offering you a dirty newspaper. He's one sicko!

Damn straight, skippy. He's addicted to it, too.

The episode where George takes a book into the bathroom with him, and then he can't return it because it has been marked as such.

Later he tries to donate the book to charity, and even THEY refuse to accept it.

GOL (Guffaw out loud) - I Know the episode...

There was also a recent episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm with Larry David (who wrote for Seinfeld) and a magazine. His visiting friend had taken a magazine with him into the bathroom at Larry's house and when the friend leaves, Larry (a noted germophobe) gingerly (and maybe even with tongs) carries the sullied magazine to the garbage. Later, his wife tells him she had written an important phone number on the back of the magazine, which she hasn't even read yet, and Larry has to explain to her why he had to throw her brand new magazine away.

Is the magazine tainted just by the mere fact of being in the bathroom? Or, is it that George touched his genitals? I mean, most guys take reading material into the bathroom when they have to take a crap, in which case they wouldn't be touching their genitals.

A lot of women keep a magazine rack in the bathroom.

I suppose a true germophobe would be repelled just by the thought the reading material being exposed to fecal gasses which contain minute microscopic particles, which give methane its smell.

But then, there's a more logical reasoning. Who knows what really goes on in there behind closed doors? Does the person reading the magazine 'scratch' while they read, as you suggest? Or perhaps they wipe, quite possibly soiling their fingers, and then pick up the magazine with unwashed hands....maybe even leaving a stain on it? Maybe they insert a suppository, and then continue to turn the pages. Ugh.

Not just women. We keep the boys porn in their bathroom in a bin. I have newspapers, DOE/NNSA Reports and all sorts of magazines in mine.

...is that for you or your husbands? I can see a Titan II in your crystal balls.

I really don't understand the issue either. We've always kept reading material in the bathroom. I assume people read until they are done with their business. Then they put the material back, wipe, wash and leave.

I suppose there are a number of "icky" things people could be doing, but I really have better things to worry about. After all, someone could simply not wash their hands and walk around touching everything outside of the bathroom.

I keep literature in my bathroom as well. But I think that there is a little more of an ick factor concerning people outside of your own family.

And you are quite correct in your statement about those that do not wash their hands afterwards. I like restrooms that still use paper towels, because then after I wash my hands, I use the paper towel to open the door and let myself out of the bathroom. Not that I'm afraid of germs or illness...it's just an icky thing!