Random Facts About Toilet Paper: How much do you really know?
Toilet paper, so simple.... We use it everyday and without it we find ourselves in a very awkward messy situation. It's the one thing most people can not do with out. Yet for something so important to us these days, how much do we really know about it? What did people use before it was invented? Well get ready, I am about to answer those questions.
Random Facts:
- Did you know that on Average consumers use almost 9 sheets of toilet paper per trip to the bathroom? That's a total of close to 60 sheets a day and over 20,000 sheets a year.
- In America, we use 50% more toilet paper than other Western nations or Japan.
- Studies suggest that hanging toilet paper in the “overhand” method reduces usage compared to the “underneath” manner.
What did people use before toilet paper?
Middle Ages – hay-balls, a scraper/gompf stick kept in a container in the privy
Hawaiians – coconut shells
India – your left hand and water
United States – Corn cobs, Sears Roebuck catalogs,shells, newspapers, leaves, and sand
Public Restrooms in Ancient Rome- A sponge soaked in salt water, on the end of a stick
Eskimos – snow and Tundra moss
Viking Age- discarded sheep and lambs wool
Sailors from Spain/Portugal – frayed end of an old anchor line
Imagine using rope, corn cobs, shells and snow on your private parts? I will never take toilet paper for granted again...
Other "fancy" terms for the restroom throughout history.
The Ancient Israelite - “House of Honor”
Ancient Europe- Room 100
Ancient Egyptians- “House of the Morning”
Other random names:
-The “garderobe”/ Cloak Room
-The the necessarium, the necessary house
-The reredorter (literally, “the room at the back of the dormitory”
-The Jakes
-The Loo
-The John
-The Water Closet
- The Privy
- The Closet of Ease
-The Lavatory
-The Throne
Next time I am around my friends, I do believe I am going to Excuse myself from the group and say " I will be right back, I need to visit the Closet of Ease...."