[LINK] OT - delicate question

Karl Auer kauer at biplane.com.au
Fri Apr 8 04:31:36 AEST 2011


The Link Institute being suitably eclectic, I feel sure no-one will mind
me posing this question, which believe it or not is actually serious
research :-)

Here it is: In the days of the outdoor dunny (outhouse, long drop,
thunderbox), before toilet paper became ubiquitous and affordable by
all, with what did one wipe one's bum?

Rural American "privies" would often have a basket of corn cobs, I
believe. Mail-order catalogues were also commonly hung on a nail,
affording reading pleasure before being repurposed.

But what did we use in Australia? I do recall sitting in a dunny outside
a shearing shed once, looking with bemusement at a sheaf of carefully
torn squares of newspaper on a nail ("The Age", if memory serves). Were
catalogues common? I've never heard of corn cobs being used here.

All suggestions welcome, but factual information would be most welcome.
Also for suggestions for other places to ask :-)

Regards, K.
 
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Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)                   +61-2-64957160 (h)
http://www.biplane.com.au/kauer/                   +61-428-957160 (mob)

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