# Reading on the toilet
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [November 13, 2001, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019 "2001-11-13T00:27:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Skelji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skelji)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2001, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019/41 "2001-11-14T18:24:19Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike
> \*\*Hell, I’ve been known to bring a book with me to the _urinal_. \*\*
There are a few restaurants, at least where I live, that post the front page of the sports section above the urinals.
Even the local Publix supermarket has their flyer up on the wall:
::unzip::
“Hey, chicken breasts, $2.99 a pound!”
::whiz::
“Chips Ahoy, buy one, get one free!”
::shake::
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### Author:  [@Skelji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skelji)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2001, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019/42 "2001-11-14T18:29:04Z")
Maybe I should read the vB Coding Manual next time I’m on the bowl. 😉
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### Author:  [@Medea\_s\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medea_s_Child)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2001, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019/43 "2001-11-14T20:16:27Z")
Its a happy cheap luxury.
And good for you! I had a friend who did all of his O. Chem studying, for both semesters, on the can. Every time he left his room for the throne he took his O. Chem book with him. Got an A the first term, an A- the second.
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### Author:  [@Miss\_Pippi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Pippi)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2001, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019/44 "2001-11-14T20:23:11Z")
No time for reading in there. I’m in and out as fast as I can be. Can’t stand the thought of long term sitting on the can. Yuck.
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### Author:  [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2001, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019/45 "2001-11-14T21:19:12Z")
Well, ahem. I don’t make a habit of lingering for hours but sometimes business takes a little longer than one might wish. Therefore, it’s nice to have something to read! Like the puppy-petters, though, we mommies often have little ones that not only accompany us for the conversation, but frequently wish to take advantage of the handy lap and snuggle. True story.
Anyway, I usually grab my current book. If not that, there’s usually a selection of catalogs to dream over.
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### Author:  [@LiquidLobotomy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiquidLobotomy)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2001, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019/46 "2001-11-14T21:23:55Z")
Even if it’s only 5 to 10 minutes that’s still time to read an article or two. And like Mermaid I too used to read The Straight Dope while unloading my cargo. It’s great. I can’t imagine not doing it. I tried to read a magazine once while using a urinal (I was inspired by my boss who would read the paper and pee at the same time) but I ended up dropping the magazine right into the stream.
It’s not just a man thing, but a higher percentage of men do it then women.
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2001, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019/47 "2001-11-14T21:49:28Z")
\*Originally posted by Muffin \*
> [@](#):
>
> …we picked up a tidy pile of reading material…
Too good.
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### Author:  [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2001, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019/48 "2001-11-15T02:02:17Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by romansperson \*
> I love my dogs, but I feel like the world’s biggest idiot sitting on the pot petting a dog.
God, that made me laugh. My dogs would come in for head scratches too. And they were good-sized dogs - we barely fit in the bathroom.
Now it’s me, a book in hand and a bird on my head. The simple joys of pet ownership.
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### Author:  [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2001, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019/49 "2001-11-15T02:46:25Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by cher3 \*
> Did we conclude that this is something of a guy thing?
No. Im a guy and I don’t read on the toilet. I read in other times, but not in the bathroom.
What really annoys me is the people at bookstores, who read on public toilets, and then **put the books back on the shelf**
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### Author:  [@Niobium\_Knight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Niobium_Knight)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2001, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019/50 "2001-11-15T10:08:19Z")
“What really annoys me is the people at bookstores, who read on public toilets, and then put the books back on the shelf”
ooh gross! lucky in UK we dont have toilets in bookstores, and if we did you wouldnt be allowed to take a book off the shelf and use them.
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### Author:  [@Cougarfang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cougarfang)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2001, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019/51 "2001-11-15T10:21:28Z")
yep. i’m rarely ever found without a book, off or[on the toilet](http://www.karawynn.net/mishacat/toilet.shtml).
(ps. that’s not me in the pictures!)
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### Author:  [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2001, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019/52 "2001-11-15T17:05:23Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by romansperson \*
> \*\*I’d read if I were given the chance. In our house, the dogs have radar - “ooh, I can tell by the way mom/dad is walking he/she is going to take a dump! Yay! That means he/she’ll be sitting and I can stick my face right in his/hers and beg to be petted! If they try to shut the door on me I’ll whine/cry/scratch at the door and make a huge pain of myself until they open it again!”
>
> I love my dogs, but I feel like the world’s biggest idiot sitting on the pot petting a dog. \*\*
Gotta agree - the dog stays out. I read, (the room is referred to as The Library), but [there are other activities too…](http://www.seenontvmall.com/novelties/potty-putter.htm)
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### Author:  [@epolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epolo)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2001, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019/53 "2001-11-15T17:57:12Z")
## I can’t belive this got to two pages without anyone mentioning the word [excremeditation](http://www.subgenius.com/bigfist/hallscience/X0004_EXCREMED.html)
[:)](http:\ his is not a hidden message)
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### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2001, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019/54 "2001-11-15T18:15:30Z")
I didn’t start off reading while going to the bathroom, but rather going to the bathroom while reading, if you will. Bear with me.
When I was a little kid, there was a lights-out that was strictly enforced. I was a little reading demon at this time - read everything I could get my hands on, no matter how little I understood (this may explain the Scientific American books and whatnot). At any rate, in order to read at night, I’d bring my book to the bathroom and sit there reading, whether or not I was actually going.
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### Author:  [@The\_Great\_Gazoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Gazoo)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2001, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019/55 "2001-11-15T18:44:49Z")
Of course I read in the toilet. I read novels, 2 pages at a time. Sometimes the novel gets so good, I actually read it outside the toilet 🙂
The Straight Dope books ARE perfect, but I read them already.
[aside]I was reading the back of one of my generic shampoo bottles, and it says “Not manufactured or distributed by Procter & Gamble Inc.” Specifically stating NOT manufactured??? WTF? It’s also not manufactured by General Motors or Kimberly-Clark, but they didn’t put that on there. Did they lose a lawsuit? [/aside]
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2001, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019/56 "2001-11-15T19:02:29Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Mudshark \*
> What really annoys me is the people at bookstores, who read on public toilets, and then **put the books back on the shelf**
Wasn’t this a _Seinfeld_ episode? Where George took a book into the bookstore’s bathroom, is caught and thus had to buy it, and couldn’t get rid of it because everyone was able to somehow sense it had been read in the bathroom?
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### Author:  [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2001, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019/57 "2001-11-15T19:14:42Z")
**Dewey** beat me to it, but yes, that was a _Seinfeld_ ep. Every time George tried to return the book, to the original store or others, he was told that it had been flagged and he would have to leave. Good stuff.
As for myself, I only read on the toilet at work. At home, I’m usually in and out (though one of my cats comes in for a scratch, too), but at work, the process seems to take a bit longer. Perhaps it’s a sub-conscious “taking a break from work” thing, I really don’t know.
I usually find a thread with at least 30 posts, print it out and read that. ~10-pages (print, not online) seems to be just the right amount, BTW.
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### Author:  [@Kathleen\_de\_Trelare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kathleen_de_Trelare)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2001, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019/58 "2001-11-15T20:55:11Z")
You’re not supposed to read in the bathroom???
I just always assumed that it was the natural thing to do. Every single woman in my family reads in the bathroom, a lot of them never read anywhere else. None of the men do, which is why I was suprised to see that it’s thought to be a “man thing.”
For me, it’s just that I spend most of my time reading and I can’t seem to force myself to put the book down for something so trivial as having to use the toilet when I could do them both at the same time. I do almost everything while reading. I nearly always have some kind of reading material with me everywhere I go. I take books with me to the bathtub(not the shower though). I read them in the car(not when I’m driving). I’ve even been known to watch tv or listen to the radio and read at the same time.
Also, when I go home on the weekends, the bathroom is the only place where I’m not likely to be interrupted unless it’s an emergency. Ever since the door fell off my bedroom, people just walk by and interrupt me for no good reason. If there was only one or two other NORMAL people living there it wouln’t be so bad, but I just happen to have two teenage brothers still at home and a father who thinks I should be studying or doing something productive instead of reading books merely for enjoyment. Oh well, at least my mom only bothers me when she finishes her book and wants to know if I have any she hasn’t read yet.
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### Author:  [@Bedrosian\_Bixby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bedrosian_Bixby)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2001, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019/59 "2001-11-16T04:11:48Z")
I actively read three books at a time. One for work, one I carry along with me and then there’s the bathroom book. The latter being the most important. I stopped staring at the floor tiles long ago. When you push, the tiles start dancing and that can really fuck you up.
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### Author:  [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2001, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-toilet/93019/60 "2001-11-16T04:41:39Z")
Female ex-toilet reader checking in (No, it’s not just a male thing)
I was a typical 30 minutes a session person. Couldn’t go until I’d relaxed, and what’s more relaxing than a favourite novel? When camping, I can hold out for about three or four days (depending on the menu) if I have to.
I travelled through south-east Asia for 9 months, and that cured me real quickly ! Try squatting for half an hour, and if you haven’t fallen in the hole while adjusting your position, your muscles won’t physically let you stand up. Nothing is funnier than having your SO watch you half sprawl, half duck-walk out of the bathroom because you can’t stand straight ! 😃 hehehe, I’ll never forget the look on his face.
Believe me, my bum is trained to start the process rolling as soon as cheeks hit seat (or the squat muscle gets permission.) To all those struggling, unless you have a medical condition (i.e irritable bowel) it is possible to train your arse. You just need a scenario where you can lose dignity, poise and put your SO into serious damage from laughing too long 😛
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