilet, which then clogs and runs all over the bathroom and out onto the carpet and mildews the floorboards, causing them to be structurally unsound, so then you have to call a carpenter and, and, and... Uh, wait a minute!



I personally put the toilet paper over the top, which is the best way, IMHO

This topic obviously requires no more discussion. Arnold said it, top is best! Woo hooo!!!!

:: Running home to tell friends and family off, because I always knew TP over the top was best!!! ::

What do you mean I'm overly passionate about this topic? Pshaw! Now get outta my WAY!!!

;)

[manhattan]

I'm going to send this topic to In My Humble Opinion. I'm not sure why, since there's really no room for opinions on this subject. "Under the bottom" people are obviously uneducated, godless insults to humanity. Or cat owners.

[GraceTX]

"Under the bottom" people are obviously uneducated, godless insults to humanity. Or cat owners.


Giltea on bof counts. :D

I put the TP will the roll under because I think it's easy to tear that way. The loose sheet always hangs down so you don't have to spin that thing around and around trying to find the end.

Plus after many trips to the ladies room at work, I have noticed something about the way the custodian put the rolls in the dispenser. If she does it over the top, when you go to tear off the TP, you only get two sheets before it tears. There's some mechanism in the dispenser that stops the spinning action causing the paper to automatically tear at the seam. So unless you don't mind getting a little dirty and/or wet, you have to tear it off 2 pieces at a time several times.

If she puts the TP under, then the roll just spins and spins and you get all the paper you need.

And since we're on the subject of bathrooms (by way of toilet paper), does anyone flush the public toilet with their foot? My co-worker does this and I think it's the oddest thing. She'll put her bo-bo on the toilet but not her hand?!?

[brachyrhynchos]

I guess I'm a heathen. I prefer the roll on the counter next to the toilet, free from the restraints of the tube-holding device. At least it's that way 80% of the time. When guests come over, shame forces me to use the wall device, and then I usually go for the classic over-the-top look.
Depending on the height and type of handle, I usually also use my foot in public restrooms. But if the handle is one of those buttons halfway up the wall, I decline my Bruce Lee imitation and use my hand. I don't know why I prefer not to use my hands - they both get washed on the way out.

[Nacho4Sara]

Grace - I use my foot. I don't know why, I can't pee while squatting (I guess my aim is off) so I always sit on the seat...but something about those nasty metal flushers gross me out, and I will Bruce-Lee the button if need be. It just grosses me out thinking about it, maybe because I know so many peeople do the foot thing, and then I don't want to touch their shoe crud.

PLUS, fecal matter can fight through TEN layers of TP to poisen your hand. One must be careful with those pesky fecal matter germs. All together now, EWWWWW.

BTW, I go over with the TP. I find that I never get enough when I go under. I like a nice quantity of TP to properly wipe.

Another TP question - what's with the automatic plastic seat covers? Anyone see these? At the local Loew's theatre, the seat is covered in thin plastic and before you sit, you touch (or kick, if you are me) a special red button that rotates the plastic.

It is MHO that the same used plastic just rotates every time.

[Demo]

And since we're on the subject of bathrooms (by way of toilet paper), does anyone flush the public toilet with their foot? My co-worker does this and I think it's the oddest thing. She'll put her bo-bo on the toilet but not her hand?!?

Well, I'll second the above comments about flushing with the foot. I will, however, Bruce Lee it everytime. Hey, it's fun! My main reason is that, true, even though I use the paper, someone's ass has been where my ass is going, but, I don't eat with my ass do I? ;)

Therefore, I want the hands to touch nothing foreign. I also elbow/nudge the door open, turn on/off faucets using towels and open the door with a towel. When the bathroom has one of those towels dispensers where you have to pull the handle down, I will get toilet tissue, pull the handle down, and then...well, you get the point. I'm a little OC when it come to handwashing, but I like it, so there! :p

[MysterEcks]

Brothers and Sisters, attend me! Some believe toilet paper direction is a personal choice, but this is not the case. This is the sort of thinking which has led Our Great Nation down the path of corruption, wickedness, and bad television programming on Wednesdays. As nights follow days, as thunder follows lightning, as special prosecutors follow the Clinton Administration, there is a right way...a proper way... The One True Way to position the roll of toilet paper on the holder, and that is so it flows down the front.

In truth, Brothers and Sisters, we all know The One True Way --it is inborn to our collective Souls. But there are infidels who reject the Natural Order, who refuse to Do The Right Thing, who (and I know we would all prefer not to speak this aloud, but we must call a spade a spade or we will never attain perfection, wisdom, or a straight flush) flow toilet paper down the back! These Backsliders (and yes, Brothers and Sisters, this is where that term comes from) have strayed from the Light, and threaten to plunge Our Great Nation into chaos by their deviatation from The One True Way!

The Backsliders pay for their rejection of The One True Way , though most of them never realize the connection. A few True Facts and Statistics:

79.7% of all sufferers of teenage and adult enurisis put their toilet paper on wrong!

79.7% of all Axe Murders put their toilet paper on wrong!

79.7% of all members of the Nazi Party in Germany put their toilet paper on wrong!

79.7% of all victims Ebola put their toilet paper on wrong!

79.7% of the team which designed the Edsel put their toilet paper on wrong!

(All True Facts and Statistics from a hitherto-unknown part of the Middle Age Testament discovered lining a cat litter box outside of Rochester, New York in 1997.)

And there are many more examples, too numerous to list.

It is tempting for those who follow The One True Way to become angry with Backsliders, to become abusive with them, to hit them on the head with aluminum siding. But Brothers and Sisters, you should not do these things--most Backsliders know not that their Souls are in peril. Do not be mean to them. Do not lose your temper. Do not call them Ignorant Wankers in front of their friends. Correction should be applied gently, with love and understanding. Change their toilet paper so it is Right, and then explain The One True Way in a friendly tone. Meet defensiveness with compassion, anger with tolerance, gunshots with return fire only to wound. Backsliders can change--I know this from personal experience. I married a Backslider, but I knew it wasn't her fault--her parents had raised her poorly. I merely changed the rolls she had incorrectly positioned, gently explained The One True Way , and almost never humiliated her in public. And I'm here to tell you that it had an effect--by the time she divorced me, she often remembered to follow The One True Way.

So, Brothers and Sisters, let those of us who understand The One True Way go forward armed with our Faith, our Rightness, and perhaps sawed-off pool cues. Our Cause is Just, our Will is Strong, and our Toilet Paper is Correct.

And for those of you who are Backsliders, please know that we of The One True Way care very deeply about you, and will do our level best to help you See The Light. Now go forth and sin no more, you Ignorant Wankers.

[Diane]

There are two ways to put TP on the roll, over the top and the "I sofa king we Todd did" way.

Over the top makes it easier to unroll, easier to find the end, and most importantly, it looks better. No questions about it, THIS was the way TP was supposed to be. Period.

Oh, and nothing will do except for Charmin Double Roll.

[soulsling]

Diane, you just never let me down, do you? :D

over the top = The One True Way.

proof: Arnold Winkelried says so.
manhattan says so.
Democritus agrees.
Diane as the rock-inest chick says so.

i wouldn't be surprised that Cecil :thunder and lightening: does it that way. or any of the Administrators and moderators not mentioned for that matter.

under the roll?, puuulease! what ARE you thinking.
My cats wouldn't appreciate that.

[timmar68]

I guess I'm a heathen. I prefer the roll on the counter next to the toilet, free from the restraints of the tube-holding device.


OMG! I thought I was the only one who did this! I do it because the genius who designed my bathroom put the holder way over on the left, deep into the wall. Not against the sink or counter, like a normal bathroom. It is in the wall, next to the toilet. If I need to get it while sitting on the toilet I have to be a contortionist. It's easier to put the roll on the counter.

[Diane]

I NEVER, EVER, EVER, let my ass get less than a few inches from any public toilet seat. Hell no!

Sure, there are the seat cover thingies, but no one can convince me that a drop or two of someone's pee isn't going to soak through and touch my lily-white ass. Maybe when they invent rubber covers I will think about it. T-H-I-N-K.

The proper way to pee in a public restroom is to lower your bum until it is only a few inches away from the seat. With enough practice, not only will you not drip on the seat you will also get great looking legs from the mini leg workout.

Don't even get me started with people who poop in public. Eeeck.

[MLAW]

Rarely is the the roll in it's holder. It's usually found on the counter next to the sink or on the window ledge just above the toilet. Once in a while it ends up on the back of the toilet.

Pet Peeve: Hubby is constantly blowing his nose and when we've run out of kleenex he'll use the TP. He then puts it down on the FAR SIDE of the sink and I can't reach it.

But if by chance it gets put into the TP holder (company is coming over) it's over the top. If hubby happens to put it into the holder (yeah, once a year maybe) I usually have to turn it around to the correct position.

I've got another question: how much do you use? Only asking because I like wads of the stuff. In the restroom here (at work) I've noticed that the other ladies seem to tear of a few squares, whereas I'll unroll reems of it - hell, why get your hands wet.

Where do you keep the spare roll? Us - in the cupboard under the sink. In other words, don't keep a spare roll handy. The cupboard door has the hinge missing on the bottom and it's amusing to hear guests struggle with that damn door.

[Kiki]

Well, I'll second the above comments about flushing with the foot. I will, however, Bruce Lee it everytime. Hey, it's fun! My main reason is that, true, even though I use the paper, someone's ass has been where my ass is going, but, I don't eat with my ass do I?

Demo - I just spit water all over my monitor. That is hilarious!

And IMHO... toilet paper should be over the top. There's no particular reason for it that's just the way I've always done it.

And just a little gripe here... where I work the toilet paper is so thin you have to use about 50 sheets just so you don't get your hands wet. And it doesn't matter if the put the toilet paper over or under, it rips off about 2-3 pieces at a time! It's a pain in the ass... no pun intended.

[boli]

I cannot WAIT to work "Bruce Lee" into my next flushing discussion! I think I will deliberately bring up this topic when I'm out with my friends tonight.

I always flush with my foot. As it was explained above, germs touching my ass aren't nearly as bad as germs on my hands from the flusher. (Thankfully I'm not nearly as OC as Demo is, though).

Diane is completely correct about Charmin Double Roll. And it has to be Charmin Ultra - as someone put it in some other thread - "the Cadillac of toilet paper". It should always be hung over the top. I can never find the beginning when it is hung the other way.

[Nacho4Sara]

Oh, my heart sings with jealousy.

I have been trying to get my mom to buy that nice soft smushy tp since I could speak. She INSISTS on Scott Tissue, which is the equivilant of wiping your ass with sandpaper. Luckily, after 19 years, my cheeks are numb, but still...Whenever I go at my bf's house, I get to use that fluffy, soft Charmin. Yumm. And at college, it's even worse - like wiping with paper. AND you get a square at a time when the roll is new, and since the roll is roughly the size of Montana, it takes about three weeks (unless they serve tacos at the dining hall) to get to the point where you can get ten squares at once.

And I'm all for a lot of tp. I like a nice wad - why risk it?

Another question: Do ya'll wipe standing up or down? I didn't realize this was an issue until I got to college.

[Demo]

Thanks Rachelle! ;)


MrEcks, I just want to say: You are a genius man! I loved it!



And wiping standing up??? What kind of horseshit is this? Reminds me of the three-point-pissing-with-wood conversation we had a while ago... ;) Eh! Where's Coldfire?

[psycat90]

Well, I really don't care if the toilet paper is over or under, but I s'pose it is usually over.

And as far as the public flushing with the foot thing, that is mandatory bathroom protocol in my book. I couldn't even imagine touching that thing.
If I don't have to sit on the toilet, I won't. I don't like the idea of my ass touching where another strange ass has been.

I'm not a phobic as Demo, but after washing my hands, I will open doors using just my pinky. And I do so love Purel.

[Diane]

And it has to be Charmin Ultra

How the hell could I have forgotten the Ultra part?

What about those who insist on pooping in public (yeah, yeah, emergencies happen, but still. . .)? Can't they at least give a courtesy flush before they stink the place up?

[tracer]

Nacho4Sara wrote:

Another question: Do ya'll wipe standing up or down? I didn't realize this was an issue until I got to college.

And another question: Do you wipe front-to-back (i.e. from the base to the tailbone) with your arm behind you, or back-to-front (tailbone-to-base) with your arm between your legs? I always wiped back-to-front since it was easier to reach, but a little less than a decade ago I got involved in an intimate relationship with one of them thar female woman-type critters, and when she wiped after defecating, it was always from behind, front-to-back (base-to-tailbone). She said that otherwise, she'd get fecal bacteria in her vagina which would could her some kind of icky disease. She also criticised me for using such large wads of toilet paper when I wiped, but that's another story.

[GraceTX]

Dang! I guess I'm really living up to the "uneducated, godless insults to humanity" title. I flush the toilet with my hand. I mean I'm washing my hands with soap 1/2 a second after stepping out of the stall. What's the big deal?!? I also buy Scott Tissue. It's what my mother bought and I have used it for as long as I can remember. When I get the soft stuff it just feels weird.

BTW, my coworker dropped her badge into the toilet the other day. She ended up having to reach into it and pull it out. She was so grossed out, she spent the next 20 minutes scrubbing her hands and badge with antibacterial soap. :D

[Annie-Xmas]

I am a foot flusher, too. But there's another
reason. I have very long legs, and having to
bend over to flush with my hand is too difficult.
Easier to just give it a good swift kick.

Unless, of course, you're in the NYC Port Authority
Bus terminal, where the toilets flush automatically.

Toilet paper goes under.

[tracer]

Toilet paper goes under.

Heathen!

[single files]

Having just purchased a new toilet paper holder, I have in my possession (well....it's in the garbage now) the proof to clear this up. In the instruction sheet, it clearly shows the finished holder sporting an outie roll. I must concede, though, that other brands of toilet paper holders might require that the paper be installed the other way. I am just happy that I got mine on the wall in one piece. (Had I been that successful in removing the old one, I wouldn't have needed a new one to begin with) I am still trying to figure out the mentality of the last owners, given that the other holder had been installed across the room from the actual toilet. I have looked for evidence that maybe the toilet had been relocated at some point, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

[lee]

And i think i am allergic to the new stuff :-(

I was staying at a friend's apartment and he had a c haped toilet paper dispenser. the c opened away from the toilet. I take a big handful and jerk it away from me to tear it off and the whole roll slings across the quite roomy bathroom. Fortunately it was good ole charmin so it did not break and i still had a hold on it so there was enough to finish with, but i was laughing so hard it was not easy.

My friend was waiting outside asking if i was ok, he had heard a rather large sounding thud.

Afther the second time the paper was slung across the room he turned the holder around so it faced the toilet.

[dragonlady]

Ecks: AMEN Brother!!
And women ARE supposed to wipe front to back, due to the lay of the land, so to speak. I don't suppose it matters much with you male types.

[Edwardina]

I am a foot flusher. Hi-yah!

The paper should always hang down the front. If it doesn't and it does that thing, like tape does sometimes, when you can't tell where the end is, you can just spin it and it will become apparent. Otherwise, you can be searching for it for hours. And yes, I have found myself expressing open hostility for people who hang the TP the wrong way.

Women should wipe front to back. I have never heard of anyone who wipes standing up. I have heard that some men pee sitting down.

I don't care as much about what brand the TP is as long as it is two ply. I can work with two-ply. One-ply should be banished from the face of the earth. My biggest concern is no perfumes or dyes, just plain white and hypo-allergenic. That strikes me as the worst place in the world to have an allergic reaction.

Also, I heard on the radio that as far as TP goes, women are crumplers and men are folders. I am definitely a crumpler. My mom used to get on my case about the amount of TP I wadded up per use. I revel in my freedom to be extravagant now that I buy my own.

[mblackwell]

My toilet paper is always on the back of the toilet. If I were to use a holder I suppose I would use the over the top method.

[MysterEcks]

Democritus and dragonlady: <Elvis hat on> Thank you...thank you...thank you very much.... <Elvis hat off>

Edwardina said:

I heard on the radio that as far as TP goes, women are crumplers and men are folders.

I never thought about it before, but this sounds right. I myself am a folder (I even fold over any ragged edges, which may be a sign of some terrible personality disorder), but the women I've shared bathroom experiences with have all been crumplers as far as I can recall. I have these nice neat little piles; my ex-wife, on the other hand, would use gigantic wads of the stuff that barely made it down upon flushing. Is it any wonder the divorce rate is so high?

[Scotticher]

And since we're on the subject of bathrooms (by way of toilet paper), does anyone flush the public toilet with their foot? My co-worker does this and I think it's the oddest thing. She'll put her bo-bo on the toilet but not her hand?!?


Grace, you are priceless!

I have also heard heated debates about this under/over thing, and it confuses me, too. After all, the only opinions you should really care about are the people you live with. They are the only ones who are able to annoy you daily by doing it "wrong".

I have always been an over-the-top person, but I used to raise siamese kittens, and I found that when they got to be about 4-5 weeks old I would come home to a pile of tissue paper on the floor of the bathroom. I used to think that they liked to play in the pile, but I finally realized that they enjoyed the unrolling of the roll-it takes much the same talent that using the scratching post does. (If you have a cat, you know what I mean.) So, I started putting the roll on backwards(IMHO), whenever I had kittens. It was kind of fun to watch them trying their best to unroll the tissue, and not getting anywhere. They were still having fun and all I had to worry about then was the millions of little shreds of tissue in the bathroom. Come to think of it, that was probably harder to clean up than the pile!

(Sigh) I miss the good old days-maybe it's time to start raising the little darlin's again!

Scotti

[Brunetter]

Where else could we have such a heated discussion about such --um --- varied topics?

Anyway, just wanted to share a story of my youth that came to my mind again when I read the OP.

When I was very little - prob'ly about 6 - it came to pass that the TP ran out when it was, well, my turn. My mom came along and taught me how to change it, saying "you put it on like this, with the paper on the front, that's the way Mommy and Daddy like it."

Well the lesson was easy to learn, however it must have tripped some weird switch in my tiny little brain because I remember getting all upset about it later. I guess I got a severe case of the What-ifs: What if mommy and daddy had liked different ways of putting the toilet paper on the spool? What if mommy liked it on the front and daddy liked it on the back? They wouldn't have like each other much - they wouldn't have gotten married - and I never would have been born!!!

Yes, all of this went through my head at the age of 6. Sometimes I amaze even myself.

BTW, I still think the correct way is "over the top". Myster Ecks has it right.

[Mr. Cynical]

Over the top, around the back. The dog doesn't eat it that way.

[MysterEcks]

Brunetter said:

BTW, I still think the correct way is "over the top". Myster Ecks has it right.

Thanks, Brunetter. Don't listen to anyone who claims me getting something right is purely accidental.

Speaking of memories from our younger days, that brings high school to mind. In my HS we didn't even have rolls of toilet paper in the restrooms--we had box-like dispensers which gave you one sheet at a time. They were kind of like very thin single-ply napkins, had no absorbent qualities of any sort, and required a minimum of about eight sheets per wipe to accomplish anything. I have no idea if they used this format because it was cheaper, or they were afraid the inmates would unroll rolls, or what.

[kasuo]

Out, definitely out. Yeah, I feel somewhat utilitarian in that respect and toilet paper seems to tear a lot easier when it is placed as an "in", at least most of the times I've faced that.

[TroubleAgain]

I guess I'm a heathen. I prefer the roll on the counter next to the toilet, free from the restraints of the tube-holding device. At least it's that way 80% of the time. When guests come over, shame forces me to use the wall device, and then I usually go for the classic over-the-top look.



Thank you! I don't know why my hubby is such a pain in the ___ about this! It makes no difference to me where the damned roll is or if it's on the roller or not. But he gets his knickers in such a twist if I leave it off the roller! :p

[handy]

'Why do hot dogs come 10 to a pack while buns are 8 to a pack? '

Not any more. They are both 8's now. Probably cause 8 weiners cost the same as 10 weiners, so they figured doing that they could make some money.


People are picky about bathroom habits. Like TP, toothpaste, you know, when they dont wipe the tube so the toothpaste stays there dripping, that can get to some people...

If you can't agree on the TP thing, get a commercial TP dispenser, it only loads one way.

[Kat]

Not any more. They are both 8's now. Probably cause 8 weiners cost the same as 10 weiners, so they figured doing that they could make some money.

Silly handy. Hot dogs are usually sold in one pound packages. Regular hot dogs are 10 per package (pound), jumbo hot dogs are 8 per package (pound). (based on Oscar Mayer hot dogs)

[handy]

Kat, I buy non-fat weiners, they are skinny & eight to a pack. Hmmmm

Isn't toilet paper made from trees? Wiping your butt with a tree is almost enough to make one want to buy that cotton t paper.

[Mustapha]

I fear people who worry about whether toilet paper should hang over or under never actually get to use any due to anal retension.

All I require is that there be enough for the job at hand. Nothing worse than sitting down for a movement Beethoven would be proud of, and realising you're only a few sheets away from cardboard tube.

BTW whose bright idea was it to have scented toilet paper? A scent which seems to be more intent on "freshening" your hand for the rest of the day, than "freshening" the bowl!

[CVALLEYGAL]

I've been in the hotel industry before, and believe it or not...there's a reason for making the tiolet paper roll from the top. It's just to make it easier to see, and grab. If the toilet paper rolls from the back, and hangs there, chances are it will break when you grab it, before you were ready for it to. Seems silly.....but according to my parents who travel extensively in other countries (UK especially)the polite thing to do is to fold the tip of the paper into a triangle (you'll see that in hotels) Makes it stronger I guess.....

For me....if I'm lucky enough for someone to put it on the roll in the first place....I could care less what direction. It's only when it's been on the back of the toilet, I grab some..the roll falls and rolls half way across the room..well, it's not like you can pull it back by the piece your holding huh!!!! :-)

If it's on the roll AT ALL...I'm having a good day...