# What do you usually read while you're taking a dump?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-usually-read-while-youre-taking-a-dump/504173
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 24, 2009, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-usually-read-while-youre-taking-a-dump/504173 "2009-07-24T23:52:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-usually-read-while-youre-taking-a-dump/504173/41 "2009-07-28T14:25:40Z")
We keep the newspaper comics - the bl/wh daily ones and the color Sunday comics - in the bathroom. Sometimes you need a page or two to read, sometimes you only have time for one 3-panel Garfield strip.
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### Author:  [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-usually-read-while-youre-taking-a-dump/504173/42 "2009-07-28T16:51:05Z")
“Cote de otra charge en premier.” But only when the first roll is already done. The French is bad, but I don’t know how to add a circumflex and I’m probably mis-remembering “otra” since that’s Spanish.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-usually-read-while-youre-taking-a-dump/504173/43 "2009-07-28T16:53:42Z")
I have crossword puzzle books in each of my upstairs bathrooms and a Sudoku book in my powder room downstairs.
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### Author:  [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-usually-read-while-youre-taking-a-dump/504173/44 "2009-07-28T16:55:06Z")
Sometimes I play Pocket God on the iphone, but usually I read a days worth of FML’s or check the news on it.
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### Author:  [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-usually-read-while-youre-taking-a-dump/504173/45 "2009-07-28T17:38:13Z")
Wikipedia. My Blackberry has been a godsend. No more browsing the bookshelf prior to the deed.
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### Author:  [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-usually-read-while-youre-taking-a-dump/504173/46 "2009-07-28T17:44:01Z")
re: the solitariness
I’ve been known to finsh up the necessary paperwork, wash, dress, close the lid, and resume reading.
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### Author:  [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-usually-read-while-youre-taking-a-dump/504173/47 "2009-07-28T22:20:08Z")
Lately I’ve been playing \*Cooking Mama \*on my Nintendo DSi. Each recipe is pretty short, so they can be tailored to the necessary time–from a minute or two to…well…longer. Other than that, it varies–anything that happens to be within reach at the time.
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### Author:  [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-usually-read-while-youre-taking-a-dump/504173/48 "2009-09-09T02:57:41Z")
I apologize if this is a semi-hijack of this thread.
I was in the library sitting at a table doing research with my IPOD on earbuds in; a man came walking from behind and to my right. He was walking rapidly on a diagonal across the library in the direction of the front door. He said, “Oh my God I have to go to the bathroom.” He did not scream it but he said it loud enough for me to hear it over the music coming out of the earbuds. So I thought he was making a bee-line for the restroom. (Same direction as the front door.) Oh contrare. He made a bee-line for THE NEWSPAPER STAND! And, not finding what he wanted said even louder to the librarian “do you have todays Courant?” (the local paper) She handed him the paper and then he made a bee-line to the bathroom. This called to mind where I used to work. All the men there took turns with the paper and the pottie. I remember a man who would stand up, I am certain at the same time each day, ceremoniously place the paper under his arm and walk into the mens room as if he were going off to battle. After thinking on this for a while I do remember my first X-spouse also did this (paper in bathroom, no under arm ceremony.)
So here is my question . . .
What did the cave men do? Do you think that is why there are cave painting?
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### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2009, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-usually-read-while-youre-taking-a-dump/504173/49 "2009-09-09T03:03:04Z")
Did the paper get thrown out after?
Reminds me of “Seinfeld.” “That book’s been in the bathroom.”
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### Author:  [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2009, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-usually-read-while-youre-taking-a-dump/504173/50 "2009-09-09T03:05:48Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#):
>
> Did the paper get thrown out after?
>
> Reminds me of “Seinfeld.” “That book’s been in the bathroom.”
Dunno, I left right after that; I could not stop laughing.
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### Author:  [@JuliaSqueezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JuliaSqueezer)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-usually-read-while-youre-taking-a-dump/504173/51 "2009-09-09T16:06:18Z")
Catalogs. Mainly the smallish ones from Vermont Country Store, Lands End, Williams Sonoma, etc.
Sometimes I read Time or Newsweek, but mostly catalogs. Not that it ever results in my actually buying anything, but it’s mindless entertainment.
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-usually-read-while-youre-taking-a-dump/504173/52 "2009-09-09T16:34:01Z")
The whole process is too fast to need reading material. If it gets to the point where I might need something, either I’ve really screwed up my eating habits lately or I am being pretty ill and in no mood to read.
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### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-usually-read-while-youre-taking-a-dump/504173/53 "2009-09-09T19:38:57Z")
I don’t take anything in with me except the occasional snack.
Just kidding, I don’t take anything in and I concentrate on the business at hand.
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### Author:  [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-usually-read-while-youre-taking-a-dump/504173/54 "2009-09-09T21:17:59Z")
I’ll either read a magazine, book, or bring in my Nintendo DS
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### Author:  [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2009, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-usually-read-while-youre-taking-a-dump/504173/55 "2009-09-10T06:41:44Z")
> [@panache45](#):
>
> My book of N. Y. Times crosswords. They cause me to sit there way longer than I need to.
I consider that a positive. I usually whip out my iPhone and boot up my crossword app or send off a text message or two. Staying entertained means I don’t feel rushed.
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### Author:  [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-usually-read-while-youre-taking-a-dump/504173/56 "2009-09-10T15:28:44Z")
Mail that isn’t bills. Bills go straight to “pay”. Everything else goes to a reserved place in the bathroom to be read and sorted as appropriate. Since much of the mail I get today is total crap, it just seemed the right way to handle it.
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### Author:  [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-usually-read-while-youre-taking-a-dump/504173/57 "2009-09-10T17:42:15Z")
Role-playing game supplements. I find it’s simple to refresh my knowledge of a rule-set or a bit of ‘world’-trivia in the time I’m in there. If I bring something more complex, I’ll often get too involved reading it, and I’ll soon find out I’ve been in the bathroom for several hours (yes, I’m looking at -you-, too-complete-book-of-american-indian-mythology! I swear, it’s like TVtropes for mythology geeks!)
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