# Clipping fingernails in public **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 13, 2006, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clipping-fingernails-in-public/372543 "2006-09-13T14:24:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clipping-fingernails-in-public/372543/21 "2006-09-13T21:06:03Z")
I don’t have any problem with clipping nails in your cube at work or whatever, but at church where it is quiet and people are trying to focus on other things than your nails? Not okay. Also plucking hair out of your face at work or in church or whatever is not okay either. If I can walk around without bleach on my lip in public other people can deal with the occasional stray eyebrow hair. Blech! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clipping-fingernails-in-public/372543/22 "2006-09-13T21:57:48Z")
It might be easier to say which personal grooming activities are acceptable in public - wiping your mouth with a napkin, picking a hair or lint off your sweater (and putting it in the garbage), wiping your nose if you have a cold and it’s literally running. That’s about it. The rest is for private time. Notice for those who don’t know this: Commuter vehicles (trains and buses) and your car are not private. If I can look over at the light and watch you picking your nose, you’re not in private. (Can we have a very short period where it is okay to adjust your underwear when you just got out of a car? It’s do a quick tug, or walk around for hours with half a wedgie - I can’t stand the half-wedgie.) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clipping-fingernails-in-public/372543/23 "2006-09-13T21:59:57Z")
I forgot scratching an itch in an area that would not be covered by a bathing suit. That’s also okay, within reason. No need to go to town like a dog with fleas. ---
**Author:** ![Aunt\_Flow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Aunt\_Flow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aunt_Flow)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clipping-fingernails-in-public/372543/24 "2006-09-13T22:45:11Z")
[QUOTE=js\_africanus] Well, I have clean hands and assume others do as well\*, so I’m not sure what there is to be so disgusted by. [/SIZE] [/QUOTE] This sounds like the argument I had a while back with someone who didn’t understand why people were disgusted that she never worse undergarments when shopping for clothes. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Macphisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Ms\_Macphisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Macphisto)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clipping-fingernails-in-public/372543/25 "2006-09-14T05:29:49Z")
[QUOTE=Dinsdale] I guess I was invitind folks to help define what is acceptable in terms of public grooming. For example, are there restrictions on hair combing/brushing? [/QUOTE] Nail clipping in public is never acceptable. As for dealing with hair, I don’t have any problems with people quickly rearranging things in public. The girl I saw on the bus a few months ago however, who spent the entire time combing out her waist-length hair with her fingers, constantly stretching it to its full length so she was infringing on her seat-mate’s space, was way over the line. ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clipping-fingernails-in-public/372543/26 "2006-09-14T07:22:45Z")
I realize that everyone busy with clipping nails should clean up after themselves, and I know the church guy is out of line, but I really don’t get the sudden revulsion. These not be body secretions like urine, spit or blood. Do you folks pet cats? Shake hands? Afraid to touch somebody’s nails when you do so? This distinction reminds me of arbitrary concepts like ‘cooties’ or the ‘five-second’ rule. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clipping-fingernails-in-public/372543/27 "2006-09-14T10:13:30Z")
[QUOTE=js\_africanus] I subscribe to the notion that etiquette is for not making others uncomfortable, and I don’t see any reasonable justification for fingernails to be an object of disgust. [/QUOTE] I agree with your first statement. Etiquette is designed to make people \*more \* comfortable. And since clearly the majority of people are uncomfortable with being subjected to other people clipping their nails, then public nail clipping is a breach of etiquette. I don’t see any reasonable justification for not simply waiting until you can get to a bathroom. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clipping-fingernails-in-public/372543/28 "2006-09-14T14:05:38Z")
Just to be clear - the churchclipper just blithely lets the shrapnel fly. ---
**Author:** ![xbuckeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9e8a1a/32.png) [@xbuckeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xbuckeye)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clipping-fingernails-in-public/372543/29 "2006-09-14T17:31:07Z")
[QUOTE=MostlyClueless] I realize that everyone busy with clipping nails should clean up after themselves, and I know the church guy is out of line, but I really don’t get the sudden revulsion. These not be body secretions like urine, spit or blood. Do you folks pet cats? Shake hands? Afraid to touch somebody’s nails when you do so? This distinction reminds me of arbitrary concepts like ‘cooties’ or the ‘five-second’ rule. [/QUOTE] I think that the difference is that nail clipping is rarely an emergency and can be planned for or dealt with after an “excuse me” and removing yourself from a social situation. It isn’t like you fingernail grew 1/4 inch last hour and now you can’t type with it, you can tough it out for the rest of the day and trim when you get home. If you snag it, you excuse yourself to a restroom or more private area. The same goes for thorough nose-cleaning. Polite society would excuse themselves and take care of it. A quick wipe into a napkin or tissue is acceptable, booger-hunting and sinus clearing is not. For that matter, neither is perpetual sniffing. Its annoying. I haven’t heard anyone cite cooties or germs, so you can probably step off that soap box, there. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clipping-fingernails-in-public/372543/30 "2006-09-14T17:40:56Z")
The fact is that many (most?) people consider anything shed off of or out of a human body to be some degree of oogie. We don’t want to be coughed on, shed on, have your dandruff in our air, have your cast-off nail bits in the carpet we walk on. We also don’t want to be forcibly reminded of the biological workings of the human body – that some things must be wetly snorted out into a Kleenex and that some things must be clipped off. Minor grooming tasks are certainly not the most egregious etiquette faux pas – unless you’re in church – but grooming tasks are to many either private or distasteful or both. So they shouldn’t be done in public, that’s all. You present your best self in public; all the picking, snipping, combing, shaving, snorting, tooting you have to do to get that way you do in private. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clipping-fingernails-in-public/372543/31 "2006-09-14T19:29:21Z")
[QUOTE=Dinsdale] So what’s your take on this? When - if ever - is it appropriate to clip one’s nails in the presence of others? There’s one old guy at our church who apparently sees nothing wrong with snipping away during services. And I always get a tad sqwicked when folks do it on the commuter train. Am I being overly squeamish? If you encounter someone clipping their nails or doing other personal grooming in public, is it ever appropriate to ask them to stop? [/QUOTE] In school, we had a guy who used to chew his nails in school - toenails :eek: ---
**Author:** ![ReBusEniGma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@ReBusEniGma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReBusEniGma)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clipping-fingernails-in-public/372543/32 "2006-09-14T20:42:54Z")
I think that the churchclipping thing is both disrepectful to the those in the service and the minister, in addition to being irreverent. Personally, I don’t have a problem with someone clipping their nails in a semi-public situation such as outside where other people are - as long as I’m not in the vicinity to get shrapnel. Personal space you know. These things often open up a can of worms though…such as, how many people would be as offended by seeing someone chew their nails in public? (I’m not actually meaning this as a question) What’s so different between someone chewing their nails in public to clipping them? I think that’s even worse because they are now either barbariously ripping at their nails with their mouth [opening up bacterial and sanitary issues] and then conciously throwing or flicking their shard on the floor, or even better - eating it. Eww. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clipping-fingernails-in-public/372543/33 "2006-09-15T02:30:38Z")
[QUOTE=ouryL] In school, we had a guy who used to chew his nails in school - toenails :eek: [/QUOTE] Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. There are not enough "ew"s in the world to express how grossed out I am by this. Ew. In Korea, we had a superstition that if you left your nail clippings lying around, a spook (troll? fairy?) would eat them and take on your shape and fool your loved ones into thinking they were real and get you thrown out of your house and into the streets. Pretty elaborate way to convince kids not to leave nail clippings lying around. ---
**Author:** ![MizGrand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@MizGrand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizGrand)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clipping-fingernails-in-public/372543/34 "2006-09-16T11:59:56Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] Can we have a very short period where it is okay to adjust your underwear when you just got out of a car? It’s do a quick tug, or walk around for hours with half a wedgie - I can’t stand the half-wedgie. [/QUOTE] Yes, we most certainly can. I have that skill down to an art. Open car door (Explorer), stand on running board with butt still toward the inside of the vehicle, furtively glance to ensure no males are observing, and yes, yank down the leg openings so they’re not crawling up my butt. But nobody is ever watching me, I’m sure of that! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clipping-fingernails-in-public/372543.md?page=1)