Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with kleenex

Hey, Stop Chomping the Charmin!

WCityMike — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:45:48 -0800

I have a cat who is a wonderful and well-behaved affectionate little guy in most respects. He has an annoying compulsion I don't know how to cure: he loves to eat toilet paper and Kleenex. I've tried two things. I tried filling a can with coins, sealing it with duct tape, and resting it on top of the roll so that when he starts futzing around with the toilet paper, it would fall and the loud noise would scare him off. He got pinged once or twice by the can, then learned to ignore the roll for a while. I took off the can after he left the roll alone for about two weeks. About four to five days went by and he went back to savaging it.

I also tried a childproof/catproof toilet paper guard. Although he did not unroll the toilet paper, he savaged the heck out of one of the edges.

Additionally, if a Kleenex box is left on my desk, he will take a tissue out and start methodically ripping off pieces of it and eating it (and he knows he's not supposed to go on the desk, either).

This essentially means I need to keep my toilet paper roll resting on my towel rack and my Kleenex on an upper shelf in my closet. I can live with that if I need to; these are not tremendous problems but merely minor-to-middlin' annoyances. But I'd like these things back where they "should" be. (Rescrewing the toilet paper holder up high is something that occurred to me but is not feasible given I'm renting.)

He only does this late at night in the dark when I am in bed, either falling asleep or more usually when I'm already asleep; it's thus impossible for me to spray him with a water bottle in the act, which is the usual disciplinary measure.

Any clues on how to get the cat to once and for all quit it, or, barring that, any other kind of solutions to positively affect the situation?

Linkage to stuff on the Web detailing how people handled this problem also quite welcome.

What is the term for that phenomenon?

lazaruslong — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 11:44:52 -0800

What is it called when a brand name becomes so ubiquitous that it becomes a descriptor for the action or item itself, e.g. Xerox and Kleenex? Is there a word that describes that phenomenon? For example, the term xerox has been used to often to describe photocopying something that it has become a term for photocopying itself. What is this called?

Pass the Kleenex...

forallmankind — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 09:00:33 -0800

My shrink says I need to cry. I'm not very skilled at this - it's been over 4 yrs - so I thought a good way to start would be watching a few tearjerkers: any recommendations? If it helps any, I tend to err towards the lower schlock end of the movie spectrum, but I'm pretty much up for anything. Except for perhaps if bad things happen to puppies.

Pesticide on facial tissue?

fuzzy_wuzzy — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 19:03:43 -0800

Anti-Viral Kleenex: am I putting pesticide in my nose? On the box of KLEENEX® Anti-Viral tissues there is a warning that is normally found on pesticides and other nasty chemicals in the garage: It is a violation of Federal law to use this product in a manner inconsistent with its labeling. But the active ingredients listed are merely citric acid and sodium lauryl sulfate, both of which are fairly common ingredients (separately) in soap and soda pop, etc. I found at least three different shampoos and body washes in my shower that have both chemicals, but the Federal! Warning! is nowhere to be found. So my question is, does the government require the warning label on the box of Kleenex just because it makes the claim of anti-virus properties -- and not for the chemicals involved? Conversely, if a company sold bottles of plain tap water but targeted a non-typical purpose, could the company be required to label them with bizarre warnings? For example, if Miller Lite [basically the same as tap water] was marketed as a "sidewalk moistener", might the overbearing government regulations stipulate warning labels such as "sidewalk may become slippery if product freezes...", etc.

Vaseline on my nose? Good idea? Really?

jperkins — Fri, 26 Nov 2004 18:01:27 -0800

I've caught my first cold of the season and the frequent nose blowing is irritating the skin near my nose. I seem to remember a suggestion to use vaseline on the irritated skin - does that sound like reasonable solution?