# A Very Un-PC Thread: The Most Unhygienic Custom You Can Think Of. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 8, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748 "2009-05-08T14:00:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/21 "2009-05-08T22:17:44Z")
> [@omgzebras](#): > > The drink made by some (IIRC) Amazon tribe that’s made by chewing up some kind of plant material and spitting it into a pot always struck me as particularly foul. Maybe the fermenting kills the germs but it’s still a big cup of spit. Yech. What about using the coffee beans that have been digested by the civet? ---
**Author:** ![LunarPlexus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@LunarPlexus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LunarPlexus)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/22 "2009-05-08T22:22:10Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > For me, I’ve never quite gotten over reading about some parts of rural India where they clean their houses (including the kitchens) with fresh cow dung. What’s brown, sounds like a bell, is a floor wax, AND a dessert topping? ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/23 "2009-05-08T22:28:53Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Or for you pedantic types, The Most Unhygienic Custom of Which You Can Think. > > For me, I’ve never quite gotten over reading about some parts of rural India where they clean their houses (including the kitchens) with fresh cow dung. > > EEEEEEWWWWWWWW! Oh gods. My mother and father both grew up in rural India and EVERYONE did this. They insist that the smell goes away in an hour, tops. Apparently the practice was also to ferment the dung and use the ensuing natural gas as a source of energy (gober gas). I mean come the f\*ck on, the thought of using cow dung as a building material pales in comparison to the thought of _deliberately fermenting the stuff_. Also of note-apparently if you didn’t own a cow you either sent your kids out to steal some patties off the street all Angela’s Ashes style, or if you were rich enough to be lower middle-class, the gober guy came to your house with some patties. I will state upfront that the whole process gives me hives but it is pretty eco-friendly and they love pointing that sh_t out to me when I go on my first world ecological rants ("Child, we’ve lived all green and such and there’s no f_cking way you’d be able to hack it"). From their perspective-they think it’s pretty hysterical + gross that Americans let their kids shit their pants till they’re four. My personal thing is the Afghan custom of kissing a boy’s penis because…gross! ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/24 "2009-05-09T00:13:53Z")
Sex? ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/25 "2009-05-09T01:33:29Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > What about using the coffee beans that have been digested by the civet? Lucky for me, I’m not much of a coffee drinker. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/26 "2009-05-09T02:57:14Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Sharing the cup of communion wine always kind of wigged me out. My mother is a microbiologist, a clean freak, and a Catholic. I always used to ask her if she thought Jesus was going to protect her from the germs in the Communion wine. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/27 "2009-05-09T02:59:05Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > The Blarney Stone. What’s wrong with pissing on the Blarney stone? ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/28 "2009-05-09T03:20:18Z")
Spitting on your hand then shaking to seal a bargain yuckadeeyuck ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/29 "2009-05-09T03:34:43Z")
> [@omgzebras](#): > > The drink made by some (IIRC) Amazon tribe that’s made by chewing up some kind of plant material and spitting it into a pot always struck me as particularly foul. Maybe the fermenting kills the germs but it’s still a big cup of spit. Yech. Hey, I’ve had _chicha fuerte_ when I stayed in an Indian village in eastern Panama. It’s not as bad as Old Milwaukee.😃 ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/30 "2009-05-09T03:48:10Z")
> [@Doody\_Pants](#): > > In the same vein, it grosses me out to see a bunch of people all eating out of one communal bowl. Never, ever, go to China. Lots of communal bowls with used chopsticks dipping in and out of them. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/31 "2009-05-09T04:05:25Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > What’s wrong with pissing on the Blarney stone? Ha! Regarding wiping with your hand. I have always thought it is no big deal. Tissue seems more convenient, but if I were in a situation that I had to do it, I think I could handle it. I mean, the inside of my ass cheeks are no less ‘me’ than my hands are. It is not a huge deal to have my feces touch them. ---
**Author:** ![EpicNonsense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@EpicNonsense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EpicNonsense)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/32 "2009-05-09T04:27:43Z")
Sharing food… Things like fries, chicken nuggets, and such are okay, but sharing something like a hamburger, mac&cheese, cereal, or anything of that nature, not okay… As for sharing drinks, I have no problem with that. ETA: Also, sharing a toothbrush is a huge no-no in my book. > [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Sex? Most times the sex isn’t all that dirty… ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/33 "2009-05-09T04:43:57Z")
How immersed in internet shut-in culture do you need to be to think of sex as a “custom”? ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/34 "2009-05-09T04:47:35Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > Oh gods. My mother and father both grew up in rural India and EVERYONE did this. They insist that the smell goes away in an hour, tops. > > \ > > My personal thing is the Afghan custom of kissing a boy’s penis because…gross! Can you elaborate on the dung-for-cleaning thing? I just don’t get it. How does smearing fresh cow shit on your counters produce anything other than shit-smeared counters, smell or no? And what’s this about Afhgan penises? Never heard of that. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/35 "2009-05-09T05:22:25Z")
^^ yeah, really? How does one clean with dung? ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/36 "2009-05-09T05:44:13Z")
I’ll ask my dad the particulars of cow shit housekeeping this weekend, but I can think of one thing you guys have wrong upfront (and keep in mind I’ve only seen the “modernized” versions of my parents’ childhood homes and they are way different from modern American homes still)…you’re visualising how people live in the 3rd world in their style of homes/buildings with the images you have from here. There are no “counters” (granite or otherwise) that they are swabbing down with shit in these traditional houses. They don’t even wash their dirty dishes inside the house. They used to take it out back, bring up water from the well and they would be scoured out with sand and well water out back. Shit, I still remember having my mind blown when I went to India for the first time (5 or 6, I think) because homes in Goa didn’t have exterior walls like they do here. They have wood bars. My grandparents added a bathroom when I was something like 12. In all honesty, sometimes when my parents tell me these things I look at them like they’re aliens because they are so far removed from my reality. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/37 "2009-05-09T05:50:35Z")
I guess I don’t really understand what it means to “clean” in such an environment. If there is nothing in the house to wipe down, then aren’t you just throwing cow crap on the floor? I’m thinking really hard here–but no. I just don’t understand. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/38 "2009-05-09T06:17:35Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Ha! > > Regarding wiping with your hand. I have always thought it is no big deal. Tissue seems more convenient, but if I were in a situation that I had to do it, I think I could handle it. I mean, the inside of my ass cheeks are no less ‘me’ than my hands are. It is not a huge deal to have my feces touch them. Yes, but you don’t then eat with your inner ass cheeks, making yourself ill. And more importantly, you don’t then pull out your breast to feed your infant with your inner ass cheeks. And also, you probably have soap and running water with which you can wash your hands. Someone living in a refugee camp in Sudan doesn’t. A mom in a refugee camp in Sudan wipes her bum with her hand and doesn’t have the means to properly wash up. An hour later she pulls out her breast in order to feed her infant. The infant gets a nice mouthful of intestinal bacteria, and twelve hours later starts having serious diarrhea. Two days later the child is dead due to diarrhea-induced dehydration, which is the second most common cause of death of children in the world. So, yeah, it’s pretty gross and has some significant effects. Obviously it’s not just that, it’s also the lack of proper sanitation in general, but it really is a habit that should be discouraged where you can’t properly sanitize your hands after. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/39 "2009-05-09T07:21:01Z")
> [@palindromemordnilap](#): > > I can think of customs WAAY more disgusting than any of the ones listed. But the OP is probably asking for actual customs practiced somewhere in the world that come to mind, rather than asking us to use our imagination. Well, it depends on your definition of “custom.” Are we including just anything that some people do? ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/40 "2009-05-09T07:29:47Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Yes, but you don’t then eat with your inner ass cheeks, making yourself ill. And more importantly, you don’t then pull out your breast to feed your infant with your inner ass cheeks. And also, you probably have soap and running water with which you can wash your hands. Someone living in a refugee camp in Sudan doesn’t. A mom in a refugee camp in Sudan wipes her bum with her hand and doesn’t have the means to properly wash up. An hour later she pulls out her breast in order to feed her infant. The infant gets a nice mouthful of intestinal bacteria, and twelve hours later starts having serious diarrhea. Two days later the child is dead due to diarrhea-induced dehydration, which is the second most common cause of death of children in the world. > > So, yeah, it’s pretty gross and has some significant effects. Obviously it’s not just that, it’s also the lack of proper sanitation in general, but it really is a habit that should be discouraged where you can’t properly sanitize your hands after. A couple things. Firstly, I have to admit ignorance. I thought this wiping with your hand was a middle eastern thing, in general. Meaning, I assumed even those with access to soap and water did it this way. Also, I assumed that people who were grossed out by it were grossed out by the idea of shit touching hands…I didn’t consider that they are actually grossed out by the idea of a dead baby the next morning. When I hear people mention it, it is usually in the same voice they use when finding maggots in the garbage can. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748.md?page=3)