What about using the coffee beans that have been digested by the civet?
What’s brown, sounds like a bell, is a floor wax, AND a dessert topping?
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 sht out to me when I go on my first world ecological rants ("Child, we’ve lived all green and such and there’s no fcking 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!
Sex?
Lucky for me, I’m not much of a coffee drinker.
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.
What’s wrong with pissing on the Blarney stone?
Spitting on your hand then shaking to seal a bargain yuckadeeyuck
Hey, I’ve had chicha fuerte when I stayed in an Indian village in eastern Panama.
It’s not as bad as Old Milwaukee.
Never, ever, go to China. Lots of communal bowls with used chopsticks dipping in and out of them.
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.
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.
Most times the sex isn’t all that dirty…
How immersed in internet shut-in culture do you need to be to think of sex as a “custom”?
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.
^^ yeah, really? How does one clean with dung?
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.
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.
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.
Well, it depends on your definition of “custom.” Are we including just anything that some people do?
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.