[LINK] OT - delicate question

[Greg Taylor]

Since it's Friday.

Voice from inside a cubicle:
"Hey mate, can you pass me some paper from the next cubicle?"

"Sorry, none there."

"What about the other cubicles?"

Pause. "Sorry, can't find any."

"What about the paper towel dispenser?"

"Sorry, it's empty."

"Anything lying on the floor, like bus tickets or, train tickets?"

"No, sorry, can't see anything like that."

Long pause.

"Mate, can you give me two fives for a ten-dollar note?"


On 2011/04/08 4:31 AM, Karl Auer wrote:
> 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.