Social Question

King_Pariah's avatar

Do you have any habits most people find peculiar?

Asked by King_Pariah (11484points) February 21st, 2012

For example, I make it a point to, at some point, destroy, erase, delete, etc. every poem I write. You?

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73 Answers

picante's avatar

I much prefer looking at the night sky to watching television. I’m very out of touch with pop culture as a result of that; and I’m sure most find it very odd.

tom_g's avatar

Like @picante, I do not watch tv. That seems to puzzle most people.

MilkyWay's avatar

I like classical and old music from the 80s that most of my friends think is weird.
My eating habits are strange, I like to have ketchup with my pasta and like pineapple on my pizza.
Those are just a few out of many. I am a weird being.

AmWiser's avatar

I save all my finger and toe nail clippings in a jar. And for no reason. Just started doing it one day and now it’s a habit of sorts. My manicurist gives me a funny look when I ask her to wrap my clippings to go.:-}

Kardamom's avatar

I’m a vegetarian. ‘Nuff said.

MilkyWay's avatar

^ Is that peculiar in the States @Kardamom? It’s not much of a big deal over here…

emeraldisles's avatar

I like to dip warm french fries in a vanilla milkshake, which some find gross.

tom_g's avatar

@emeraldisles – Not gross at all. When I was a kid, one of my favorite things was to dip McDonald’s french fries in a coffee shake. If coffee was not available, I would go with vanilla. Man, I don’t eat McDonald’s anymore, but I think I need to find a way to try this again. Thanks for reminding me.

Brian1946's avatar

@MilkyWay

“Is that peculiar in the States…?”

I don’t think It’s peculiar in California, but it might be in Texas, which I think some people consider to be the “beef state”.

Kardamom's avatar

@MilkyWay Yeah, being a vegetarian in the US is still considered pretty “out there.” Especially amongst older folks or people who come from areas where ranching or farming is big business.

I still get the silly question, “If you don’t eat meat, what DO you eat?” followed with either “Well in our house, we’re meat eaters, sorry!” or “I could never give up meat, I would die and I don’t like vegetables.”

There are only a few completely vegetarian restaurants in my town and I can’t say that I’ve ever seen a TV commercial for a vegetarian restaurant. And my doctor still seems flummoxed by the idea and doesn’t even suggest a vegetarian diet, when he talks about eating more healthy. It’s just not part of the lexicon.

At most restaurants, it’s often a challenge to find even one dish that is suitable for vegetarians, other than an iceberg salad with mealy pink tomatoes (and even that usually comes garnished with bacon bits).

It’s getting better, but I’m still usually the odd man (or in my case woman) out when I go out to eat, or get invited to a wedding or a family party or to a work event.

blueiiznh's avatar

I put my pants on two legs at a time.

ucme's avatar

Only those I tore off those nuns in an orgy of sex & laughter.

linguaphile's avatar

I fold my undies, towels and washclothes in a very consistent, precise manner, have an extremely organized closet and cabinets which comes as a huge surprise to many people who know me—I look disorganized and scattered, but I’m not.

Blackberry's avatar

I tend to laugh at my own jokes.

KatawaGrey's avatar

I count. A lot. I have specific ways of counting some things that are nearly impossible to explain to other people. I can’t talk when I’m walking up stairs because I have to count them and I count them differently than other people do. Sometimes, counting is the only way to calm me down or help me concentrate.

I also sometimes just go driving at night for no reason at all. I do savor the look the people’s faces when they say usually sarcastically “Oh, and I suppose you like driving long distances when you don’t have to,” to which I reply, “Yes, yes I do.”

Kardamom's avatar

@KatawaGrey I used to do the counting thing a lot in my middle school years. I had some pretty bad OCD, then. I also had to touch certain objects a certain number of times, or recite certain phrases. I pretty much talked myself out of it when I got older, but it was hard.

One thing that I often do, when I’m thinking about something, I will find my fingers typing on an imaginary keyboard whilst forming the words in my mind. I hate that I do it, but I don’t think anyone has ever noticed me doing it. It all started in 8th grade when I learned how to type.

Lightlyseared's avatar

I don’t have peculiar habits. Just annoying ones.

downtide's avatar

I’m another one that never watches TV.

I have an odd little OCD habit in which I compulsively sort things by colour. (My art materials are very well organised!)

People also think I’m peculiar to play Second Life. Even internet geeks think that is peculiar.

LuckyGuy's avatar

I always wash my hands before and after I eat (and pee).
The guys at work joked that I was like a raccoon. Screw ‘em. My steering wheel, laptop and keyboards are always spotless.

AshLeigh's avatar

I don’t match my outfits.
I don’t match my socks.
I wear slippers as regular shoes.
I sometimes wear several skirts at once.
I wear a tank top under my t-shirts every day.
I sit backwards in the seats, on buses, with my feet straight up, like this.
I sniff people, at random…
Oh, and I don’t want TV. :P

6rant6's avatar

I’ve described myself as obsessively noncompulsive. Hard to identify anything as a habit. I have no idea if people find me peculiar. Some of them say the most unexpectedly kind things to me and some don’t talk to me at all.

Brian1946's avatar

i nefer proofreed or ediit my posts. ;-p

Blackberry's avatar

It’s also strange to not have furniture. Initially, I just couldn’t afford it as it was my first time having an apartment. I can afford it now, but choose not to buy anything because I simply don’t need it. I have a bed, a dresser, a lawn chair, plates, cups utensils etc, but no couch, no TV stand, and just recently got a TV, but only use it to play PS3 and watch movies, but the TV is just fine on my dresser.

I am completely fine living like this and I don’t see it changing anytime soon, but people think I’m a depraved third world child.

YARNLADY's avatar

I hardly ever comb my hair, and I don’t even carry a comb with me when I leave the house.

6rant6's avatar

@AshLeigh Aw. I liked, “I don’t watch my socks.”

KatawaGrey's avatar

@Blackberry: I sleep on a futon pad on the floor because there is no reason to waste all that money for a futon stand. I’m perfectly comfortable on the floor and when someone says to me, “Why wouldn’t want a bed? Isn’t that kind of childish?” I just say to them, “There’s no rocking or squeaking.” That usually shuts ‘em right up!

Blackberry's avatar

@KatawaGrey Oh yes, I think I’m going to put my mattress and box spring on the floor for the same reason. It’s really more of a hassle sometimes to put it on that little metal frame.

Dutchess_III's avatar

I always have a book with me, and people will spot me reading at what they might consider the oddest places….waiting for a train, for example.

Blackberry's avatar

@Dutchess_III Why would you do something silly like that when you could be on your phone instead lol?

creative1's avatar

I don’t sleep in my queen size bed unless I have a boyfriend sleep over and that hasn’t happened in over a year and a half now.

AshLeigh's avatar

@6rant6, I liked it too. Unfortunately, it didn’t make sense. Haha.

sliceswiththings's avatar

I play the accordion…?

Brian1946's avatar

@Blackberry

“Oh yes, I think I’m going to put my mattress and box spring on the floor for the same reason. It’s really more of a hassle sometimes to put it on that little metal frame.”

That is a hassle, and it’s one reason why my box spring is on the floor. Also, it keeps dust bunnies from accumulating underneath.

Dutchess_III's avatar

@Blackberry O! Well! That gives me another shot! I spend less than 5% of my waking hours either on the phone or texting. : )

I pull over if I HAVE to use the phone or I HAVE to check that text. Is that weird?

Blackberry's avatar

@Dutchess_III That is weird, why not just break the law the like everyone else lol? I occasionally see people stopped on the shoulder talking on the phone and I commend them.

Sunny2's avatar

I don’t drink coffee. Never have. I get funny looks about that.

Dutchess_III's avatar

The law be damned at @Blackberry! I’d do it even if it wasn’t against the law. I pulled over to talk before it was against the law. It’s called common sense.

flutherother's avatar

I eat uncooked oatmeal for breakfast.

Coloma's avatar

@flutherother You’re really a horse” Hey Mr. Ed!

Coloma's avatar

@AshLeigh stops the out of control speeding locomotive, go supergirl! lol

flutherother's avatar

@Coloma I’ve given up grass for Lent.

Brian1946's avatar

@AshLeigh

‘Some people think I’m kind of peculiar…’

I’d say anyplace that has sideways gravity is going to have some peculiarities. ;-)

6rant6's avatar

@AshLeigh Gotta love a woman who can be trained.

AshLeigh's avatar

@Brian1946, you know… Super powers and all…
@6rant6… Pun intended?

augustlan's avatar

I dip my McD’s fries in my vanilla shake, too. So good!
I can’t share dairy products of any kind. No you may not have a bite of my ice cream. And do NOT touch my cheese! If your fingers touch my cheese, I can’t eat it. :(

MollyMcGuire's avatar

Like a few others, I don’t really watch TV. This is a real handicap playing board/trivia games. It drives me nuts that they ask questions about stupid TV programs.

I like for people to remove their shoes at my front door.

I will not let anyone bring an animal into my house.

I completely dry the shower when I finish showering.

I like for a stack of things to have the larger pieces on the bottom and get smaller as the stack rises (like a stack of mail).

I will not eat something that I have seen another person touch.

I will not take a bite of food if it is dark, such as in the car at night or in the den watching a movie with the lights out. I must see each bite. (this is from taking a bite of a candy bar as a child and then noticing live worms in it)

keobooks's avatar

I have eccentric parents who had eccentric parents. So I was allowed to develop all sorts of peculiar habits without anyone telling me that they may not be socially acceptable. I usually don’t find out that something I’m doing is considered peculiar until I look up and see people starting at me in a “WTF” manner. So I probably am naming less than ¼th of my real peculiar habits. But here I go:

* Without warning, I will start thinking of rhymes or spoonerisms with something someone has said at any given moment. I can’t help but blurt them out and grin to myself if the spoonerism is a good one.

* I also find perverse pleasure in deliberately mispronouncing words—especially foreign words. I don’t know when this started or why I do it—my mother and her father both have/had this habit and it annoyed me as a kid to no end. Now I do it even though it still annoys me when my mom does it.

* I am a compulsive fidgeter. I’ve had people just randomly tell me where the bathrooms are because they thought I was doing a “pee-pee dance”. I’ve also had many people assume that I had Tourette’s syndrome. But I’ve just always been twitchy.

* When I walk around outside, I will grab leave off trees without thinking and then play with the leaves.

* When I was younger, I used to have the habit of skipping and swinging my arms wherever I went. I think this is related to the fidgeting. I just don’t have that much nervous energy anymore.

smilingheart1's avatar

No need for my family to follow the yellow brick road when there are cups with napkins in them unwittingly left behind once I arise to go do something which I had “just thought of.”

Coloma's avatar

Oh yeah, count me in on no TV in over 10 years and, gasp I don’t carry a cell phone, if you want to talk to me you have to call me, or email. I also keep interesting specimens of little critters in my freezer, like an eensy weensie baby shrew and the worlds tiniest baby lizard. Ya know, makes for good cocktail party conversation. lol

OpryLeigh's avatar

I found out yesterday that most of the people I work with find it weird that I pour orange juice on my museli instead of milk.

Keep_on_running's avatar

I always give my bed a dusting off with my hand before I get into it just in case there are any foreign particles or sand that may rub against my bare skin at night – it’s incredibly annoying.

Coloma's avatar

@AmWiser Wins the peculiarity award for most off the wall habits. haha
A jar of toenail and nail clippings…hmmm, maybe you should start adding your hair from haircuts and then you could make little voodoo dolls of yourself. lolol

keobooks's avatar

@Coloma I can’t believe this! My grandmother (mom’s mom) has a baby shrew in her freezer! I thought she was one of a kind! She also has a hummingbird and god knows what else. If she finds something dead but perfectly in tact, into the freezer it goes.

Is there any chance that you’re my grandma? I can’t believe that there are two people who do that.

OK so you’re about 35 years younger than my grandma.. but perhaps you lie about your age and your location..

SpatzieLover's avatar

I have several dead things in my freezer, too @Coloma. Currently, there are at least two spatzies, one parakeet and one robin, all wanting proper burial once the ground thaws.

My former neighbor once started an odd conversation with me about cartoons in the newspaper. He said “Who would keep a dead pet rabbit in their freezer?” I think it was in “For Better or Worse” that week…Anywho, he was an old guy, and I didn’t want to freak him out…BUT at that time I had a dead pet rabbit and a dead pet guinea pig. We were waiting for another elderly pet to die before taking them all for private cremation.

Yep, everytime I go in the freezer for my coconut ice cream, I see brown paper wrapped dead things. ;)

Coloma's avatar

@keobooks
@SpatzieLover

Haha..I love it! My little frozen friends are in ziplock baggies. What can I say, I’m like the original Darwin, a veritable museum in the freezer. lol

blueiiznh's avatar

@AshLeigh easy enough for a former gymnast. Nothing like jumping right into the day. Perfect 10!

SpatzieLover's avatar

Mine are wraped in several things and then put in plastic @Coloma. My husband might leap out of his skin if he saw a frozen dead thing ;)

6rant6's avatar

I have an entire flock of frozen edamame in my freezer.

Coloma's avatar

@6rant6 Did the soy beans “sprout” wings? Careful, they might take flight and migrate to someone elses freezer. lol

Kardamom's avatar

I hope that none of @SpatzieLover‘s friends or relatives accidentally die when they’re over at her house, else they should end up in the freezer too LOL.

Wonder what her hubby would think of that, when he’s looking for his fudgsicles?

SpatzieLover's avatar

Oh @Kardamom, I’d get out my shovel and bury them right away ;) Then I’d plant an oak or a maple over them.

Coloma's avatar

@SpatzieLover Over here you don’t have to bury the bodies, just toss em out in the woods for the cougars and coyotes. lol

Dutchess_III's avatar

Well, I kept the first fish that my son ever caught in the freezer for 3 years. (wait…he didn’t catch it in the freezer. he caught it in the lake. Trying again: “In the freezer I kept the first fish that my son ever caught for 3 years.” No, that ain’t right…..“The first fish my son ever caught I kept in the freezer for 3 years….” Yeah. That’s the ticket. Is GailCalled looking??? Why isn’t there ever a Nazi Grammar around when you want one??)

GET A FREAKIN’ CELL PHONE @Coloma!! I have texts to send you!!!

Kardamom's avatar

@Dutchess_III If your son was over at Coloma’s or Spatzielover’s house, your son may have actually been able to catch a fish in their freezers! LOL. Or a squirrel or a bird or a…

Dutchess_III's avatar

There is no TELLING what could be in Coloma’s or SL’s freezer! Probably some of @AmWiser‘s toe nail clippings! They probably use them for decorations, like kids use macaroni noodles and glue. I so seriously wish @AmWiser hadn’t told us that!!!

Hain_roo's avatar

@KatawaGrey I slept on my futon on the floor until I realize bugs have much easier access to you that way :/

Coloma's avatar

Note: Just found a mummified giant lizard under my couch and transported a jumping spider on my pillow out to the deck. Sheesh, I live in a nature documentary. lol

AmWiser's avatar

@Dutchess_III, Really!!! I did hesitate at first on telling that little tid-bit. And yes, my family thinks I’m a little odd at times too. Oh well…so much for wearing my Fluther t-shirt out in public…lest my habit bring me shame.:-)

mattbrowne's avatar

At the office I’m the guy with the largest tea mug. Sometimes I tell people, well in America this is medium size.

Dutchess_III's avatar

@AmWiser But we still love you!!!!

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