Dozens of people sent me e-mails about my post which said — tongue planted firmly in cheek — that toilet paper should always come off the front of the roll, not the back. One of them, Doug Edwards, came up with the clever subject line above so I'm running his e-mail here. They all said pretty much the same thing…
There's a very simple, practical reason for having the leading edge of the toilet paper hanging from the back instead of the front, at least for those with toddler children and/or pets: it keeps the toilet paper on the roll in the event of pawing, swatting, or other (typically downward) gestures that would otherwise unroll the TP onto the floor.
At least some of us who've come into a bathroom to discover such unrolled toilet paper would rather not re-experience that grief, and thus indulge ourselves in an apparently patent-violating roll reversal. But believe me on this: the reason is practical, not esthetic or general contrariness.
As many surmised, I don't have cat in my home or, for that matter, a child. (I do still feed feral cats in my backyard.) Okay, fine. Whatever. It's not like I was about to pass a law as to how you had to put your toilet paper in the holder. Donald Trump probably is but I'm not.