One of life’s greatest debates is over. There have been a few over the years: chicken or egg first, why God invented the common fly, who invented the buffalo hot wing or key lime pie (meaning who made it first), and who put the bop in the bop do wop. But the argument over toilet paper went on for nearly 128 years, and it’s over now.
According to an Australian consumer publication called Choice, a man named Seth Wheeler received a patent on September 15, 1891 for his invention, and the illustration clearly shows the paper going over the roll facing outward.
A bunch of you are now, excuse the phrase, poo-pooing this revelation, because you believe that toilet paper should roll under, or against the wall.
The real issues come down to whether you prefer your paper to touch the wall behind it or flag about freely into the open space of your bathroom, or whether or not you have a cat who may spend several minutes unraveling it and then leave bored with you coming into a paperless bathroom situation. In desperate times, admittedly, a few wads of slightly shredded TP will do.
Like the Great Pizza Question I originally mentioned (and which came from an episode of “Garfield and Friends”), there really is no true right or wrong answer. Some situations call for toilet paper to roll one way or another, just as smart people who order pizza for a bunch of consumers vary the toppings as much as possible (except I have never had to order anchovies, for anybody, ever).
Basically, the true answer is what you were raised to do: a household with the roll over will likely have its grown children abandon the nest to make the same move in their own places, as will those who are under fans.
Our main problem is our defensiveness when somebody does something different; it doesn’t matter when the end result is the same. Two roads leading to the same destination are not a cause for battle, but we are born debaters.
Now I’d like to know why one gets on a plane instead of in a plane.
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