I Don’t Know Who Started Counting Toilet Paper Sheets, but I’d Like a Word I don’t know when we decided that the number of sheets on a roll of toilet paper was important, but I’m fairly certain no consumer ever asked for it. Image by Alan Look Photograhpy Nobody has ever walked into a store and said, “I’d like a roll that has exactly 410 sheets on it, and not a sheet more.” Yet there it is, printed on the package in bold type, as if it’s a meaningful statistic—like calories on food or miles per gallon on a car. The problem with counting sheets is that  a sheet isn’t anything . It’s not a measurement. It’s a suggestion. One company’s sheet is thick enough to qualify as light cardboard, while another company’s sheet is so thin you can read the warranty information through it. Calling them both “one sheet” is like saying a thimble and a coffee mug are both “one cup.” Then there’s the ply. Nobody explains how ply factors into the sheet count, because if they did, the whole thing...