Paper
The use of toilet paper for post-defecation cleansing was first started in China. It became widespread in Western culture. In some parts of the world, especially before toilet paper was available or affordable, the use of newspaper, telephone directory pages, or other paper products were common. Old Farmer's Almanac is sold with a hole punched in the corner so it can be hung on a nail in an outhouse. The widely-distributed Sears Roebuck catalog was also a popular choice until it began to be printed on glossy paper (at which point some people wrote to the company to complain). With modern flush toilets, using newspaper as toilet paper is liable to cause blockages. This practice continues today in parts of Africa; while rolls of Western-style toilet paper are readily available, they can be fairly expensive, prompting less well-off members of the community to use newspapers.
Read more about this topic: Anal Cleansing
Famous quotes containing the word paper:
“Shall quips and sentences and these paper bullets of the brain awe a man from the career of his humor? No, the world must be peopled.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“I blame the newspapers because every day they call our attention to insignificant things, while three or four times in our lives, we read books that contain essential things. Once we feverishly tear the band of paper enclosing our newspapers, things should change and we should find—I do not know—the Pensées by Pascal!”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)
“There’s a long story, my friend. I never did like the idea of sitting on newspapers. I did it once and all the headlines came off on my white pants. On the level, it actually happened. Nobody bought a paper that day. They just followed me around over town and read the news off the seat of my pants.”
—Robert Riskin (1897–1955)