KATHY MITCHELL AND MARCY SUGAR | Annie's Mailbox Last word on toilet seats will have to wait

Dear Annie: I read with interest the letters about putting down the toilet seat. I've been browbeaten by various women for the past 60 years about proper seat etiquette, starting with my mother. If I forget to put the seat down even once, my wife reminds me for hours about this life-threatening situation.
I know you said the last column was the final word on the subject, but I hope you'll reopen the issue. I want to ask women: Who gave you exclusive ownership of the bathroom? If men are nice enough to put the lid down, why can't you ladies lift it up when you are done? When I suggested this to my wife, she wanted to have me taken out and shot. It's time to rebel! Fed Up in Salem, Ore.
Dear Fed Up: What is it about toilet seats that excites people? We received hundreds of letters on this subject and decided the "last word" would have to wait:
From Hawaii: My friend had a consultant tell her that one main rule of feng shui that will bring money and financial success into your home is to always keep the toilet lid closed. As soon as her family started doing that, they had all kinds of good things happen to them.
Minnesota Reader: I read the letter from a woman who fined her son 25 cents every time he left the toilet seat up. Did she also fine her daughter for leaving the seat down?
Grandpa in Columbia, Mo.: Men should sit down to use the toilet. Women will appreciate it, the bathrooms will be cleaner, and you will deprive all listeners of the chance to diagnose your prostate condition.
Indianapolis: I was raised by my grandfather, and I worried about him getting sick. When I found the toilet seat up in the morning, I knew he was awake and OK.
Louisville, Ky.: Toilet-seat lids are not supposed to be backrests. They are meant to cover the bowl for the sake of appearance. All of us, male and female, should put the lid down after using the toilet. That makes it fair for everyone.
Hillsborough, N.J.: We women expect men to put the seat up when they need to use the toilet, but we are too lazy to put it down ourselves. Each person should adjust the seat as needed.
Murfreesboro, Tenn.: My wife complained about me leaving the seat up, so I put both the seat and cover down, and she complained about that, too.
Southern Grandma: I had to write when I saw the letter from "Wet in Boston," who said her husband and sons were "sloppy" in the bathroom. I have a sign posted on the wall behind the toilet. It says, "Stand closer. It's not as long as you think."
Poughkeepsie, N.Y.: This old man puts the seat down. There was a study done at the University of Arizona a few years ago. A microbiologist discovered that water spray, from flushing, is dispersed up to 10 feet away. My toothbrush falls into this area, so putting the seat down seems like a pretty sensible option to me.
Dear N.Y.: OK, that one does it for us. If keeping your children and pets from falling into the toilet doesn't make you put the seat down, knowing that your toothbrush, hairbrush, soap, drinking cup and razor blades are being sprayed each time the seat is up ought to convince you.
By the way, we did some checking and discovered that the microbiologist who did the study, Dr. Charles Gerba, also found that the kitchen was more contaminated than the bathroom, and the average office workstation has 400 times more bacteria than the average office toilet. Yuck.
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