# Toilet paper talk



## Longtimeago (Aug 8, 2018)

So here's my question. Why does toilet paper come with little tear off squares? I mean does anyone actually just tear off one square to use at a time?


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

There was a famous female singer a few years back who was trying to get people to use only one sheet. 

As for why, some people may want 4, others 6, maybe even half a roll...it gives you options.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

Some of the big rolls that they use in airport washrooms ar with no perforations. They tear off very unevenly so I tend to take more than I need. I use 2 squares. I have no idea what other people do. Nor do I care.


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

Wonder how much we should use after reading some of the postings on this forum lately...we may be counting in rolls.


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## Mukhang pera (Feb 26, 2016)

I would have thought the perforations are not so much to permit one to tear off one or 2 squares, but to allow one to tear off a length found to be suited to the task at hand.

But then, not a topic I know much about. Don't use that stuff at home. Not since my first Asian gf many years ago, while in her country, she remarked "White people don't wash after using the toilet. They just use tissue. It's _disgusting_ honey". I converted. Acres of forest lands saved since. Well, that might be an exaggeration, but at least a few cubic meters of wood fibre saved and not flushed to god-knows-where.


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## Saniokca (Sep 5, 2009)

Mukhang pera said:


> I would have thought the perforations are not so much to permit one to tear off one or 2 squares, but to allow one to tear off a length found to be suited to the task at hand.
> 
> But then, not a topic I know much about. Don't use that stuff at home. Not since my first Asian gf many years ago, while in her country, she remarked "White people don't wash after using the toilet. They just use tissue. It's _disgusting_ honey". I converted. Acres of forest lands saved since. Well, that might be an exaggeration, but at least a few cubic meters of wood fibre saved and not flushed to god-knows-where.


So I'm guessing you got a bidet? What kind? I was thinking to get one for a while but never got around to it.


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## Mukhang pera (Feb 26, 2016)

Saniokca said:


> So I'm guessing you got a bidet? What kind? I was thinking to get one for a while but never got around to it.


Kohler.


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## Ponderling (Mar 1, 2013)

I buy all gas, and use CTC MasterCard for most purchases - and that throws off CTC money.

When toilet paper goes on sale there, we use the CTC money to buy it, paper towels, laundry detergent, dish detergent, etc. I.e. things the household uses, basically for free.

Then we worry about how much gets used.


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## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

Ponderling said:


> I buy all gas, and use CTC MasterCard for most purchases - and that throws off CTC money.
> 
> When toilet paper goes on sale there, we use the CTC money to buy it, paper towels, laundry detergent, dish detergent, etc. I.e. things the household uses, basically for free.
> 
> Then we worry about how much gets used.


....whew!!....for a while there, I thought that post was heading in another direction!!.....


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## Longtimeago (Aug 8, 2018)

Mukhang pera said:


> I would have thought the perforations are not so much to permit one to tear off one or 2 squares, but to allow one to tear off a length found to be suited to the task at hand.
> 
> But then, not a topic I know much about. Don't use that stuff at home. Not since my first Asian gf many years ago, while in her country, she remarked "White people don't wash after using the toilet. They just use tissue. It's _disgusting_ honey". I converted. Acres of forest lands saved since. Well, that might be an exaggeration, but at least a few cubic meters of wood fibre saved and not flushed to god-knows-where.


I remember the first time I was confronted with a 'squat' toilet. It was in Turkey. No toilet seat, no paper, just a water tap about 12 inches above the floor. Squat, do what you need to do, wipe your butt with your hand and water, then use the water to wash your hand. Thus the relatively well known custom of only ever eating with your 'non-toilet' hand in many countries. The thing is, I couldn't figure out how you were supposed to dry your hand after washing it under the tap. Looking online, all I see is advice to bring your own paper to dry your hand. Too late to think of that if you got caught short in a restaurant or somewhere and didn't have paper with you. Just have to let your hand air dry.
https://www.wikihow.com/Use-an-Indian-Bathroom

While living in Greece, the norm was a 'western' sit down toilet but no one (except tourists) put toilet paper down the toilet. Toilet paper was used but it went into a waste basket beside the toilet. The reason for this was that most Greek plumbing is undersized and easily clog up if even toilet paper is flushed down. It took a while to get used to having a malodorous basket of used toilet paper there whenever you sat down on a toilet.

I take exception though to your ex gf saying 'white people don't wash after using the toilet.' As far as I know, most people do indeed wash their hands after using a toilet. I certainly do and with a wife who is an ex nurse, I know I would hear all kinds of abuse if I did not.


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## like_to_retire (Oct 9, 2016)

Longtimeago said:


> I take exception though to your ex gf saying 'white people don't wash after using the toilet.' As far as I know, most people do indeed wash their hands after using a toilet.


It wasn't their hands the ex gf was referring to.

ltr


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## Userkare (Nov 17, 2014)

Longtimeago said:


> The reason for this was that most Greek plumbing is undersized and easily clog up if even toilet paper is flushed down.


In my 20's, I had a buddy who would always clog the toilet in my house, even though we had 3" waste pipe. He would flush down huge wads of paper every time he used the can. I think he was terrified by the thought of getting a molecule of his own poo on his finger - yet didn't understand why I didn't want his big Great Dane sitting on my fabric couches with its bare ***.

As for the T.P. perforations, I agree with Mukhang pera that it allows the user to select the appropriate size to fit the current requirements.


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## Mukhang pera (Feb 26, 2016)

like_to_retire said:


> It wasn't their hands the ex gf was referring to.
> 
> ltr


Thanks ltr, I did not think I needed explain further.


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## like_to_retire (Oct 9, 2016)

Mukhang pera said:


> Thanks ltr, I did not think I needed explain further.


Yeah, seriously...............

ltr


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## Longtimeago (Aug 8, 2018)

Mukhang pera said:


> Thanks ltr, I did not think I needed explain further.


OK, my bad. I did not read carefully enough and assumed it was referring to hands. Maybe it was because a joke came instantly to mind.

Two guys work for competing companies and occasionally run into each other at conventions, trade shows, etc. When they do, the one guy is always trying to get 'one up' on the other guy. So it happens one day that they are both using urinals in the same washroom. One finishes and starts to walk out the door. The other calls out, 'hey, where I come from, we were taught to wash our hands after using the washroom.' Got him! Umm, wait, the other one responds, 'really? Where I come from we were taught not to pee on our hands.'


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

A man walks into a bar for a few beers.

After a while he decides he needs to relieve himself.

On his way out, he’s confronted by three rather large guys...

“In the marines”, one of them says, “we were taught to wash our hands after using the latrine.”

Me man looks and the three...

“Well”, he says, “I’m from Canada and we were taught not to piss on our fingers.”


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## Longtimeago (Aug 8, 2018)

One Up jokes are an entire genre of their own Just a Guy.

Two guys happen to be on vacation in a small Mexican town at the same time. They have a history of trying to 'one up' each other. 

One day, the first guy is walking down the dirt main street and sees this little boy playing in the street. He appears to be sculpting something. On closer inspection it becomes clear he is sculpting something out of horse manure. The first guy who is from BC thinks, 'oh, that's gross' and asks the boy what he is sculpting. The boy answers, 'I'm making an Ontario man'. So naturally, the BC guy immediately thinks, 'ah, I can use this'. 

So he waits till he sees his Ontario 'one up' rival coming down the street. He points out the boy and his activity to the Ontario guy and says to him, 'he's sculpting using horse manure.' The Ontario guy says, 'oh that's gross, what's he making.' The BC guy says, 'why don't you ask him.' The Ontario guy asks and gets the answer, 'I'm making an Ontario man.' 

The BC guy starts laughing. The Ontario guy looks at the BC guy, looks at the boy and then asks the boy, 'why?' The boy answers, 'not enough **** to make a BC man.'

I should add in the interest of gender equality that it was not enough **** to make a BC woman either.


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

You know, when we had our first child, we did the maternity classes. After our first child was born, we ran into one of our classmates who complained how hard it was to keep everything so sterile around her new child. We heard of people feeding their kids dirt pills to “expose” them to nature...

You see a lot of hypochondria out there, kids carrying eppie-pens, schools banning all nuts (because some parents don’t know what a real severe allergic reaction is as opposed to a sensitivity or less), we can’t have drawstring...it’s just some pea derivatives which formerly would have been nuts. 

My kids always played in the mud, our house was far from sterile, my oldest was at a horse show at less than a week and probably exposed to horse poo...and, as I said in another thread, I’ve got two teen which we don’t know if they are allergic to penicillin because they’ve never been exposed, of the other two, one had it once for an ear infection and the other only had it as a precaution. One of my kids has a moderate-severe reaction to bees, yet we have bee-hives. She was raised to be aware, but still works with them and always wears the correct gear. They like the fresh honey, and there really is only one way to get that, even though there are risks involved.

Well, after that pointless ramble, and in keeping with the jokes, we all know Sags can produce enough poo to cover statues of anything...it’s an unlimited supply.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

Longtimeago said:


> OK, my bad. I did not read carefully enough and assumed it was referring to hands. Maybe it was because a joke came instantly to mind.
> 
> Two guys work for competing companies and occasionally run into each other at conventions, trade shows, etc. When they do, the one guy is always trying to get 'one up' on the other guy. So it happens one day that they are both using urinals in the same washroom. One finishes and starts to walk out the door. The other calls out, 'hey, where I come from, we were taught to wash our hands after using the washroom.' Got him! Umm, wait, the other one responds, 'really? Where I come from we were taught not to pee on our hands.'


Not to miss the joke, but urine is sterile, and penises are not. I look at handwashing as a good idea as it means you are regularly cleaning your hands of anything you may have touched (doors, surfaces, etc.). Good idea in cold/flu season!


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

duplicate


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

andrewf said:


> Not to miss the joke, but urine is sterile, and penises are not...


Speaking for yourself of course.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

I remember as a kid that other kids would try to claim they got an STD from the toilet seat. I am much more concerned with the trays on a plane than the toilet seats. My main concern is when I enter the plane toilet, if the seat is up then the previous occupant flushed with the seat up coating everything with a film. See toilet plume!


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## dBII (Mar 12, 2013)

Just wanted to pipe in and add, if you are on a septic system, don't use Kirkland brand TP. The stuff is indestructible and you will be pumping your tank way more often.

Personally, as the result of my last $400 pump, I decided to start using a small trash can for TP, just like many other less civilized countries. I put a liner in and the lid pops open with my foot. No smell, no hassle and my future pumping schedule can be doubled.


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## Longtimeago (Aug 8, 2018)

dBII said:


> Just wanted to pipe in and add, if you are on a septic system, don't use Kirkland brand TP. The stuff is indestructible and you will be pumping your tank way more often.
> 
> Personally, as the result of my last $400 pump, I decided to start using a small trash can for TP, just like many other less civilized countries. I put a liner in and the lid pops open with my foot. No smell, no hassle and my future pumping schedule can be doubled.


Yes, discarding used toilet paper in a trash can is common in many countries as you say dBII but not generally because of decomposition as I understand it. More to do with the too small size of the piping used and their being that much easier to clog up.

We are on a septic tank and have no problem with standard toilet paper. I don't know what Kirkland brand is, my wife buys the usual brands just depending on which brand is on sale that day kinda thing. We are only a family of 2 in the house and have the tank pumped once every 5 years with no problems. We only have it pumped that often to satisfy my wife's fear of having an overflow one day. Our neighbours to one side once admitted they had never had their septic system pumped at all! I guess in theory if the septic system is working properly, producing the right enzymes, is sized right, has the right amount of leaching pipes leading off it, etc. it should never have to be pumped. 

Our pump out by the way is $200 in rural southwestern Ontario.


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

Kirkland is costco’s Brand. Never had an issue with it i our septic system.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

A properly functioning septic system can go for a long time without being pumped. My parents' business (which they owned for 20 years) had a septic system. 10 employees worth of toilet use (obviously no showers/etc.) for that time, and never an issue. They didn't even crack the lid to the septic system until they sold the property (inspection was required by the purchaser's mortgage provider). Inspection revealed it was fine. Pumped it while it was open, but it was not in apparent need of it.

I think people run into problems when they get a bit too bleach/ammonia happy and dump it down the drain, killing the bacteria in the system. Of if they have a big party and have 40 people flushing toilets. I don't think TP is an issue. Just try wetting some (clean) TP in your hand. It disintegrates almost immediately. Paper towels on the other hand are treated to hold their form when wetted, and are bad news for plumbing in general. Flushable wipes are not, in fact, flushable.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

We were on a septic system in Ontario and had it pumped out after 12 years from new. Probably caused by the kids parties. But definitely avoid paper towels and sanitary pads. Also some care to get it working properly again after the pump out.


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