the.com/toilet paper

Civilization's thinnest bridge between dignity and disaster.

means Thin perforated paper on a roll, used for wiping yourself clean after using the toilet.

from Comes from 'toilet,' which originally meant the whole process of washing and dressing (from French 'toilette,' a little cloth, 'toile,' used to cover a dressing table) before narrowing to mean the bathroom fixture itself. Paper made specifically for this purpose is a surprisingly modern invention — commercial toilet paper only emerged in the mid-1800s, and the now-familiar perforated roll came along later that century. Before that, people made do with whatever was at hand: leaves, corn cobs, newspaper, even scraps of cloth. The word just followed the fixture; the fixture outran the word.

origin
China used it by the 6th century
roll pattern
over vs under sparked genuine patent wars
panic buying
2020 hoarding was irrational, supply never actually broke
western lag
europeans used it centuries after china did
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