# Do you wipe sitting down or standing up? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 21, 2017, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wipe-sitting-down-or-standing-up/784887 "2017-04-21T00:40:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wipe-sitting-down-or-standing-up/784887/141 "2017-04-25T18:07:39Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Do we have anything in the fossil record to suggest whether our ancestors stood or sat to wipe? Well, if you were​ good enough to catch a small, furry animal without standing, you just stayed as you were. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wipe-sitting-down-or-standing-up/784887/142 "2017-04-25T18:19:13Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I had to wipe with my dominant hand yesterday and it felt like a stranger was wiping me. Incredibly awkward. “I’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers.” ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wipe-sitting-down-or-standing-up/784887/143 "2017-04-25T18:31:22Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > Well, if you were​ good enough to catch a small, furry animal without standing, you just stayed as you were. > [@old joke](#): > > A bear and a rabbit are both taking a shit in the woods. The bear asks the rabbit “Do you have a problem with shit sticking to your fur?” And the rabbit replies “No.” So the bear wipes his ass with the rabbit. … ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wipe-sitting-down-or-standing-up/784887/144 "2017-04-25T18:40:37Z")
Two men are sitting in adjacent stalls in a rest room. One guy calls out, “Is there any extra toilet paper on your side?” Other guy: “No.” First guy: “Do you have any Kleenex?” Other guy: “No.” _a pause_ First Guy: “Do you have change for a five?” Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wipe-sitting-down-or-standing-up/784887/145 "2017-04-25T19:06:25Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I’m right handed, too. In fact I’m sort of super-right handed, as I’m just not good at much of anything with my left. But I never, ever, EVER wipe with my right hand. Always the left. In fact, it’s one thing I can imagine screwing up royally if I did it with my right hand (not enough practice, I guess). The roots of this behavior are lost beyond my memory timeframe, so I have no idea how or why it started. But there is a tendency to not want to soil one’s dominant hand, no? That is interesting. I do see your logic, and I believe in traditional cultures where they wiped with a non-papered hand, the left hand was used for wiping and never used for eating. I do however use my right hand for wiping, and if it were in a cast or something I imagine I would really struggle to use my left hand. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wipe-sitting-down-or-standing-up/784887.md?page=7)