Is it true that some cultures don't use toilet paper, and one should refrain from shaking their right hand?

Question

I have heard this many times but considered it to be an urban legend. Does anyone know why this story still goes around or if it's really true?

Answer 1

its true

Answer 2

It is true. Sorry but there is no Urban legend here and, I'm sorry to see some real foreign culture being reduced to such a status. I spent some time in Morocco a while ago and was advised not to eat with my one of my hands (I think it was the right) because this is used for ablutions - with or without toilet paper - and considered unclean at meals. I am also aware that even then - some 15yrs ago - certain sections of the community did not use toilet paper, but this practice is an old one and was not wide spread then. I dont know about today.

Answer 3

Yes, it is true. Especially in India, where I am living now. Plus, it is the left hand that is used for these purposes, so in India and most west Asian countries, please refrain from handing an item to another person with your left hand as it is considered impolite.

As far as the toilet thing some other Yahoo! Answerers spoke of above, if you can't afford a house, how do you afford a toilet (or soap)? Does it matter whether you speak English or not in this case? And yes, I also had to get used to people (especially men) urinating or defecating in public. When there are few public toilets and no one to supervise the cleaning of those available, what are you supposed to do when nature calls? If you are a foreigner you can duck into a local McDonalds, but beggars can't do that, can they?

Answer 4

The custom of shaking right hands probably comes in part from the fact that in earlier societies the left hand was used to wipe with. This is still true in Arab countries. So it is the LEFT hand that you don't shake.

When my son and I took a day trip to Tangiers, Morocco, Africa, we found that the bathroom was a stall with a curtain for privacy. In the stall was a concrete floor with a hole about 2.5 inches in diameter to receive the feces.

The person using the facilities must simply squat over the hole. While this is probably no problem if you wear a gown, if you wore pants it was next to impossible without taking your pants and shoes off (to get your pants off).

There was no toilet paper but there was a sponge on a stick sitting in a small bucket with water in it. I'm not sure what one was supposed to do with that. I decided to wait until I got back to the boat that would return us to Spain before I did anything.

I don't know if this is the practice in other Arab countries but you can imagine that these desert countries don't have the trees to cut down to make toilet paper from. So they do the next thing possible.

Answer 5

1. Muslims use their left hands to wipe themselves, so they never use the left hand for eating or greeting. The left hand, not the right hand.
2. Toilet paper is a relatively new invention. Before that, people used whatever was handy, leaves, grass, corncobs are great.
3. Whether or not you have anything to wipe actually depends on how you "sit" when you poo. In the west, with the new-fangled sit-down toilet system, you don't spread the cheeks far enough open, so there's always excess fecal matter to wipe. In those countries, like China, who do not use sit-down toilets, but squat over an open hole in the ground, there is really nothing that needs wiping after the act. TheChinese method is much healthier than the sit-down method.

Answer 6

Hindus consider left hand "unclean" because it is used to wash themselves. They eat with only with a right hand. Also, 600+ million people are living in very poor conditions, so toilet paper is out of the question for them, as well as soap... - you do the math.

I've heard, that one shop owner refused to take money from a tourist that handed it with his left hand.

I think this it is not the case in urban centers, but probably can be found in remote villages.

I would not want to be a left-handed there...

Answer 7

Actually, it is the LEFT hand. Whether or not they use toilet paper, they use the left hand to clean themselves. The places where this is commom are mostly desert mid-East countries where water is scarce and not necessarily available for washing hands (especially in a caravan across the desert!) So the custom evolved to use the left hand for toilet activities, and the right hand for shaking, eating, etc. This makes it difficult for lefties, however.

Answer 8

I saw an Asian woman take a dump in the park right in front of everyone and she didn't wipe at all. I said that we use the public toilet in this country ...but she didn't speak English. My friend went to Bali and saw people take a dump in the street and they didn't wipe either. Some places don't have toilet paper..

Answer 9

Because toilet paper is new invention & body becomes more clean by washing with water in India people used their left hand for cleaning it with water (because water available in plenty amount). After it they wash their left hand with soap properly. That's why they don't use left hand for handshake, eating etc. Some poor people who do not have a house to live do not wash their hands because they don't have enough water stored. but this is not occasional in every Indian house.

Answer 10

A bunch of people have already said what I was thinking about. All I can say is, from personal experience traveling in some dodgy areas--take your own TP and handy-wipes! Take some utensils, too, if you feel like you can use 'em without offending everybody. Be surreptitious. And make sure you know what you're wipin' your booty with if you use leaves--they're not all bum-friendly!

Answer 11

Its mostly a taboo. Yes, most people don't have much toliet paper to use. But the reason you shouldn't shake people's right hand is more of a cultural thing (Offering your right hand is like flipping the bird 'cause you just used it to wipe your ***)