Over or under, the toilet paper battle

What is the proper way to install toilet paper? Should the toilet paper roll from the top toward you, or does it go underneath so that you push the toilet paper away from you to have it dispensed behind the roll?

This is an age-old question for households with bathrooms. I don’t honestly remember how my parents installed their toilet paper rolls when I was growing up. The first awareness I remember about this debate was when I was first married. I believed the toilet paper should roll over, so that you just pull the top toward you. My husband believed the toilet paper should roll underneath.

When I re-married some years later, I found the same debate with my second (and current) husband, David. In both marriages, we settled the debate this way. Whoever uses the last piece of toilet paper, and installs the next roll, can decide which way the toilet paper goes. The rule is that the other person cannot change the direction until the next time the toilet paper has to be changed.