I know what you mean...
Posted on 08/06/2012 4:07:09 PM PDT by Sir Napsalot
... Toilet paper has a history. Of course it has a history. But who thinks of it? Like George (Costanza), we take most of our technology for granted. Of course, we pay a lot of attention to certain technologies, usually the newest and most innovative. But we don't think too much about those other technologies that have become more or less part of our natural environment ....
Toilet paper, in case you're wondering, was in use in China as early as the fourteenth century and it was made in 2′ x 3′ sheets. Everywhere else, and in China before then, people made use of what their environment offered. Leaves, mussel shells, corncobs were among the more common options. The Romans (what have they ever done for us!) used a sponge attached to the end of a stick and dipped in salt water. And yes, as you may have heard, in certain cultures the left hand was employed in the task of scatological hygiene, and in these cultures the left hand retains a certain stigma to this day.
Until the late-nineteenth century, Americans opted for discarded reading material. It's not clear if this is why Americans still today often take reading material into the bathroom, or if the practice of reading on the toilet yielded a eureka moment subsequently. In any case, magazines, newspapers, and almanacs were all precursors to the toilet paper as we know it today. It has been claimed that the Sears and Roebuck catalog was also known as the "Rears and Sorebutt" catalog. The Farmer's Almanac even came with a hole punched in it so that it could be hung and the pages torn off with ease.
....
(Excerpt) Read more at gizmodo.com ...
Surely Sheryl Crow has perfected the 1 square method by now.
George was wrong;they got rid of the roll.
George was wrong;they got rid of the roll.
no
And remember that the next time you watch a medieval movie where the hero chats up the leading lady as she’s troweling moss off of a rock. It went into those pouches on their belts and they weren’t collecting it to cook with.
>>> I thought it ended too abruptly.
Most articles should be like this - short, (smart), makes the point, and fun to read.
A buddy of mine was engaged to a French babe. The engagement was broken off because he wouldn’t use the bidet after crapping.
We figured in the cultures where showers are not a daily thing, washing your arse (Pablo?) is considered polite.
“Lol! I leave you all with this link that I picked up from a fellow Freeper.
http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000348.html";
I have used a hole in the floor like that, in Italy. However, the writer left out another problem I had - the light was on a timer and it couldn’t be reached from the hole in the floor toilet. Before I went in, the person before me warned me the light was on a timer so don’t take long over the hole or I would be in pitch black, not able to see anything. Thank goodness I didn’t have to do “No. 2” so got out before the light went off.
I traveled around the world a good bit, and I kept a collection of toilet paper because it was so gross in every country but ours. After my first trip trying to use bad paper, I carried a roll of US toilet paper in my bag.
Yeah, no kidding, Switzerland.
You don’t know how to use the three seashells??
Seriously, last year, we sprung for a bidet.
Warm seat in the winter, warm water, no more ‘post shower sh—’ issues, no more hemorrhoids or other discomforts, ...
I will never go back and I don’t know why everyone isn’t doing this. It’s about $500 on Amazon and worth every penny. We’re buying one for a relative for the holidays.
Sheryl Crow figured out how to use only one sheet of TP per trip to the loo. Poke you finger through the center of a square, wipe, then clean the finger...
If I ever leave Thailand and move back to North America one thing I would really miss is the sprayer attached to every toilet where there is running water.
Wiping instead of or without washing now seems somewhat disgusting - same as if it was hands that were dirty, not bums. Who would be comfortable wiping feces or urine off one’s hands without the opportunity of washing first?
Eastern Europe (and elsewhere in Europe?) they still use tree bark and other coarser wood materials for TP. Best to bring your own favorite.
Unnngh!
Dried corncobs was for the rough times, Sears and Roebuck catalog was for the good times.
When down on the creek, stay away from Saw grass.
Nope, corncobs.
As I remember, the only pages in the S&R catalogs that weren’t shiny were the ones in the index.
Hey, cool!
Chaucer!
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