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Which is the best way to hang toilet paper?

 
town drunk
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I'm partial to the leaf-out theory, with the curl facing the wall, which allows quick access, yet presents a comforting, shell like visual structure.
 
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Aesthetically speaking, i think it should hang in the back. that way you are less likely to see the leaf hanging down. plus, my cats are less likely to be able to unroll it, assuming there's nothing for them to grab.

for personal use, i find it easier for the leaf to be in front.

Honestly, i happy when it's on the spindle at all, as opposed to in the closet down the hall....
 
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I prefer "over the top" - but the problem is if your cat goes on a tear, "over the top" is vulnerable to cat vandalism.
 
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My second year in grad school I shared a four-man apartment in an on-campus grad-student high-rise. Three of us were friends, but there was this one guy who we didn't get along with. He was constantly lecturing the rest of us regarding things we should be doing to keep the apartment clean and tidy. Putting the toilet paper on a certain way was one of those things. He'd actually follow you down the hall, shaking his finger, saying "THE TOILET PAPER WAS UPSIDE DOWN AGAIN!!!"

Another thing I remember was that he kept two sponges by the kitchen sink. In his own words "one for soap, one no soap." He's always be reminding us not to get soap on his no-soap sponge (so of course, we'd squirt dish soap onto it every time we went into the kitchen.)

One Saturday night, the three of us had what in my memory was the greatest party ever. We had over a hundred people in that little apartment, while the sponge guy sat in his room glowering the whole time. The campus police eventually broke it up. Anyway, somehow, during the party, some people got the idea that our little friend ought to move out, and to help him, they started throwing things that belonged to him out the 18th floor window. There were a few chairs of his and a potted rubber tree, I recall, that hit terminal velocity and atomized near the tennis courts below.

I woke up slumped over the couch about noon the next day. Next to my face was an itemized bill, the amount totalled and divided by three.
 
Max Habibi
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One Saturday night, the three of us had what in my memory was the greatest party ever. We had over a hundred people in that little apartment, while the sponge guy sat in his room glowering the whole time.

Um, I think I was at that party. Were you the guy with the umbrella hat, trying to write Bernoulli's equation on any and all exposed female anatomy?
 
Ernest Friedman-Hill
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Originally posted by Max Habibi:
Were you the guy...



My attorney advises me not to answer that question.

The other thing I remember from this party: see, one of the other guys who lived in this apartment kept Kosher, and he had this enormous piece of Kosher beef brisket in the freezer, like a three pound steak, basically. So sometime past midnight, this one guest decides he's rather hungry, so he starts digging through the freezer and finds this giant steak. He decides he's going to cook it in the microwave (you can imagine what a success that enterprise was.) So after, oh, 20 minutes in the micro, he takes this partly forzen, partly incinerated piece of meat off into a quiet corner to eat. Apparently his quiet corner was near the bathroom, because when the steak turned out not to taste so good, he decided to use the nearest semi-fluid substance at hand as a condiment: he sprayed it with shaving cream and then tried eating it again (did I mention there was a certain amount of beer served at this party?)

So after I woke up and got my bill, I staggered into the bathroom and found this guy passed out on the floor. And there I saw that there was 2 1/2 pounds of raw steak floating in a mountain of shaving cream in the bathtub.

Did I mention that the sponge guy moved out?
 
Max Habibi
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Ernest, it sounds like we could've hung in college. Did I mention that I once ran 5 miles @ midnight wearing tennis shoes?
 
Ernest Friedman-Hill
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Gotta protect those feet.
 
Max Habibi
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Did I mention that's all I was wearing, and everyone in my fraternity was huddled around the track, yelling, screaming, and losing the bet?

M
 
Ernest Friedman-Hill
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Did I mention that my last response was an attempt at subtly acknowledging that I guessed as much, without forcing you to reveal the sordid truth?
 
Max Habibi
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Doh!

Did I mention that I won the bet while simultaneously convincing the girl who is now my wife to never, ever, speak to me?
[ June 25, 2004: Message edited by: Max Habibi ]
 
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Passing that image by, looking the other way and whistling; I'll vote for leaf-out too.

We have tiles on the bathroom wall now, but a while back I lived somewhere with wallpaper - and the free end of the roll was usually against the wall. After a while, I noticed a growing "smudge" on the wall, where hurried, hasty hands had bumped while reaching for the paper.

Keep the free end out in free space, and keep that whatever-it-was :roll: off the wall.

Thank you. Please wash your hands.
 
Max Habibi
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Originally posted by Frank Carver:
I noticed a growing "smudge" on the wall...



I find this so much more disturbing....
 
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Originally posted by Frank Carver:
where hurried, hasty hands had bumped while reaching for the paper.



I first read this as

where hurried, nasty hands had bumped while reaching for the paper.


Same idea, I guess.

On the main point of the thread... I once read that the "proper" way was leaf-out. The proof being that the TP with pictures printed on it (remember that? back before it was considered to be unhealthy to have ink on the TP...) were only printed on the one side, so leaf-out would show the pretty print. TMI, I know!

My favorite bathroom quote:

We aim to please. You aim too, please!


[ June 25, 2004: Message edited by: Elaine Micheals ]
 
Max Habibi
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My favorite bathroom quote:

My favorite

first guyI F***ed your mother last night!
second guyGo home Dad. You're drunk.
 
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Never understood why some hang the roll on the back of the door too far away.
A measure for saving on toilet paper when "spending a penny"?

Two holders side by side means you then have two rolls finishing at the same time. The trick is to make another roll available but make sure no one can access it until the first is empty.
[ June 25, 2004: Message edited by: Helen Thomas ]
 
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Just read a birthday wish on the Interent.

"Let your life be like a toilet paper...! I mean so long and so useful!"
 
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I prefer "over the top" - but the problem is if your cat goes on a tear, "over the top" is vulnerable to cat vandalism.

If your cat is resourceful enough, it doesn't matter.
 
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Leaf against the wall was how I was brought up and seeing it the other way round used to really disturb me!

When I shared a house with couple of friends in Cambridge, I'd notice when the paper had been turned leaf out even though I remembered refilling it leaf in. So I turned it back. Each day it would get switched and I'd switch it back, yet nobody said anything for months. Quite funny really, but eventually I broke the silence and my friend said she did it (the other guy didn't care, probably used his sleeves anyway). When I asked her why, she said her long nails sometimes catch the paintwork and she hates that. My excuse was that I was brought up that way (and she didn't like my 'joke' about using the nail clippers) so she won for having a sound practical reason. Now I always go leaf out.

Ho, hum ... anyone here fold the loose end into a little 'v' like in hotels?
 
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Every time after using it?
 
Richard Hawkes
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Well, not necessarily everytime, although I'm sure that, somewhere, someone does that.
 
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I was particularly impressed by a bit of bathroom grafitti that read:-

"668 the neighbour of the beast"



I'm a leaf out man. Can't bear to think of all those unwashed hands that have "smudged" the wall.

This theme reminds of a news story from a few years back when an American brand of loo roll was introduced into Europe. It was (I believe) slightly thicker than its Eurpoean competitors and sales were good in America with no recorded problems. In Europe this particular brand led to clogging and blocking of toilets.

Reason: Apparently research found that Europeans tend to carefully fold 2 or more sheets before wiping whereas Americans prefer to grab fewer sheets, roll them in a ball and rub it around the offending orifice.

Brings a whole new angle to all these Europe v America threads that keep rolling around MD.

Wish I could substantiate this with a link to the relevant articles. Perhaps someone else remembers this "news" item and could give me a (nicely washed) hand?

God bless America

Steven
 
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Originally posted by Jim Yingst:
I prefer "over the top" - but the problem is if your cat goes on a tear, "over the top" is vulnerable to cat vandalism.

If your cat is resourceful enough, it doesn't matter.



A few years ago when I got my cat, I'd come home and the bathroom would be full of toilet paper, and he'd be happily sitting in the middle tearing it to shreads. So -- I started hanging it upside down -- and for a few days it worked. Then he learned if he laid on the toilet, he could smack it and the toilet paper would fly again. Thank god he quickly grew out of that phase!!
 
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Well there is a toilet museum ( I think it is in Calcutta) with original Thomas Crapper articles and others predating his invention. which closely resembles the modern loo.

Read about the museum somewhere. A museum about loo rolls would be nice. Just hope it doesn't make it into art nouveau remembering what was on Tracey Ermin's "Unmade Bed".

A History of Toilets

BC 2500: In Mohenjo - daro, there existed highly developed drainage system where waste water from each house flowed into the main drain.

Did the sewage fumes kill the city off? London nearly perished in the late 1800's due to a foul Thames which forced them to start plans to clean the system up ( A BBC TV series will be screened soon). No sewage drains, just flowed into the river. And 100 years later they think they may be succeeding.

The knights of yesterday
Shed their load
By the side of the road
And went contentedly on their way
[ June 28, 2004: Message edited by: Helen Thomas ]
 
Gail Schlentz
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Originally posted by Richard Hawkes:

Ho, hum ... anyone here fold the loose end into a little 'v' like in hotels?


I used to think that was cool to see at hotels, 'til I thought about it & realized that the person who just cleaned the toilet had their hands all over the paper that I was about to use...
 
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Originally posted by Ernest Friedman-Hill:

One Saturday night, the three of us had what in my memory was the greatest party ever. We had over a hundred people in that little apartment, while the sponge guy sat in his room glowering the whole time. The campus police eventually broke it up. Anyway, somehow, during the party, some people got the idea that our little friend ought to move out, and to help him, they started throwing things that belonged to him out the 18th floor window. There were a few chairs of his and a potted rubber tree, I recall, that hit terminal velocity and atomized near the tennis courts below.

I woke up slumped over the couch about noon the next day. Next to my face was an itemized bill, the amount totalled and divided by three.



This story sounds familiar somehow...

In defense of weenies, sometimes the partying can get a bit out of hand. My sophomore year I lived in a dorm where there was a little disagreement on house rules. The inmates of one room had a powerful stereo and liked to use it at unusual times. Like after 1 AM study nights and going to 4 or later on Sunday morning. The guys in the rooms around thought this was a bit much (these guys slept in while I had a job starting 6 AM). So we had the usual debates with the usual arguments. Once I helped lean a LARGE trashcan 2/3-full of water against their door while another guy rang their bell. It was beautiful!

The problem finally ended one night just before exams when they left the room (door wide open) with Ted Nugent's 'Big Ten Inch Record' going on full-blast. I think the stereo asked to take the big dive so three of us obliged. 5 stories onto a concrete parking deck. The next day they asked where the noisemaker went but nobody knew. I'm not sure they ever figured it out (the cleaning staff must have got there before anyone looked out the window).
[ June 28, 2004: Message edited by: Don Stadler ]
 
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Originally posted by Richard Hawkes:
Leaf against the wall was how I was brought up and seeing it the other way round used to really disturb me!

<....>

Ho, hum ... anyone here fold the loose end into a little 'v' like in hotels?



How do I phrase this? Have you ever personal belongings out the window? :roll:
 
Richard Hawkes
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Originally posted by Steven Hoodless:
... whereas Americans prefer to grab fewer sheets, roll them in a ball and rub it around the offending orifice.

That's how I used to do it as a kid. I don't remember when or why I started to fold. Probably a repressed memory!
 
Richard Hawkes
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Originally posted by Don Stadler:
How do I phrase this? Have you ever personal belongings out the window? :roll:

Have I thrown stuff out or had my stuff thrown out? Only thing I have to throw out the window is used toilet paper because it keeps blocking the toilet.
 
Richard Hawkes
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Originally posted by Ernest Friedman-Hill:
... they started throwing things that belonged to him out the 18th floor window. There were a few chairs of his and a potted rubber tree, I recall, that hit terminal velocity and atomized near the tennis courts below.

Sounds like the beginning to "Dead Air" by Iain Banks. Maybe he was there.
 
Mapraputa Is
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I just learnt that throwing things or persons out of windows is called "defenestration" (http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=defenestration). I like its "transfenestration" sibling better, though, which means the same process, only a window is closed. The origins of the term lie In Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland, where "the character Zoyd Wheeler specializes in transfenestration--throwing himself through windows."
[ July 21, 2004: Message edited by: Mapraputa Is ]
 
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Originally posted by Jessica Sant:

So -- I started hanging it upside down -- and for a few days it worked. [/i]



the toilet paper, or the cat?
 
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Over the top. Gotta be. If it ain't right I'll change it! :
 
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Another way to hang it:
http://www.noveltp.com/gallery/
 
Valentin Crettaz
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Not only for what you think
 
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