What seemingly innocuous things can you just NOT look at?

[OpalCat]

This is NOT a thread for posting gross things that squick most people out. This is a thread for posting normal, everyday things that millions of people think nothing of that gross YOU out particularly, so that you avoid looking at them/watching them/seeing them, etc.

For me there are two big ones:

I can't stand seeing someone fold their ear forward. Seeing this causes an instant reaction which, if you were watching my face and trying to guess what I'd just seen, you'd probably think Id' just witnessed a stabbing or something.

I can't watch people brush their teeth--it makes me queasy.

What about you?

[elfkin477]

Videos of baby tree sloths creepy me out badly - not adults, though. It's the way the babies move that's so freaky.

[OpalCat]

I can't say that I've ever seen a baby tree sloth!

[AClockworkMelon]

Mine is a common one: Porcelain dolls scare the fuck out of me.

[tdn]

I was thinking that I don't have anything like this, but after elfkin's response I'm reminded of ferrets. Weird, man!

[Jack Batty]

I was just talking about this today and it almost made me gag then. It's making me almost gag now typing it:

Cooked leaf vegetables. Ugh. When you get whatever Chinese dish and it has those slimy, wilty, booger-looking strings of green ... yeesh ... I can't go on.

Retch

[FrigidLizard]

Smiling babies. I mean, I love children, I don't mind the noises, smells, etc. that they make, it's just that hugely happy look that infants have sometimes. I just find it disgusting, I'm not sure why.

[Alice The Goon]

That "are tumors edible" question in GQ- my stomach turns whenever I see it. Any word on that pukey smiley?

[Alice The Goon]

Originally Posted by OpalCat

This is NOT a thread for posting gross things that squick most people out. This is a thread for posting normal, everyday things that millions of people think nothing of that gross YOU out particularly, so that you avoid looking at them/watching them/seeing them, etc.

For me there are two big ones:

I can't stand seeing someone fold their ear forward. Seeing this causes an instant reaction which, if you were watching my face and trying to guess what I'd just seen, you'd probably think Id' just witnessed a stabbing or something.

I can't watch people brush their teeth--it makes me queasy.

What about you?

Not buckeyes?

[Nzinga, Seated]

Originally Posted by FrigidLizard

Smiling babies. I mean, I love children, I don't mind the noises, smells, etc. that they make, it's just that hugely happy look that infants have sometimes. I just find it disgusting, I'm not sure why.

Hahahaa! That makes me laugh for some reason.

[Mr. Accident]

Eyeballs. I don't see how people can stand to look each other in the eye all the time. They make my skin crawl.

As mentioned above, porcelain dolls. Freaky evil looking little things. My youngest sister collects the things, and she's constantly leaving them laying around. I think that's it, though I'll probably realize that there are others as I read this thread.

[causticsubstance]

the little nook on the top of a pomegranate that is full of those little alienish spore thingies.

[gallows fodder]

I can't stand to have my stomach poked, and I can't stand to watch anyone else get poked in their stomach either. This includes the Pillsbury Dough-boy.

[Bam Boo Gut]

Bare foam, like foam matresses or pillows, make it stop.

[apollonia]

Sloths. I hate sloths, they creep me out, I hate their weird faces and their creepy limbs and their creepy freaky claws and the fact that never ever EVER move and THINGS GROW ON THEM and just eewwww.

I can't look at sloths.

[E. Thorp]

Someone sitting in the passenger seat of a car and propping their feet on the dashboard.

I hate that. If I'm driving on the highway in summertime and see bare feet on the dashboard of some other car, it squicks me right out. No idea why.

[Surly Chick]

Spiders. I can't even look at a picture of a spider without getting heebed out.

[Mr. Accident]

Originally Posted by E. Thorp

Someone sitting in the passenger seat of a car and propping their feet on the dashboard.

I hate that. If I'm driving on the highway in summertime and see bare feet on the dashboard of some other car, it squicks me right out. No idea why.

What about propped on the passenger side mirror? I have a bad habit of doing this. (Yes, I know it's dangerous both to my feet and the driver. It's a habit I'm trying to break.)

[Fried Dough Ho]

Jerusalem Crickets - sorry, but dead ones look like aborted fetusus.

Almost everything to do with pregnancy and babies; women's swollen bellies, new-born babies, mothers breast-feeding, and images of childbirth just make me nauseous. Kept me from ever wanting one of my own.

[Gatopescado]

Kittens.

[impatien]

Wow, you people are weird!!

[WhyNot]

Someone "cracking" their joints. Not just the sound, but watching someone try to tear their head off to crack their neck. Makes me woozy.

Similarly, contortionists and "double jointed" displays. I once worked in an office with two people who had Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. They could turn their elbows inside out, set a hand on a table and rotate it 360 degrees, put their legs behind their heads and do all sorts of extra flexible tricks. Ew, ew, ew!

Oh, and eyeballs. Someone putting in a contact, taking out a contact, or otherwise fondling their eyeballs. Ugh. And the really silly thing is...I wear contacts! (But they're gas perms, so I don't ever have to touch my eyeball directly. Thank gods for water tension!)

[Dusty Rose]

Ultra-sound pictures of someone's unborn. Everyone around me is oohing and ahhing and I'm trying not to gag. And that's just over a still picture.

One year at Thanksgiving my sister and her husband stopped by for dessert. We're all settling into our pie and coffee when she jumps up, turns on the big screen, pops a video in the VCR, and plops down in the middle of the floor. Yep, it was the video of her ultra-sound!!

Good Lord have mercy. I thought I was going to waste my entire Thanksgiving meal by spewing it all over the living room!

[Proudest Monkey]

I hate seeing stuff swirl down the sink drain. In the bathroom it's usually either soap and water, or toothpaste and spit. The kitchen sink swirl might have bits of food or soap or those coagulated clots of fat -- ugh to all!

Say I have an inch or two of coffee left in the pot that I have to dispose of. I will slowly and carefully pour it into the drainhole rather than dumping it quickly and rinsing with water that would make a disgusting coffee/water swirl.

[Hilarity N. Suze]

Originally Posted by Surly Chick

Spiders. I can't even look at a picture of a spider without getting heebed out.

Thread title: SEEMINGLY INNOCUOUS.

Spider: Not ^^^^^

Mine: Those oddly shaped signs--almost an oval, not quite--advertising things. They are sort of teardrop shaped, hanging on the ends of rods, blowing in the wind if there is any, and there are usually two or more of them, saying the same thing. They creep me right out. They give me chills. I have no idea why.

We also have an intersection that has some metal "art" to wit: Large things made to look like clover blossoms, or thistles, or something. Anyway, they're purple. About 10 feet tall, and just what a thistle flower would look like ten feet tall and made out of metal. They creep me out and did so when they first appeared. And now they are paired with those weird oddly shaped signs because something new has opened there. I will drive miles to avoid this intersection.

Unless the new thing happens to be a discount shoe store, then I guess I will just have to grit my teeth and go there.

[chizzuk]

The area where someone has taken a bite out of a sandwich, where it's all kind of mooshed together and a little bit wet. Ew ew ew. Same with any kind of marks on the edge of a glass. This is why I don't share food.

[Dr. Drake]

Wet popsicle sticks. I can handle dry ones, the kind kids use for art, but the thought of them, or their tongue-depressor kin is just not nice. Wow, that was hard to type. And now I have to figure out a way to not think of popsicle sticks. Perhaps I'll go watch videos of baby sloths.

[descamisado]

People chewing gum.

I am so disgusted by this, and I'm not even talking about the vomitous level of people chewing gum with their mouth open or even the murder-inducing level of people popping gum.

Just the simple choice of choosing to chew gum. Why? Why do you hate me?

[OpalCat]

Originally Posted by chizzuk

Same with any kind of marks on the edge of a glass. This is why I don't share food.

me too! Ugh what's worst is the little drip clinging to the glass up by the top rim--bonus grossness points if it's milk. *gag*

[Kamino Neko]

Old pictures of dinosaurs and sea creatures give me the wiggies.

Like up until the 1950s. There is something just viscerally WRONG about them.

Hell, for some sea creatures, even modern drawings or photographs can give me issues.

Mostly Cephalopods and deep sea fish. ESPECIALLY the fish. Cephalopods are invertebrates, so a certain wrongness is to be expected, but when a vertebrate triggers the 'oh, god, this is a creature that SHOULD NOT BE' reaction, it's that much worse.

[FuzzyOgre]

Seeing people get their shoulders massaged. I hate having my own touched to such a degree that it bothers me to see it happen to other people.

Side note: this topic turned out to be much more interesting than the subject suggested.

[HardlySanguine]

Originally Posted by OpalCat

I can't watch people brush their teeth--it makes me queasy.

The sound of someone brushing their teeth is like nails on a chalkboard to me. I can't help but cringe. The sight of someone brushing about to brush is enough to make me cringe in anticipation. It's not as bad on TV or in the movies I still have to avert my eyes. I can bear it, but it's not pleasant.

Interestingly enough, I didn't have this 'affliction' when I was younger.

[HardlySanguine]

Too late to ETA, but reading the toothpaste thread's OP caused an involuntary shiver to travel down my spine.

[zweisamkeit]

Newer windmills. Jeezy Creezy they creep me out so bad! They look like the kind of thing that would show up in some horror scene in a movie.

[person gets out of car on a road near open land, windmill in the distance]
[close up shot of their face, then where they're looking]
[new shot like the original but the windmill is closer]
[person looks down at something]
[OH MY GOD THE WINDMILL IS RIGHT BEHIND THEM AAAAAAAAUGH]

[descamisado]

Seeing people brush their teeth doesn't actually squick me out but it does surprise me when I see it on TV or in a movie. Why?

And then the fact they only brush for like 20 seconds bothers me because it takes me a while to stop thinking how ill-brushed their teeth are.

[elmwood]

Watching someone eat hardboiled eggs. Just the thought causes me to gag.

[panache45]

Originally Posted by Alice The Goon

Not buckeyes?

Beat me to it!

[AHunter3]

Originally Posted by descamisado

People chewing gum.

I am so disgusted by this, and I'm not even talking about the vomitous level of people chewing gum with their mouth open or even the murder-inducing level of people popping gum.

Just the simple choice of choosing to chew gum. Why? Why do you hate me?

^^^ I came in to say this.

Ewww.

[salinqmind]

Lipstick on things - cutlery, glasses, cigarette butts, and especially white foam cups. Congealed egg yolk on dishes. A sink full of icky dishwater full of floating bits and pieces. ICK!...Dandruff...Gel or hair products that is actually meant to make your hair look all clumpy and greasy....A used, wadded up tissue not thrown in the trash but left out in the open by some slob...Maple tree seeds, 'helicopters', that fall down by the metric ton on the lawn and make a crunching noise when you walk across the grass as if you're walking on a sea of dead bugs...Carpenter bees hovering right in front of you, making you wish you'd thought to carry a tennis racket around with you... These are a few of my UN-favorite things.

[StGermain]

Wiggly teeth. I just can't look at kids who want to wiggle their about-to-fall-out teeth.

Shrimp. I don't see how people can eat giant sea-bugs, and don't want to look at them.

StG

[norinew]

Someone upthread mentioned seeing someone touch their eyeballs. I agree. Not only can I not have contact lenses (cuz then I would have to touch my eyeballs!!!!!) but I can't even watch my husband put his in!

Another thing, I have no idea what it's about, is 'computerized' voices saying numbers. I call businesses (say, the gas company) and a computerized voice says "For residential service, press 'one' now". That's OK. But when it gets to the point where the ask me to input my account number, and then 'read' it back to me ("You have entered three-three-five-nine-six-zero-nine-four"), it is panic-attack-inducing. Truly.

[El_Kabong]

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but those inflateable stick men they use to attract attention to stores and auto dealerships along the highway. The way they flop around and wave their...appendages freaks me right the hell out.

People I don't know well (and even some that I do) touching me. In any way. In her later years, my mother insisted on getting all huggy with me whenever I would visit. I feel terrible about this, but I found it almost unbearably uncomfortable.

OTOH, I love having my ears folded forward when I'm getting a haircut, so I guess I'd better stay out of the OP's way.

[Freudian Slit]

Chimp feet. They're so creepy.

[elfkin477]

Originally Posted by El_Kabong

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but those inflateable stick men they use to attract attention to stores and auto dealerships along the highway. The way they flop around and wave their...appendages freaks me right the hell out.

Yeah...but like spiders, I don't think those belong in a thread about seemingly innocuous things. They're practically designed to inflict trauma on you.

[Freudian Slit]

I've never seen an inflatable stick man. Is this an example?

[chizzuk]

Originally Posted by El_Kabong

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but those inflateable stick men they use to attract attention to stores and auto dealerships along the highway. The way they flop around and wave their...appendages freaks me right the hell out.

I have real problems with anything in a large costume, i.e. mascots. I'm afraid that if I make eye contact, they will come over to me, and that will freak me right out. Because you can't see where the person is looking under the fake googly eyes, and their costume is probably filthy and sweaty and disgusting with the germs of 20,000 kids, and they tend to grab and hug you without warning, and they're really hard to get rid of. I hate mascots. My parents told me I was skittish around them as a small child and apparently I've never grown out of it. Whenever I'm at a baseball game, for example, and Wally the Green Monster or the Oriole Bird comes around, I avert my eyes and either leave my seat if they're coming close or veer to the other side of the concourse.

[Markxxx]

I hate when people (usually kids) turn their eye lids inside out

[aruvqan]

Pictures. commercials or threads/stories about animal abuse. That fucking commercial with the woman singing that goes on for about 10 fucking minutes makes me change the channel. If I am in a bar or someones house where it is going on and I cant change the channel I leave the room and put in the earbuds of my ipod and crank the music so i cant hear the voice over.

This from a person who sat eating spaghetti and meatballs while watching faces of death ... and has attended autopsies.

[elfkin477]

Originally Posted by Freudian Slit

I've never seen an inflatable stick man. Is this an example?

Sort of. Most of them don't have legs. Imagine a snake with arms, a terrifying grin, and a stupid hat.

[FuzzyOgre]

Migrating tent caterpillars.

You need to drive very carefully down a highway covered with them, and their crushed bodies have the most ugh-some odor.

The remains are a green greasy mushy trail, quickly covered by the millions of others marching. Oh, and the spray? It coats the wheel wells of your vehicle, the tires and everything else that it splashes, including getting bits on you when you wash it off. You get to smell it all over again.

Want photos?