It’s an age-old question, one that has caused discord, strife, conflict, and potentially despair. All over a truly simple, basic question… is toilet paper meant to be pulled out over or under?
Personally, I don’t mind which way I pull out the toilet paper, so long as it’s there. There’s nothing worse than heeding nature’s call only to find nature has decided to leave you stranded with no toilet paper. A moment of silence for our suffering brethren.
But I have known some people who are firmly adamant: it’s only over or only under. No in between.
Well, now the truth has been revealed, thanks to a New York businessman by the name of Seth Wheeler.
Mr. Seth Wheeler filed an 1891 patent on toilet paper that revealed – drum roll please – that the end of a toilet paper roll should be on the outside, also known as the “over” position.
My “under” friends, time to go home and change your toilet paper rolls.
The discovery was made by a writer named Owen Williams, who kindly shared his finding with the world on Twitter.
The patent for toilet paper should settle the over vs under debate pic.twitter.com/arZl6l6ALn
— Owen Williams ⚡ (@ow) March 17, 2015
Seth Wheeler, the man who filed the 1891 patent to solve this question, is also responsible for why toilet paper tears off in neat little squares. As part of the Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company, Albany Perforated patented the idea for “perforated wrapping paper” (toilet paper was called wrapping paper back then) in 1871.
“My invention … consists in a roll of wrapping paper with perforations on the line of the division between one sheet and the next, so as to be easily torn apart, such roll of wrapping paper forming a new article of manufacture,” the 1871 patent reads.
Now that one age-old debate has been solved, onto the next one: how do you pronounce GIF?
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