Toilet paper orientation

Toilet paper has two possible orientations when the roll is parallel to both the wall and the floor: The toilet paper may hang over (in front of) or under (behind) the roll.

Toilet Paper Orientation
The over orientation
The under orientation

Some people hold strong opinions about which is better. Advice columnist Ann Landers said that the subject was the most controversial issue in her column's history and, at 15,000 letters in 1986, provoked the highest number of responses. Defenders of either position cite advantages ranging from aesthetics, hospitality, and cleanliness to paper conservation, ease of detaching sheets, and compatibility with pets. Some writers have proposed connections to age, sex, or political philosophy, and survey evidence has shown a correlation with socioeconomic status.[1]

Solutions where the views of household members differ include using separate dispensers or separate bathrooms and ignoring the issue. One man advocates a plan under which his country will standardize on a single forced orientation, and at least one inventor hopes to popularize a new kind of toilet roll holder which swivels from one orientation to the other.[2]

Context and relevance

In the article "Bathroom Politics: Introducing Students to Sociological Thinking from the Bottom Up",[3] Eastern Institute of Technology sociology professor Edgar Alan Burns describes some reasons toilet paper politics is worthy of examination. On the first day of Burns' introductory course in sociology, he asks his students, "Which way do you think a roll of toilet paper should hang?"[4] In the following fifty minutes, the students examine why they picked their answers, exploring the social construction of "rules and practices which they have never consciously thought about before".[5]

Burns' activity has been adopted by a social psychology course at the University of Notre Dame, where it is used to illustrate the principles of Berger and Luckmann's 1966 classic The Social Construction of Reality.[6]

Christopher Peterson, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, classifies the choice of toilet paper orientation under "tastes, preferences, and interests" as opposed to either values or "attitudes, traits, norms, and needs". Other personal interests include one's favorite cola or baseball team. Interests are an important part of identity; one expects and prefers that different people have different interests, which serves one's "sense of uniqueness". Differences in interests usually lead at most to teasing and gentle chiding. For most people, interests do not cause the serious divisions caused by conflicts of values; a possible exception is what Peterson calls "the 'get a life' folks among us" who elevate interests into moral issues.[7]

Morton Ann Gernsbacher, a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, compares the orientation of toilet paper to the orientation of cutlery in a dishwasher, the choice of which drawer in a chest of drawers to place one's socks, and the order of shampooing one's hair and lathering one's body in the shower. In each choice, there is a prototypical solution chosen by the majority, and it is tempting to offer simplistic explanations of how the minority must be different. She warns that neuroimaging experiments—which as of 2007 were beginning to probe behaviors from mental rotation and facial expressions to grocery shopping and tickling—must strive to avoid such cultural bias and stereotypes.[8]

In his book Conversational Capital, Bertrand Cesvet gives toilet paper placement as an example of ritualized behavior—one of the ways designers and marketers can create a memorable experience around a product that leads to word-of-mouth momentum. Cesvet's other examples include shaking a box of Tic Tacs and dissecting Oreo cookies.[9]

Broadcaster Jim Bohannon has said that such issues are good for talk radio: "It is an interactive medium, a certain kind of clash, it doesn't have to be a violent clash, but at least a disagreement would certainly be at the top of the list. It has to be something that's of general interest."[10]

Arguments
Folded and sealed toilet paper with cover, Hotel Monasterio 2009
Paper mounted under with upside-down images and text

The main reasons given by people to explain why they hang their toilet paper a given way are ease of grabbing and habit.[11] Some particular advantages cited for each orientation include:

  • Over reduces the risk of accidentally brushing the wall or cabinet with one's knuckles, potentially transferring grime and germs.[12]
  • Over makes it easier to visually locate and to grasp the loose end.[13]
  • Over gives hotels, cruise ships, office buildings, public places and homeowners with guest bathrooms the option to fold over the last sheet to show that the room has been cleaned.[14]
  • Over is generally the intended direction of viewing for the manufacturer's branding, so patterned toilet paper looks better this way.[15]
  • Under provides a tidier appearance, in that the loose end can be more hidden from view.[16][17]
  • Under reduces the risk of a toddler or a house pet such as a cat unrolling the toilet paper when batting at the roll.[18]
  • Under in a recreational vehicle may reduce unrolling during driving.[19]

Partisans have claimed that each method makes it easier to tear the toilet paper on a perforated sheet boundary.[20] (A traveller from the U.S. to China in 1991 noted a different setup: non-perforated paper with a metal cutter above the roll, which obliges the over direction.)[21]

It is unclear if one orientation is more economical than the other. The Centralian Advocate attributes a claim that over saves on paper usage to Planet Green.[22]

In the academic field of evaluation, Michael Scriven writes that the question of the correct way to insert toilet paper is a "one-item aptitude test" for measuring one's evaluation skills. These skills include the evaluative attitude, practical logical analysis, empathy, teaching, and being a quick study. To prove one's competence, one may either derive the "one right answer" or prove that the test is or is not culturally biased.[23]

In surveys of American consumers and of bath and kitchen specialists, 60-70% of respondents prefer over.[24]

Preferences
Multi-orientable toilet paper holder
Another solution: two paper holders, even with different toilet paper.

Survey results

The question "Do you prefer that your toilet tissue unwinds over or under the spool?" is featured on the cover of Barry Sinrod and Mel Poretz's 1989 book The First Really Important Survey of American Habits. The overall result: 68 percent chose over.[25]

In Bernice Kanner's 1995 book Are You Normal?, 53 percent of survey respondents prefer over, while "a fourth" prefer under and 8 percent do not know or care.[26]

Sitting Pretty: The History of the Toilet, a travelling exhibition that tours Canadian museums, asks visitors to register their preferred roll direction. When the exhibition reached Huntsville, Ontario, in June 2001, 13,000 visitors had taken the survey, with 67 percent preferring over.[27] At the Saint Boniface Museum in Winnipeg in February 2005, a voting machine registered 5,831 over versus 5,679 under, or 51 percent over. Saint Boniface's director noted, "I think there's been some cheating, though."[28]

Georgia-Pacific commissioned a survey of Americans' bathroom habits in 1993 to launch its new Quilted Northern brand, and more surveys followed:[29]

  • 1993 Practices and Preferences of Toilet Paper Users: 73 percent over out of 1,200 respondents. The press release claims, "A first-of-its-kind survey has settled, once and for all, the great toilet paper debate."[30]
  • 1994 Toilet Paper Report: 59 percent over,[31] out of 1,000 respondents; conducted by KRC Research and Consulting[32]
  • 1995 Bathroom Tissue Report: 59 percent over versus 29 percent under,[33] out of 1,000 respondents; conducted by KRC Research and Consulting[31]
  • 2001 Bathroom Confidential: 63 percent over out of 1,001 respondents; conducted by Impulse Research[34]
  • 2004 Bathroom Confidential: 72 percent over[35]

In 1993, American Standard Brands conducted a poll of "designers, contractors, dealers, distributors and other bath and kitchen reps"[36] at the Kitchen/Bath Industry Show & Conference in Atlanta. The question: "What is the correct and only way to hang the toilet paper – under or over?"[37] Over won 59 percent of the vote, 1,826 to 1,256 respondents.[36] American Standard spokeswoman Nora Monroe observed, "The bathroom is a territorial place. You'd be surprised how many people have definite opinions on this issue."[38] In 2008, American Standard commissioned the 2008 Bathroom Habits Survey, a more traditional format conducted by Opinion Research Corporation with 1,001 respondents. This time, "three-quarters" answered over.[39]

In 1995, a survey by Scott Paper Company's "Cottonelle College of Freshness Knowledge" had "most Americans over 50" preferring over.[40] In another Cottonelle survey in 1999, 68 percent of respondents preferred over to 25 percent under.[41]

In a survey of 1,000 Americans, Cottonelle found that "overs" are more likely than "unders" to notice a roll's direction (74 percent), to be annoyed when the direction is incorrect (24 percent), and to have flipped the direction at a friend's home (27 percent).[42]

According to W. C. Privy's Original Bathroom Companion, Number 2, "By more than 4 to 1, older folks prefer to have their toilet paper dispense over the front."[43] The same claim is made by James Buckley's The Bathroom Companion for people older than 50.[44]

In one local election in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, new voting machines were given a trial run by asking the question, "Are you in favor of toilet paper in all public washrooms being installed with the loose end coming up and over the front of the roll?" The answer was yes: 768 to 196, or 80 percent over. It was thought to be a question "which carried no political association".[45] Yet one teenager's science project at the Southern Appalachian Science and Engineering Fair, and a favorite of the fair's coordinator, was a survey concluding that liberals roll over while conservatives roll under.[46]

Noted preferences

Advice columnist Ann Landers (Eppie Lederer) was once asked which way toilet paper should hang. She answered under, prompting thousands of letters in protest; she then recommended over, prompting thousands more.[47] She reflected that the 15,000 letters made toilet paper the most controversial issue in her column's 31-year history,[48] wondering, "With so many problems in the world, why were thousands of people making an issue of tissue?"[47]

In November 1986, Landers told the Canadian Commercial Travellers Association that "Fine-quality toilet paper has designs that are right side up" in the over position.[48] In 1996, she explained the issue on The Oprah Winfrey Show, where 68 percent of the studio audience favored over; Oprah suggested that under uses more paper.[49] In 1998, she wrote that the issue "seems destined to go on forever", insisting, "In spite of the fact that an overwhelming number of people prefer the roll hung so that the paper comes over the top, I still prefer to have the paper hanging close to the wall."[45] On the day of her last column in 2002, Landers wrote, "P.S. The toilet paper hangs over the top."[50] Her published commentary on the issue has even continued after her death. 2005 saw the premiere of a one-woman play written by David Rambo: a character study of Ann Landers titled The Lady with All the Answers. Toilet paper comes up once again, and the actress surveys the audience for their opinions.[51]

In his article in Teaching Sociology, Burns writes that the toilet paper hanging exercise is valuable in part because "[the] subject matter is familiar to everybody; everyone is an expert, and everyone has an opinion."[52] Many entertainers, celebrities and businesspeople have publicized their opinion on the topic.

Seth Wheeler's original (c. 1891) U.S. Patent illustration.[53]

Social consequences

Toilet paper orientation is sometimes mentioned as a hurdle for married couples.[54] The issue may also arise in businesses and public places.[55]

Even at the Amundsen–Scott Research Station at the South Pole, complaints have been raised over which way to install toilet paper. During the six-month-long polar night, a few dozen residents are stuck living together, and while many of the headaches of modern life are far away, food and hygiene are not. Despite the challenges posed by the hostile Antarctic climate, "It is in the more mundane trials of everyday life that personality clashes are revealed."[56]

Solutions

Some of the proposed solutions to this problem involve more or better technology, while others concentrate on human behavior.

Mechanical

The Tilt-A-Roll is a swiveling toilet paper dispenser invented by Curtis Batts in 1996, a Dallas-native industrial engineer.[57] His patents on the invention, summarize its design as "An adjustable angle coupling secures the yoke to the mounting assembly and permits rotation of the yoke about an axis directed orthogonally through the spindle such that the paper roll can be oriented to unroll paper either from over or from under the roll as desired."[58] An inventor named Rocky Hutson demonstrated a similar device he called the T.P. Swivel to the producers of the television program PitchMen in late 2009. [59]

Another solution is to install two toilet paper dispensers. A reader of the Annie's Mailbox column recommends using a holder large enough to fit two rolls, noting that the roll mounted over is more popular. Another reader sidesteps the issue by foregoing the holder, instead piling five or six rolls in a big wicker basket.[60] Even using separate bathrooms can help.[61] Other solutions include vertical holders.

Behavioral

Toilet paper orientation has been used rhetorically as the ultimate issue that government has no business dictating, in letters to the editor protesting the regulation of noise pollution[62] and stricter requirements to get a divorce.[63] In 2006, protesting New Hampshire's ban on smoking in restaurants and bars, representative Ralph Boehm (R–Litchfield) asked "Will we soon be told which direction the toilet paper must hang from the roll?"[64]

David O'Connor's 2005 book Henderson's House Rules: The Official Guide to Replacing the Toilet Paper and Other Domestic Topics of Great Dispute aims to solve disagreements with a minimum of debate or compromise by offering authoritative, reasonable rules.[65] The "House Rule" for toilet paper is over and out, and a full page is dedicated to a diagram of this orientation. But O'Connor writes that "if a female household member has a strong preference for the toilet paper to hang over and in, against the wall, that preference prevails. It is admittedly an odd preference, but women use toilet paper far more often than men—hence the rule."[66]

Notes and references

Notes
  1. For pros and cons, including RVs and cats, see Arguments; for celebrities and experts, including Ann Landers, see Noted preferences; for theories, see Themes.
  2. The enthusiast, Bill Jarrett, and the inventor, Curtis Batts, are described in Solutions.
  3. Burns 2003.
  4. Burns 2003, p. 111.
  5. Burns 2003, p. 113.
  6. Collett 2008.
  7. Peterson 2006, pp. 173–175.
  8. Gernsbacher 2007.
  9. Cesvet, Babinski & Alper 2008, p. 68.
  10. Voice of America 2004.
  11. Progressive Grocer 2010.
  12. Ode 2010: "The Kimberly-Clark company cites three advantages for rolling over: perforation control, viewing advantage and wall avoidance."; Garton 2005; Jarski & Jarski 2007.
  13. Ode 2010; Elliott 2006
  14. Lind 1992; "The Grand Princess cruise ship replaces its toilet paper with the leading edge over the front, so that it can be folded as is done in five-star hotels. (Yes, someone really did ask this question.)" (Carpenter 1999); Rosencrans 1998; Garton 2005.
  15. Grant 1991b; Garton 2005; Mitchell & Sugar 2005a; Jarski & Jarski 2007.
  16. Jarski & Jarski 2007
  17. "Toilet Paper Orientation Re: Brandweek 2009". Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  18. Darbo 2007; Garton 2005; O'Connor 2005, p. 63.
  19. Nerbas 2009.
  20. Ode 2010; Weingarten 2008; Keeran 1993.
  21. Downey & Harrison 1993.
  22. McNatt 2010.
  23. Scriven 1991, "Evaluation Thesaurus", pp. 151–153, especially p. 153 for the quotations.
  24. Yenisey, Zeynep (5 April 2016). "What the Direction Your Toilet Paper Hangs Says About You According to Science: Under or over?". Maxim. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  25. Rubin 1989.
  26. Kanner 1995, pp. 56, 120.
  27. Ladan 2001.
  28. Nestruck 2005.
  29. The 1996 report, which may not have contained this question, was the fourth annual report: (McCarthey 1996)
  30. PR Newswire 1993.
  31. Ortega 1995.
  32. Ciancio 1994.
  33. Ciancio 1995.
  34. Dickson 2001.
  35. Ebenkamp 2004; Pierson 2004.
  36. Toronto Star staff and news services 1993.
  37. Stark 1993.
  38. Clark 1993.
  39. American Standard Press 2008.
  40. Harden 1995.
  41. Henry 1999.
  42. PR Newswire 2010.
  43. Barrett & Mingo 2003, p. 400.
  44. Buckley 2005, p. 106.
  45. Landers 1998.
  46. Keim 1997.
  47. Marelius 1987.
  48. Toronto Star 1986.
  49. The Oprah Winfrey Show 1996.
  50. Landers 2002.
  51. Welsh 2005; Rawson 2008.
  52. Burns 2003, p. 116.
  53. Jenny Che (17–19 March 2015). "This 124-Year-Old Patent Reveals The Right Way To Use Toilet Paper". HuffPost. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  54. Wolf 1999, pp. 74–75; Hogan & Hogan 2000, p. 200.
  55. Lui 2009; Grant 1991a.
  56. Daily Express 1999, p. 39.
  57. Floyd 1999.
  58. US 5588615 and US 5690302
  59. Zayas 2009.
  60. Mitchell & Sugar 2005b.
  61. Arkins 1994; Jarski & Jarski 2007.
  62. Ratzlaff 2009.
  63. Wuthrich 2006.
  64. Saunders 2006.
  65. O'Connor 2005, pp. 2–3.
  66. O'Connor 2005, pp. 63–64; Davis 2006.

References

Further reading
  • "For Your Information", The News & Observer, p. C1, 4 October 1993, Factiva rnob000020011101dpa400p2p
    References "a Reader's Digest poll". Primary source unclear.
  • Brody, Ed (2002), Spinning Tales, Weaving Hope: Stories, Storytelling, and Activities for Peace, Justice and the Environment, New Society Publishers, p. 158
  • Cameron, W. Bruce (2004), How to Remodel a Man: Tips and Techniques on Accomplishing Something You Know Is Impossible But Want to Try Anyway, Macmillan, p. 185
  • Carpenter, Richard P. (28 March 1999), "It's swimming vs. snoozing", The Boston Globe, p. M4, Factiva bstngb0020010825dv3s00asy
  • Freeman, Kim (8 February 1986), "Vox Jox", Billboard, p. 16
    References a poll by Ric Hanson featured in USA Today.
  • Grossvogel, David I. (1987), Dear Ann Landers: our intimate and changing dialogue with America's best-loved confidante, Contemporary Books, p. 257
  • Kelly, William Jude (1988), Models in process: a rhetoric and reader, Macmillan, p. 154
  • Kogan, Rick (2004), America's Mom: The Life, Lessons, and Legacy of Ann Landers, Thorndike Press, p. 224
  • Praeger, Dave (2007), Poop Culture: How America Is Shaped by Its Grossest National Product, Feral House, p. 72
  • Selby, David (1995), Earthkind: a teachers' handbook on humane education, Trentham Books, p. 367
  • Singular, Stephen (1987), Talked to death: the life and murder of Alan Berg, p. 305
    Mentions Bob Palmer of Denver's KCNC-TV doing a show on this topic.
  • Society of Automotive Engineers (2004), Reliability and robust design in automotive engineering, p. 412
    Presents a statistical test to determine gender differences in toilet paper orientation.
  • Trachtenberg, Robert (2005), When I Knew, HarperCollins, p. 69
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