What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper? • Hacker News Board

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#141

Post by pkd » Wed, Apr 04, 2018, 10:22 PM UTC

agumonkey wrote: post #109

devnonymous wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how much better is water ? is it 100% clean ? They did provide a reference point... > if you got poop on your arm, maybe while changing a diaper, would you wipe it off with a piece of paper and consider it clean? ...were you expecting something more rigorous?

yes, I don't really understand the whole thing. A bidet you use water to clean your outputs, instead of paper only. But 1) you probably have your arm under there to dry it too, it's cleaner but not perfectly clean I suppose. So you might have bacteria/microbes too 2) I forgot my 2 but you get the idea. Unless you have something that doesn't involve approaching your ass you're still not 100% clear.

It is infinitely better than dry toilet paper. Trust me because like OP I've used both methods and I am never more grossed out than after going through a North American toilet.

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#142

Post by ufo » Wed, Apr 04, 2018, 10:25 PM UTC

JohnDotAwesome wrote: post #128

kragen wrote: post #24

When I moved to Argentina, it took me a while to get used to bidets. But now that I'm used to them, I never use toilet paper voluntarily. It leaves your butt still dirty! As someone said, if you got poop on your arm, maybe while changing a diaper, would you wipe it off with a piece of paper and consider it clean? No, not if you're from the mainstream of any developed country. You would use water, soap, and maybe more…

Bidets are pretty weird, but I totally recognize their superiority to plain ol' toilet paper. +1 for wet wipes.

wet wipes are terrible for plumbing though.

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#143

Post by pkd » Wed, Apr 04, 2018, 10:27 PM UTC

hellofunk wrote: post #16

The article says that certain remote and rural areas of Asia still don't use toilet paper. However, this is also true of most of the Philippines, including middle- and upper-class areas in major cities. It's not an issue only of economic stability or access to it, but also just a cultural one. I've been in upscale restaurants in Manila where there was no toilet paper in the bathrooms. They use a little bucket of wate…

This is true of almost all of India too. I'd wager than more than 60% of the world's population uses some technique superior to toilet paper.

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#144

Post by gerdesj » Wed, Apr 04, 2018, 10:28 PM UTC

bambax wrote: post #54

> To ancient Romans, the practice of sitting on a shared toilet in an open room full of people was entirely ordinary. That's a funny thing to say for an American, because, to Europeans, American toilets are much too public: doors don't go to the floor or ceiling, and even "walls" are thin sheets of wood/plastic loosely joined together with huge spaces between them. It seems, Americans don't trust one another to sit a…

> That's a funny thing to say for an American, because, to Europeans, American toilets are much too public: doors don't go to the floor or ceiling, and even "walls" are thin sheets of wood/plastic loosely joined together with huge spaces between them.

... or exactly as public bogs in high use areas such as motorway service stations are generally built across the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus. I've only listed some of the countries I have directly been to. Can't say I've noticed much difference in general between bogs in the US and anywhere else these days. Some do have gaps to aid cleaning and some don't.

~35 years ago I did have a bit of a shock on discovering my first "stand and deliver" style toilet in (somewhere) with a floor to ceiling pole to assist with accurate and steady arse positioning. These are rather rarer these days but still to be found.

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#145

Post by drukenemo » Wed, Apr 04, 2018, 10:28 PM UTC

kragen wrote: post #24

When I moved to Argentina, it took me a while to get used to bidets. But now that I'm used to them, I never use toilet paper voluntarily. It leaves your butt still dirty! As someone said, if you got poop on your arm, maybe while changing a diaper, would you wipe it off with a piece of paper and consider it clean? No, not if you're from the mainstream of any developed country. You would use water, soap, and maybe more…

I grew up with bidets, but lately have been giving myself “quick enemas”, which means colon cleansing. My method is a simplified version of a more traditional enema, and it has the following perceived benefits: more thorough cleaning with water, evacuation of feces that would have stayed in otherwise, less smell in the area throughout the day.

Method: after pooping at home, I use a vaginal cleanser (a pump) with some soap to lubricate the tube and inject cold fresh water into the anus. I immediately release the water into the toilet. It gives me additional relief after the regular evacuation and there is always something to be released.

Here’s a traditional enema method:

(https://m.wikihow.com/Perform-an-Enema-at-Home)

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#146

Post by derefr » Wed, Apr 04, 2018, 10:31 PM UTC

sneak wrote: post #43

Baeocystin wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was (surprisingly, to me) mocked by friends/family when I purchased a bidet seat a few years ago. Over the period of a few months, most went from teasing to shy curiosity to buying one for their own home. A victory for cleanliness!

People who mock you for having a cleaner butthole than them are strange people indeed.

Surgeons used to mock other surgeons for washing their hands. A centuries-old insult about the French is that they insist upon bathing every day. People seem to generally associate cleanliness with a sort of hysterical fussiness.

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#147

Post by makotech222 » Wed, Apr 04, 2018, 10:32 PM UTC

lulmerchant wrote: post #97

makotech222 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haha, do they?

Absolutely, nothing has brought a greater level of prosperity and equality to the world than free market capitalism. This is simply an empirical fact. Just like it is an empirical fact that every socialist nation in history has created huge levels of poverty and inequality.

Hey, remember when the USSR started and they eliminated homelessness within 10 years. And also, were the first to space. In addition, had citizens that were better fed than the US, had more doctors per capita. And this is just from State Capitalism, not Socialism.

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#148

Post by GordonS » Wed, Apr 04, 2018, 10:34 PM UTC

lewiscollard wrote: post #80

bambax wrote: post #54

> To ancient Romans, the practice of sitting on a shared toilet in an open room full of people was entirely ordinary. That's a funny thing to say for an American, because, to Europeans, American toilets are much too public: doors don't go to the floor or ceiling, and even "walls" are thin sheets of wood/plastic loosely joined together with huge spaces between them. It seems, Americans don't trust one another to sit a…

Interesting - you describe most of the public bogs in Britain when describing those in the US.

I guess you've never been to the US?

I'm from the UK, and OK, sometimes there is a small gap between the door and the floor and ceiling.

In the US, sometimes the stall door is literally just over waist height while sitting on the shitter curling one out... I've never come across anything remotely like that anywhere in the UK.

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#149

Post by ekianjo » Wed, Apr 04, 2018, 10:34 PM UTC

gkya wrote: post #27

skookumchuck wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the result of free markets. Centralized economic planning is simply unable to deal with the complexity.

Wut? Do you really think you can convince me that USSR did not have toilet papers or pencils? Or send the first man to space? This is not about what economical model is better. People can collaborate both under central economic planning and through free markets. One might certainly be more preferable to the other, but that's totally a different conversation (I'm not a fan of either, for the records).

> USSR did not have toilet papers or pencils?

They had cars made of toilet papers. /s The car industry is a great example of how centralized planning is a total failure.

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#150

Post by tzs » Wed, Apr 04, 2018, 10:42 PM UTC

pwython wrote: post #108

lainga wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the 6th post I have seen this week along the formula (1) I am from Europe and I went to America. (2) Americans do things in a way I find unusual and/or distressing. (3) The cause must be a character flaw shared by all Americans (security and puritanical reasons...?).

Eh, when someone says "it sure feels strange, and very difficult to get used," it doesn't have to be negative. You can take it as a "character flaw" jibe, but it's really just an observation. source: American that is still in shock by septic tank users that have to throw their feces-paper in the trashcan.

> source: American that is still in shock by septic tank users that have to throw their feces-paper in the trashcan.

What? Where/when/why is that necessary?