# Toilet paper over or under? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 1, 2010, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959 "2010-05-01T13:15:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959/21 "2010-05-01T22:57:42Z")
Don’t give a crap! (using this opportunity to insert complaint about price of T.P. which has doubled, yes, doubled, where I buy such stuff. WTF. ) ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959/22 "2010-05-01T23:04:11Z")
I leave the roll perched vertically on top of the dispenser. Manipulating the roll with both hands is much more efficient than pawing at it. I think I picked up this habit from a few months spent living in a place where the dispenser was mounted in an extremely awkward position to reach. ---
**Author:** ![FrancisCastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b4bc9f/32.png) [@FrancisCastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrancisCastle)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959/23 "2010-05-02T00:11:53Z")
Over if someone actually replaces the roll. However, in my house, it’s a miracle if someone even sets a new roll out after using the last of the TP… ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959/24 "2010-05-02T00:15:08Z")
Over, because it matters to my spouse and I don’t give a damn. Complying with his preference in this matter contributes significantly to family harmony, making it well worth the minuscule effort to hang it over when it’s my turn to put a new roll on. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959/25 "2010-05-02T00:16:42Z")
Over. I will excuse under _if_ there is an animal who will take advantage. My cat, however, shows no interest in the TP. Over is the way to go. I don’t want paper touching my bum that has been up against the wall…not that my wall is that bad, but it’s just…over is the only correct way to go, barring critters! And I am most definitely female, in case anybody’s tracking that. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959/26 "2010-05-02T02:08:17Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I’m the only one to vote “don’t care” so far? > > I had no idea anyone really cared. You and my mother. She just put the roll in however she happened to be holding it. And if it was “under,” I’d go and change it to “over.” I once asked her whether she had noticed that I sometimes changed the way it hung, and she couldn’t grasp what I was talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959/27 "2010-05-02T03:25:43Z")
I prefer over, and my wife prefers under. Yet another data point in the War of the Sexes. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959/28 "2010-05-02T03:35:19Z")
Over. Period. [Cottonelle](http://www.cottonellerollpoll.com/#/voting-results) just did this poll. Across America, 78% preferred “over”. For once I’m in the majority! It feels good! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959/29 "2010-05-02T03:36:56Z")
Wow. I had no idea that as an “under” I would be in such a tiny minority. If it’s under it tears more easily with one hand; when it’s over it tends to keep spinning and dispensing. I’m not one of those people who gets all OCD about it; I won’t reverse it if someone else installed it over, but I always install it under. However apparently my fiance is in the minority also–especially b/c of his sex–because he also installs it under. Which I never noticed (do you ever feel like you’re the only one who ever replaces the roll?) until it came up in convo the other day. I’ve been known to be horribly lazy and just leave it on the bathroom counter, too… ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959/30 "2010-05-02T03:47:25Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > [Under-rolling is no defense](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbRljNwZ7yU&NR=1) 1. they’re kittens, and have too much mischief to be deterred by human actions 2) at least two of the kittens show Siamese heritage, which makes them obnoxiously clever (the other two might have the same or different father) 3) I wouldn’t have been able to stop them from gleefully unrolling the TP either. They looked like they were having entirely too much fun. 4) They are adorable. For the record, I voted under, because our cats will bat at the roll, and then unroll it if an end comes loose. They don’t leap for the roll, as they are all grown up now. I prefer to have the paper hanging over, but I also prefer having the paper on the roll, instead of in a pile on the bathroom floor. So my PREFERENCE is over, but my PRACTICE is under. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959/31 "2010-05-02T04:08:33Z")
Over. No animals interfere with this practice. I hate going in my Dad’s bathroom. He doesn’t care one way or the other… ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959/32 "2010-05-02T06:29:41Z")
My female cat and my girlfriend’s cat couldn’t care less. My male cat is the one who matters, and there is no defense beyond keeping it away from him. He doesn’t unroll the paper at all, except by accident. He pounces on it, sinks his claws and teeth into it, until it’s a shredded mess. Unpeeling it is fun after that. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959/33 "2010-05-03T00:04:12Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Personally I think the “under” people are sick freaks. Personally, I find that comparison insulting to sick freaks. > [@salinqmind](#): > > Don’t give a crap! Well, that would certainly disqualify you from voting. ---
**Author:** ![Countrypolitan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/858c86/32.png) [@Countrypolitan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Countrypolitan)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959/34 "2010-05-03T02:44:51Z")
It would be “over”, but No. 1 kitty\* thinks any paper product is a tasty snack, and will leave bite marks in and/or unroll the roll, so it gets perched on the back of the toilet. \*who is half Siamese at least and, yes, likes to think up new ways to get into things on a daily basis. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959/35 "2010-05-03T03:03:21Z")
under because you can give a more natural upward snap that parts the sheet closest to the roll due to inertia and can do so one handed. over is a less sharp movement and so you just unroll a yard or two without parting of the sheets. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959/36 "2010-05-03T09:41:55Z")
> [@campp](#): > > If it’s over, the cat thinks it should be unrolled. If it’s under, this doesn’t happen. Under for us. > I would have posted this into the dumb pet thread, but it reeks of cute. That’s not a personal preference. It’s an adaptation to cat vandalism. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959/37 "2010-05-03T12:55:14Z")
Over first, under second. And don’t forget to flush. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959/38 "2010-05-03T13:01:55Z")
Over. Suppose with your first wipe, you get a little crap on your hand. When you reach for that second piece of toilet paper, would you rather have it hang close or far from the wall? Hanging it over maximizes the distance from the wall and minimizes the chance of you smearing poop on the wall reaching for another piece. ---
**Author:** ![perfectparanoia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a5b964/32.png) [@perfectparanoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/perfectparanoia)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959/39 "2010-05-03T14:04:27Z")
I am definitely an over. If someone puts their toilet paper under, I change it before I go. I mean, eeewww, how much poop/pee is on that wal from people grabbing the toilet paper if it is under. If it is over, you just get the toilet paper that you are about to use. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959/40 "2010-05-03T14:46:44Z")
I used to be an under. Then I had this job where I spend a year on the road, living out of a different hotel/motel every few days. And invariably, these places always had it hung to dispense over the roll. So I figured that must be the “correct” way and did it that way ever since, in case a hotel manager comes to visit and craps in our bathroom. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper-over-or-under/537959.md?page=1)