ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 29, 1996 TAG: 9603290048
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Friday Something
SOURCE: NANCY GLEINER
Americans have their priorities. The White House has 32 of them. When Versailles palace was built for the French royal family, there were none for its 1,000 noblemen and 4,000 servants. They had to take their business outside.
It's the French ``pissoir,'' the Russian ``oobornia,'' the English ``loo'' and the American ``john,'' invented by a Mr. Crapper (no, really).
As early as 3,000 B.C., homes in the Indus River Valley had bathrooms, but it took more than 4,000 years before the first flush was heard.
Now, automatic toilets flush themselves without warning or have devices that light up if some thoughtless male has failed to lower the seat.
The first American to install plumbing wasn't some nouveau riche guy who had worked his way up from the bottom (sorry, I couldn't resist). It was the poet Longfellow, presumably tired of stopping by the shores of Gitche Gumee.
Amazingly, not too long after Longfellow paid his first plumber's bill, modern bathroom tissue was invented. Of course, it was the United States. that was privy to this honor.
Outside the big cities of Thailand, people use a bucket of water instead of t.p. In the desert lands of the Middle East, water is about as rare as toilet paper. The locals use sand or stone.
In some small islands in the South Pacific, the international phone book hangs on some public bathroom walls. Torn out singly, the pages last a long time.
- Source: 1996 Quilted Northern Toilet Paper Report
LENGTH: Short : 37 linesby CNB