Proving once again that everything is on the Internet, I just came across a study that found that about 25% of Japanese people read newspapers back-to-front. Reading the paper backwards is a habit I’ve had for a long time; I don’t just read from the last section to the first, but from the last page of each section to the first. (There’s one exception: the local Sunday paper comes in a tabloid format with pull-out sections, and I tend to read the sections in order, each section front to back.) I’ve come across a few people that behave similarly, but the fraction who do is nowhere near a quarter.
This begs the question, then, of whether this is a predominantly Japanese trait or if it’s simply more common than my personal experience would indicate. I don’t have enough regular readers–at least, not enough who actively comment–to generate anything close to a reasonable statistical sample, but I’ll put it out there anyway: in what order do you read your newspaper?
Back to front for me too. Although that shouldn’t be too surprising given that the Janes roots can be traced back to mid-7th century Japan during the reign of Daikon.
Just to really throw a wrench into your statistics:
I don’t read my paper at all. I toss it into the front hall of my apartment on the way out in the morning. By the time I get home in the evening, my wife has read the paper and tossed it into the recycle bin.
I’m too lazy to go fetch it.