# papering or TP'ing



## scotu

"*papering *or* TP'ing*" is the act of throwing rolls of toilet
paper over a tree on someone's property until the tree is
covered with streamers of paper. 

Why does someone get their trees "papered"? Is this done to
celebrate something or is it just a friendly prank? 
Is this strictly an American phenomenon?

Thanks, scotu


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## whattheflock

It's an act of contempt. You don't TP your best friend's home, you know? And often is the first part of the Halloween's chant "trick or treat!"
I don't think I ever saw that in Mexico, but can't tell for sure about a whole country. It'd be interesting to know if they do it elsewhere, too.
But over here it's a misdemeanor (vandalism, littering, cheeky-bastardness, etc.), and the police will come after you if caught in the act. So there.


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## maxiogee

I have heard of it, in a USA context, and have even seen a discussion on it. The ever-so-polite Americans on the forum it happened on couldn't even bring themselves to use the word 'toilet' in toilet paper and had to refer to it as tp. However, the activity was well understood by all of them. I find that the cross-concept of the word "toilet" being too rude to mention, but the activity being quite acceptable, to be mind-boggling. I have never heard of anyone in Ireland having toilet paper thrown over their trees - or their house, as appears to be common also.

Toilet rolls used to feature prominently in British soccer matches, when idiots used to fling rolls from the stands onto the pitch, the roll unrolling in flight.

By and large we in Ireland tend to use toilet paper for the purpose for which it is manufactured.


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## cerci

Must admit I've never heard of "papering or TP'ing" before, sounds bizarre to me!


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## cerci

I'd never heard "TP" to mean "toilet paper" before until I read this thread.


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## Victoria32

scotu said:


> "*papering *or* TP'ing*" is the act of throwing rolls of toilet
> paper over a tree on someone's property until the tree is
> covered with streamers of paper.
> 
> Why does someone get their trees "papered"? Is this done to
> celebrate something or is it just a friendly prank?
> Is this strictly an American phenomenon?
> 
> Thanks, scotu


Purely an American phenomenon as far as I know..
Here, the weird thing is shoes (trainers usually) flung across power lines. I believe that began in the USA also...


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## .   1

I can not even begin to see into the minds of the morons who waste toilet paper in this manner.
The effects on the tree and the ambience of the general area could not be seen as a positive thing.
It seems to me to be an insulting abusive act designed to annoy and intimidate.
It appears to be associated with Halloween and the 'trick or treat' threat that is not yet established in my culture.
I am also struck by the weird juxtaposition of the act of vandalism and the moral stance of not saying toilet paper.
We are no more than what we do.
.,,


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## Alxmrphi

. said:
			
		

> I can not even begin to see into the minds of the morons who waste toilet paper in this manner.
> The effects on the tree and the ambience of the general area could not be seen as a positive thing.
> It seems to me to be an insulting abusive act designed to annoy and intimidate.
> It appears to be associated with Halloween and the 'trick or treat' threat that is not yet established in my culture.
> I am also struck by the weird juxtaposition of the act of vandalism and the moral stance of not saying toilet paper.
> We are no more than what we do.



Hello? Teenagers? Alcohol? Childish behaviour?

This has become expected now, surely?


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## .   1

Alex_Murphy said:


> Hello? Teenagers? Alcohol? Childish behaviour?
> 
> This has become expected now, surely?


This is a blanket excuse for any type of antisocial behaviour and may well paint teenagers with a brush that they do not deserve.
If this behaviour is down to drunk childish teenagers it seems passing strange to me that it is confined to drunk childish U.S. American teenagers.
Hello yourself.

.,,


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## Alxmrphi

Blanket excuse or not, it's still there, it is what people do, every culture has their own thing, I'm not sure if it is just Britain's, but we have an "egg throwing" culture, at windows, cars, hurled at people out of cars at night time.

All types of youths do things like this, in America it just might be more common to throw TP.


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## Etcetera

I've read about that in an American book, and it seems to be an American phenomenon. Nothing like that in Russia.


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## scotu

Alex_Murphy said:


> Blanket excuse or not, it's still there, it is what people do, every culture has their own thing, I'm not sure if it is just Britain's, but we have an "egg throwing" culture, at windows, cars, hurled at people out of cars at night time.
> 
> All types of youths do things like this, in America it just might be more common to throw TP.


 
Interesting comment...I wonder if teenage pranksterism is universal? I can't think of anything similar in Mexico except pranks on The day of the dead. I'm curious what similar activities exist in other countries. Thanks for the egg throwing info.

It's comforting to know from .., that at least Australia does not have mindless morons that waste toliet paper in this wreckless fashion.


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## GenJen54

This type of teenage pranksterism has been alive and well in US high school culture for at least 25+ years. It was alive and well when I was in middle and high school (5th through 12th grades), and is alive and well now. 

I have been a "victim" of TPing, and have also TPd others, so I guess that makes me a mindless moron.

In my day, it was a means of "celebrating" someone, usually the school football* players before a big game. In fact, it was an activity generally organized by members of the pep club, or rooting** associations. We would be assigned a players' home to "tp" then venture forth, wares in hand, and throw the paper goods till the trees were covered. 

Of course, what made matters worse is if or when sprinking systems went off and the TP got wet and sticky in the trees.

It is also done before someone's "milestone" birthday, such as 16th or 18th, or other, similar momentous occasion. 

It was and remains a form of pranksterism, seem as harmless, and is a part of American Culture, at least in my part of the country.   

It is wasteful?  Yes.  
Is it a pain in the rear to clean up?  Heck yes...that's part of the point.  
Is it harmful? No.  At least, it is much less harmful to deal with than eggs or other forms of delinquency that actually damage property (smashing mailboxes, pouring sugar in gas tanks, spray painting brick walls, etc.).  
Was alcohol involved? Not when I participated in it.  

* American Football, not soccer
** Pep clubs are usually clubs or "cheering" associations, made up primarily of females, who organize social and/or fund raising activities for schools. They usually also attend sporting games to help cheer on their school's teams. They are not associated with the actual "cheerleaders" who stand on the side lines and perform cheers.


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## cerci

When I saw "TP'ing" in the thread title I thought it might have something to do with Tipp-Ex correction fluid... How wrong could I have been!
Is it really so bad to even say the word "toilet" in the USA?? Where I live it's usually called "bog role"...


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## GenJen54

No, it's not bad to say "toilet" in the US, at least not in my X0+ years of speaking it.  I don't know where this assertion came from. 

While it is true we tend to say "rest room" instead of "bathroom" or "toilet" when talking in polite company about actual toilet facilities, the word itself poses no offense that I've ever been aware of. 

I think we always just use TP, or TeePeed (TPing) because, like many other things, we Americans are fond of abbreviating.


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## .   1

G'day GenJen,
Do you reckon that toilet papering is a good thing?
I do think that TPing is a little close to the name of Amerindian dwellings to be associated with something that many Amerindians would probably not see the funny side of.

.,,


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## maxiogee

GenJen54 said:


> It is also done before someone's "milestone" birthday, such as 16th or 18th, or other, similar momentous occasion.



16 is a "milestone"? How come?


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## gotitadeleche

I concur with GenJen, there is no problem with saying the word toilet in the US. We can even say "toilet paper," which is the way I usually refer to it. 




GenJen54 said:


> No, it's not bad to say "toilet" in the US, at least not in my X0+ years of speaking it.  I don't know where this assertion came from.
> 
> While it is true we tend to say "rest room" instead of "bathroom" or "toilet" when talking in polite company about actual toilet facilities, the word itself poses no offense that I've ever been aware of.
> 
> I think we always just use TP, or TeePeed (TPing) because, like many other things, we Americans are fond of abbreviating.


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## gaer

gotitadeleche said:


> I concur with GenJen, there is no problem with saying the word toilet in the US. We can even say "toilet paper," which is the way I usually refer to it.


"Toilet paper" is standard, but many people would not ask to "use your toilet" if they visit your home. We usually say, "Can/could/may I use your bathroom."

(It's actually extremely illogical, since there are many "bathrooms" that have no "bath".)  

Gaer


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## gaer

maxiogee said:


> 16 is a "milestone"? How come?


Certain legal rights are attained at age 16 in some states. At age 16 I was allowed to drive for the first time.

I've never used toilet paper for anything but it's intended use, but I don't see that "papering" is any more or less crazy than countless customs in other countries.

Perhaps what is shocking to many people is the waste, and to be perfectly honest, that bothers me too.


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## .   1

gaer said:


> Perhaps what is shocking to many people is the waste, and to be perfectly honest, that bothers me too.


I am bothered by the intent to cause pointless irritation. I would be extremely irritated by the necessity to clean up the mess. I would be even more annoyed by the wetted toilet paper sticking to everything it touches. This just sounds like stupid petty bullying but I could be wrong and have failed to grasp the artistic merits of doing this to a person under cover of darkness.
Do toilet paperers admit to the victim that they were the toilet paperers and then everyone has a good larf?
It seems to be yet another U.S. American custom that goes straight over my head.
I don't see it as funny or clever or anything good. I can not see what the intended message is.

.,,


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## GenJen54

. said:


> G'day GenJen,
> Do you reckon that toilet papering is a good thing?


I don't reckon it is necessarily a "bad" thing.  It is an annoyance to be sure, but part of the "rights of passage" of suburban teenage-dom.



> I do think that TPing is a little close to the name of Amerindian dwellings to be associated with something that many Amerindians would probably not see the funny side of.


  As I earlier remarked, Americans often find ways of abbreviating things.  TP from toilet paper happens to be one of those abbreviations, much like TV from television set is another.  When I go grocery shopping, I don't think to write toilet paper, I write TP.  There is no reference nor understanding that its use could be confused with Native American prairie dwellings.



maxiogee said:


> 16 is a "milestone"? How come?


As Gaer pointed out, the age of sixteen marks for most teenagers the year in which they get their driver's license, and thus their "freedom."  Girls are often feted with their "Sweet Sixteen" as sixteen is also the age when many American girls are allowed to date. (Different families have different ages when this is appropriate).



. said:


> I am bothered by the intent to cause pointless irritation.


 And so you have a right to be bothered. 





> I would be extremely irritated by the necessity to clean up the mess. I would be even more annoyed by the wetted toilet paper sticking to everything it touches.


 Most parents are annoyed by this, too, but understand it is what it is.  The kids do most of the clean-up. 





> This just sounds like stupid petty bullying but I could be wrong and have failed to grasp the artistic merits of doing this to a person under cover of darkness.


  In some cases, it could be stupid petty bullying.  In other cases, not so.  It depends on the intent.  Most suburban American teenagers - at least in the part of the country where I live - expect to be TP'd at one point in time or another.





> Do toilet paperers admit to the victim that they were the toilet paperers and then everyone has a good larf?


  Not always, but in the case of it being an "organized" activity, there are always pretty good guesses. 



> It seems to be yet another U.S. American custom that goes straight over my head.  I don't see it as funny or clever or anything good. I can not see what the intended message is.


You are entitled to your opinion on the matter.  I don't know that TPing is "meant" to be understood.  It simply is what it is; much like other stupid pointless customs from other countries.


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## maxiogee

gaer said:


> Perhaps what is shocking to many people is the waste, and to be perfectly honest, that bothers me too.



I couldn't care less about the waste. 
To be frank, I think that the amount of energy and resources which are wasted are probably minimal.

What worries me, coming from a country with, shall we say, a 'moist' climate, is the ordeal involved in trying to clear it up. 
I can appreciate that part of the fun is that the victim is discomforted to some degree, 
but with the unpredictability of precipitation over here, which would make the paper adhere to whatever it touches, 
and would make it absolutely impossible to get out of the branches of trees, or down from roofs and gutters.

Because of this, to do it in Ireland would be an order of magnitude beyond a mere prank, 
it would be an act of gross offensiveness.


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## scotu

GenJen54 said:


> I don't reckon it is necessarily a "bad" thing. It is an annoyance to be sure, but part of the "rights of passage" of suburban teenage-dom.As Gaer pointed out, the age of sixteen marks for most teenagers the year in which they get their driver's license, and thus their "freedom." Girls are often feted with their "Sweet Sixteen" as sixteen is also the age when many American girls are allowed to date. (Different families have different ages when this is appropriate).
> .


 
Thanks GenJen, this answers my question. The TP'ing that prompted the question occured to my aunt's neighboor on the eve of her daughters 16th birthday. I suspect that the mother was proud that her daughter was popular enough to rate this celebration even at the expense of a little mess. (the wind cleaned up the TP in a day and a half.)

thanks, scotu


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## gaer

maxiogee said:


> I couldn't care less about the waste.
> To be frank, I think that the amount of energy and resources which are wasted are probably minimal.


Okay, although I wonder how many rolls of paper used for "TP'ing" how many people still remains "minimal". 

To be honest, I don't care for the "prank". It's never been done to me, and I don't feel as though I have been denied anything. 

Gaer


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## Nunty

It happened to us once, in the late 1960s. My family and I were immigrants and the only Jews in the neighborhood. We did not understand and were, shall I say, less than amused. In that particular case I still do not think it was purely "good, clean fun".

A few years later,  my little brother -- who grew up to be an upstanding citizen and a law enforcement officer -- was a TP-er. He was delighted with the prank. Go figure.

I guess it is a deeply rooted cultural thingy. When did it start?


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## Encolpius

I'd like to restart that discussion again, since I see that phenomenon in American movies from time to time. So far British and Australians made their comments and I think it is unknown in Europe, but how about *Canada *or *Mexico*? Or other countries maybe. thanks.


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