# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/61 "2009-05-11T05:19:07Z")
> [@santosvega](#): > > Yeah, there seems to be a lot of germophobia in this thread. Not saying it’s entirely unreasonable, but if a handshake is the most unhygienic custom you can think of you need to hit the books. Unfortunately, way too many people buy into the anti-germ hysteria promulgated by the anti-bacterial wipe and spray companies. The notion that a simple handshake might be “the most unhygienic custom you can think of” is simply bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/62 "2009-05-11T05:49:32Z")
This thread is just plain weird: it seems that practically any form of contact with any item that has ever been in contact with any other human being is now considered weird and disgusting. Sharing food? The horror! Get over yourselves, snowflakes. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/63 "2009-05-11T06:16:25Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > The notion that a simple handshake might be “the most unhygienic custom you can think of” is simply bizarre. I dunno about that . . . as far as spreading illness, shaking hands is pretty far up the ladder, and it’s one of the most common customs in the west. I’ve heard studies (on NPR, I think, among other places) where people will test doorknobs, shoe-bottoms, floors, public toilet seats, telephones, handrails, etc., and the palm of the hand always ends up being the dirtiest or one of the dirtiest places. How many customs can you think of that we practice every single day, sometimes several times, that are so dirty they make the inclusion of handshakes seem “bizarre”? I mean . . . letting someone cough or sneeze in your face is worse I’m sure, and so would be performing analingus on a hooker with bleeding hemroids, but those aren’t customs as far as I know. There’s something to be said for handshakes just based on how common they are • the likelihood of them actually making you sick. ---
**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 11, 2009, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/64 "2009-05-11T06:26:44Z")
Thanks, anu-la1979. Very interesting. And very foreign. I find it fascinating how people in really different cultures live–thanks for taking the time to get and relay the info. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/65 "2009-05-11T14:04:20Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > Cow Dung Husbandry for the Curious: That’s actually rather brilliant, and not un-hygenic at all, now that we have the details. > [@](#): > > 1. As a cleaning agent > A. Once you receive the cow dung fresh you bake it in a coal oven and turn into a “biscuit” of sorts (not a cookie, my father speaks England english). At some point it burns into activated carbon (I don’t know what inactive carbon is but that’s the word he used). They crumble the carbon and use it either as toothpaste or reserve it for things that needed very deep cleaning/extra abrasion (I’m guessing rust off metals??). So it’s been heated to a sanitary temperature and is used for its abrasive properties. Brilliant! > [@](#): > > B. The Kitchen Cleaning Issue: they do not swab down the counters with shit. My father also pointed out that it’s not like they even have too much counterspace and asked me if I’d forgotten that we didn’t even have running water at my mother’s house until the 90s (dudes, you have no idea how labour intensive it is to bathe but they are the most awesome baths ever). Once they decide that they’ve produced enough of the activated carbon they let the rest of the dung burn into ashes and they use these ashes to scrub out pots and pans. So they’re making sterile, shelf-stable Insta-Lye, just add water. Again, brilliant! (If a little tough on the hands. Madge would not approve.) > [@](#): > > 1. Floors: they used the cow dung to create an antiseptic slurry to pack mud floors. This was apparently before cementing the floors became common in India. They would take fresh dung, mix it with water and create a slurry and spread it thinly over the mud floors. It would dry, the smell would vanish and they would have hardpacked floors (otherwise apparently the mud flakes off after a while). I asked my dad if they weren’t afraid of germs/parasites but he says that everyone believes that cow dung has either antimicrobial/antiseptic qualities and that the slurry is known to keep insects off which is why they use it. So it’s a floor sealer, not a cleaner. And spread in a thin layer, exposed to the air, any coliforms in there will be dead within hours. As long as the kids are kept off the floor until dry, it’s clean as floorwax. Brilliant! > [@](#): > > 1. You can burn it. However, he said that once they figured out gober gas (fermented cow dung natural gas) that the practice of burning it died out because fermenting it was a more efficient way of using it for energy. And, of course, burning also kills coliform bacteria. Brilliant! Tell your dad I think he’s awesome, and his people…uh…brilliant! ---
**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 11, 2009, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/66 "2009-05-11T14:21:35Z")
No problem, guys. From an anthopological perspective, the manner in which they historically used the cow (from labour animal to using nearly every byproduct for some household purpose) is probably why they created the mythology they did around it (in terms of the Hindu aversion to beef). My father claims that the curren theory in India is that the ancients did notice that droughts occurred in a fairly regular cycle in India, so they threw up the religious prohibition around the cow to incentivize not eating it during those troughs in the cycle. Of course, this was prior to the discovery of chemical fertilizers but old customs die hard. The thing is that India is a really big place and there’s no doubt in my mind that there’s some sect using cow crap for some truly disgusting purpose-but I think if you’re thinking about the average rural poor my parents’ experience is probably standard. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/67 "2009-05-11T14:41:52Z")
cowdung is used for the exact same architectural uses in [traditional African architecture](http://www.travelblog.org/Photos/2346875.html). ---
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/68 "2009-05-11T14:55:31Z")
> [@Neidhart](#): > > The ancient Greek habit of storing money in one’s _mouth._ I believe that those people with money stored in their mouth [weren’t in very good health to begin with](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charon%27s_obol) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/69 "2009-05-11T14:59:51Z")
Cow dung as toothpaste? That wasn’t on my list _before_… Those tribes that periodically dig up the corpses of their ancestors to… I dunno, hang out with them? ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/70 "2009-05-11T15:24:14Z")
> [@Scissorjack](#): > > This thread is just plain weird: it seems that practically any form of contact with any item that has ever been in contact with any other human being is now considered weird and disgusting. Sharing food? The horror! Get over yourselves, snowflakes. I agree that there seems to be a lot of over-reaction to human-to-human contact. For one thing, humans–actually, just about all animals–naturally have thousands of bacteria strains throughout and on the surface of their bodies. These bacteria usually serve useful purposes, and they’re unhygienic only if a person has some kind of bacteria-caused illness. But most illnesses that pass from one human to another are viruses. There’s nothing particularly unhygienic in a healthy human’s mouth. We have to assume that if you think sharing food is disgusting, then you never engage in kissing. Never. You’re on a date and the other person gets especially amorous, and you say, “EEEEEEwwwwwwww, I’m not going to kiss you! That’s unhygienic!” What you’re essentially saying is that you think the other person has some kind of disease or illness. Secondly, the human body has a wonderfully, amazingly effective defense system against unfamiliar microbes. If I get a cold, my body engages in a whole battery of defenses that keep it at bay. And if I get influenza, my body will heat itself in order to prevent the virus from replicating. And once my body has defeated an “unfriendly” bacteria or virus, it can usually easily fight it off in the future. > [@Cisco](#): > > I dunno about that . . . as far as spreading illness, shaking hands is pretty far up the ladder, and it’s one of the most common customs in the west. I’ve heard studies (on NPR, I think, among other places) where people will test doorknobs, shoe-bottoms, floors, public toilet seats, telephones, handrails, etc., and the palm of the hand always ends up being the dirtiest or one of the dirtiest places. How many customs can you think of that we practice every single day, sometimes several times, that are so dirty they make the inclusion of handshakes seem “bizarre”? I mean . . . letting someone cough or sneeze in your face is worse I’m sure, and so would be performing analingus on a hooker with bleeding hemroids, but those aren’t customs as far as I know. There’s something to be said for handshakes just based on how common they are • the likelihood of them actually making you sick. It’s true that many viruses are transmitted by hand-to-hand contact, but if it were as “dirty” as you say, the whole society would be sick in bed. Even if hand-shaking were eliminated, people would still be getting sick, because we need to use our hands for so many other things–door knobs, keyboards, buttons on the office copy machine–and then we bring our hands to our facial orifices out of habit. If we could stop doing that, then shaking hands would never be a problem at all. In fact, the benefit of the face masks that people are wearing now because of the H1D1 flu is mostly because it prevents people from touching their mouth with their hand, not because it “filters out” spore in the air. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/71 "2009-05-11T15:41:54Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > It’s true that many viruses are transmitted by hand-to-hand contact, but if it were as “dirty” as you say, the whole society would be sick in bed. No, we aren’t sick in bed all the time because we have immune systems. They’re not bulletproof, though. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/72 "2009-05-11T15:48:02Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Never, ever, go to China. Lots of communal bowls with used chopsticks dipping in and out of them. Don’t they use the other end of the chopsticks to transfer the food from the communal bowl to their individual little rice bowls? > [@Renee](#): > > 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. In the type of circumstances we’re talking about, there’s a floor, and maybe some walls. You sit, eat, and sleep on the floor. So the floor is meticulously cleaned regularly, especially after meals. In a place with walls, the walls will also be washed after meals. > [@Scissorjack](#): > > This thread is just plain weird: it seems that practically any form of contact with any item that has ever been in contact with any other human being is now considered weird and disgusting. Sharing food? The horror! Get over yourselves, snowflakes. Those Indians using cow dung to clean? They will not touch food that has been on someone else’s plate. ---
**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 11, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/73 "2009-05-11T16:00:44Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Cow dung as toothpaste? That wasn’t on my list _before_… > > Those tribes that periodically dig up the corpses of their ancestors to… I dunno, hang out with them? It’s carbon at that point-and I looked up what activated carbon is. That shit can be used to filter gas. I think you’re talking about the Inca in terms of hanging out with dead ancestors. I have got to say-man, the West sure likes to talk a big deal about living green but when faced with it they go all squirrelly! ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/74 "2009-05-11T16:07:12Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > I looked up what activated carbon is. That shit can be used to filter gas. “That shit” being used literally here, for once. ---
**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 11, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/75 "2009-05-11T16:10:55Z")
Another thing-my father says that India’s carbon footprint would be infinitely higher if it weren’t for the use of gober gas (fermented cow dung natural gas). Apparently they guesstimate upwards of 30%. Also, apparently the building and maintenance of gober gas tanks is very cheap. Why the f\*ck don’t we do that here? He said when he was at IIT he volunteered on a project to convert a medium large farm to run entirely on gober gas-that the dude did it with 15 cows. Why don’t we just throw tanks under feedlots and generate natural gas that way? ---
**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 11, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/76 "2009-05-11T17:29:52Z")
Anaerobic digestors are being put up next to dairies and other CAFOs. In Ottawa County, in west MI, there is more manure than field to spread it, so they don’t have much choice. Other farmers are realizing that they could use the money (from proceeds and grants), especially as many have to upgrade their manure storage facilities anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/77 "2009-05-11T18:25:16Z")
Thanks to the excellent information from **anu-la1979** , we’ve learnt that it’s NOT \*fresh \*cow dung, but baked (and therefore probably pretty well sterilized and deodorized). This takes a lot, but not all of the ick factor out if it for me. And yes, we could learn a lot from the eco-friendly practices of developing countries. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/78 "2009-05-11T18:44:33Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > It’s carbon at that point-and I looked up what activated carbon is. That shit can be used to filter gas. > > I think you’re talking about the Inca in terms of hanging out with dead ancestors. > > I have got to say-man, the West sure likes to talk a big deal about living green but when faced with it they go all squirrelly! It’s not the Inca – it’s still practiced today. I’m thinking somewhere North African. Oh yeah, and I’ve got a vasectomy and never had kids. I consider that my contribution to the future of the planet. BTW, I’m in the market for a gas-powered toaster. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/79 "2009-05-11T18:57:51Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > Another thing-my father says that India’s carbon footprint would be infinitely higher if it weren’t for the use of gober gas (fermented cow dung natural gas). Apparently they guesstimate upwards of 30%. Also, apparently the building and maintenance of gober gas tanks is very cheap. Why the f\*ck don’t we do that here? He said when he was at IIT he volunteered on a project to convert a medium large farm to run entirely on gober gas-that the dude did it with 15 cows. > > Why don’t we just throw tanks under feedlots and generate natural gas that way? IIRC, there are a couple of project to do that in Wisconsin right now. A little more complicated than throwing a couple tanks under feedlots, but not much. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/80 "2009-05-11T19:04:38Z")
> [@Spiff](#): > > Thanks to the excellent information from **anu-la1979** , we’ve learnt that it’s NOT \*fresh \*cow dung, but baked (and therefore probably pretty well sterilized and deodorized). Ewww! 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748.md?page=5)