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