# Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 28, 2022, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380 "2022-09-28T11:33:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 274
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/5464 "2023-07-10T16:42:39Z")
> [@InternetLegend](#): > > I was about to vote that no one’s allowed to have an opinion about someone else’s tattoos in addition to “whatever,” but then I realized that I _always_ have an opinion. I would say it’s rude to _express_ that opinion uninvited. Likewise, piercings squick me out and I prefer not to think about them, but that’s my own odd bodily integrity issue and it’s not the pierced person’s problem. Well, yeah. I find certain types of body piercings and tattoos unattractive and others attractive (or at least unobjectionable). But I don’t consider my personal preferences to be an objective truth that all must adhere to. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/5465 "2023-07-10T17:03:54Z")
My main issue with tattoos for me is that I could never decide on something to have on my body permanently (or at least until expensively removed), because my tastes change. The vast majority of tattoos I’ve seen look like someone fell asleep drunk, and somebody else scribbled on them with a ballpoint pen. It’s fine. It’s a form of expression. I just don’t find it aesthetically pleasing. Some individual tattoos are very beautiful, but most don’t look especially good on a body. I think my niece’s tattoos are downright ugly, but I’d never tell her that. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/5466 "2023-07-10T17:27:45Z")
When I was 20 I dyed my hair purple, pierced my eyebrow and got a tattoo. It’s small, in black ink, fitting just under my wristwatch, and it says “Impermanent” in Sanskrit. I was at the time a Buddhist and more or less still am. The piercing is gone, the hair is natural once again, but the tattoo remains. I don’t particularly care for the tattoo anymore. I don’t like being asked about it by strangers. It wasn’t really intended for anyone other than me. I got it to help me get through a protracted period of severe depression, by reminding myself my mental state would change eventually. I really don’t care what people do to their bodies though I am a bit put off by extremes. But for me personally if I could go back in time I would not have this tattoo. I don’t think it’s the end of the world, though, and I can usually hide it, and lately it’s been a good reminder. ---
**Author:** ![NinthAcolyte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ninthacolyte/32/13676_2.png) [@NinthAcolyte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinthAcolyte)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/5467 "2023-07-10T17:38:46Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > most people look better un-mutilated. That’s an awfully charged word to use. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/5468 "2023-07-10T17:51:13Z")
To my recollection, I’ve only walked away from two books: The Road to Wellsville - One of the few cases where the movie was an improvement. The last Discworld book - The one about the train. Pterry’s alzheimer’s was really showing, and I wanted to remember him as a good writer. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/5469 "2023-07-10T17:56:22Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I don’t particularly care for the tattoo anymore. I don’t like being asked about it by strangers. “That’s really none of your business” is a totally okay response. I have ink that is very meaningful _to me_ but is puzzling to others. If a stranger asks me about my work, depending on my mood, I might ignore them or I might sputter a load of nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/5470 "2023-07-10T17:57:57Z")
I posted the book-reading poll because I have never, to my recollection, have not completed a book I’ve started. However… I am currently about 100 pages into “Stranger in a Strange Land” and I am extremely disappointed at the quality of the writing and, as I read, I have one eye on the trash bin. I will likely make a thread about it when this gets resolved one way or another. mmm ETA: It occurs to me that I think I quit on “Watership Down” when I was in high school. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/5471 "2023-07-10T18:04:41Z")
I object to the option “high school art student’s doodles.” Most of the art students I have had in class have been quite talented. Unlike most of the tattoo artists said students use. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/5472 "2023-07-10T18:10:42Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I posted the book-reading poll because I have never, to my recollection, have not completed a book I’ve started. I’ve never not completed a book I’ve started. I’ve come close, though. My gf loved **Erik Larson’s** _The Devil in the White City._ I decided to read it, since we have a family kindle account. I hated everything about the book. I kept thinking it would become wonderful at some point and kept reading. I forced myself to read a certain number of pages each night. I wept with relief when I reached The End. But I didn’t quit! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/5473 "2023-07-10T18:18:46Z")
> [@NinthAcolyte](#): > > Dang, y’all are really down on tattoos and piercings. I’m guesing that’s partly because the SDMB skews older. They didn’t use to be nearly as mainstream as they are now. I’m not _that_ old, but I can’t remember _anyone_ I knew who had a tattoo when I was growing up. Now, of course, they’re common; but I can’t help suspecting that, decades from now, they’ll be back out of fashion and people will look back on this particular era the way we look at some of the fads and fashions from earlier eras and wonder “What were they thinking?” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/5474 "2023-07-10T18:22:03Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I’ve never not completed a book I’ve started. Me neither. Once I had to look up someone’s number in the phone book and it took me seven months. Seriously, though, there are way more books I want to read than I will have time to read before I die, even if I live to be 120. If I followed this rule, I’d either have to be _very_ selective about which books I started, or I’d have to spend a lot of my limited book-reading time on stuff that wasn’t worth it and thereby miss out on a lot that _was_. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/5475 "2023-07-10T18:22:26Z")
Years ago, my mother-in-law gave me _The Bridges Of Madison County_, mainly because she was from a town in that county. I gritted my teeth and toughed that one out. So when a friend gave me _The Celestine Prophecy_, I had learned my lesson and I closed that sucker permanently after about the tenth page. Nowadays, I don’t hesitate to put a book down if I dislike the beginning or even if I’m not in the mood for it at that moment. Life’s too short and my TBR pile is too tall for me to waste time not enjoying a book. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/5476 "2023-07-10T18:33:56Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I am currently about 100 pages into “Stranger in a Strange Land” and I am extremely disappointed at the quality of the writing and, as I read, I have one eye on the trash bin. I read it in high school, and I nearly didn’t finish it either. Nearly put me off Heinlein for life. He couldn’t write a recognizable female character to save his life. I fairly recently didn’t finish a book, but that’s extremely rare for me. I usually vet books before reading them, although I’ve had good luck with recommendations for the most part. > [@InternetLegend](#): > > Years ago, my mother-in-law gave me _The Bridges Of Madison County_, mainly because she was from a town in that county. I gritted my teeth and toughed that one out. So when a friend gave me _The Celestine Prophecy_, I had learned my lesson and I closed that sucker permanently after about the tenth page. Gawd, I’d forgotten those two. I _did_ quit on _Bridges_ – awwwwful. I did finish _Celestine_ because a very good friend was so high on it. Pretty awful, as well. This friend was living in Krotona in Ojai at the time which explains the recommendation. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/5477 "2023-07-10T18:34:02Z")
> [@InternetLegend](#): > > Nowadays, I don’t hesitate to put a book down if I dislike the beginning or even if I’m not in the mood for it at that moment. There are lots of books I’ve decided not to finish, but there are also lots of books that I haven’t finished _yet_, but I haven’t ruled out getting back to them someday. For those of you always-finishers: don’t you even allow yourselves to put a book aside for awhile (or indefinitely)? ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/5478 "2023-07-10T18:39:37Z")
I switch between books occasionally if I’m not in the mood for one. I don’t often put it down for a long time and then pick it up again. If it goes on too long unread, I’ll likely not return to it at all. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/5479 "2023-07-10T18:42:06Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > there are way more books I want to read than I will have time to read before I die, even if I live to be 120. If I followed this rule, I’d either have to be _very_ selective about which books I started, or I’d have to spend a lot of my limited book-reading time on stuff that wasn’t worth it and thereby miss out on a lot that _was_. It was a great day in my life when I realized that I could take back a book to the library that I hadn’t read; or had only read a few pages of. That realization freed me up to take lots of stuff out of the library that I don’t know whether I want to read or not. A small to moderate percentage of books so selected have been great. And I might well not have taken them if I’d thought that, having done so, I _had_ to read them. And, yeah. I can’t possibly read everything. People are writing books faster than I can read them (well, not on an individual basis; but there are a lot of people writing books, so I can’t ever catch up. Which is good!) – I like polls that have an ‘other’ option, and that are about something I’m at least mildly interested in. I don’t like polls that ask me to choose among multiple things/people I don’t know anything about (though I don’t mind their existence, other people do know about those things so why shouldn’t they get to make or take them?), and I don’t like polls that ask me to choose among answers on something I do have opinions about but none of the answers fit and there isn’t any “other”. That is not a response that fit into @by-tor’s poll, but at least that does have an “other” option, even if it does come with a sneer. > [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I am currently about 100 pages into “Stranger in a Strange Land” and I am extremely disappointed at the quality of the writing and, as I read, I have one eye on the trash bin. I was wildly enthusiastic about it when I first read it, which was I think when I was about 17. I tried to read it again some years later and ay yi yi. A lot of Heinlein has not worn well at all. @carrps, I think I was so used to reading things with no recognizable female characters (in the 1950’s and 60’s) that I didn’t even notice. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/5480 "2023-07-10T19:02:09Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I think I was so used to reading things with no recognizable female characters (in the 1950’s and 60’s) that I didn’t even notice. I think it was _Stranger_ where I first noticed it. “Oh, this is a man writing about how he wants a woman to be.” ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/5481 "2023-07-10T19:06:35Z")
Re books; for me it’s a combination of options 2 & 3 :- I usually finish a book I started although there have been times when I’ve abandoned one _because_ I do not hesitate to stop reading a book if I feel it is not worth my time. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/5482 "2023-07-10T21:24:32Z")
I have a really hard time finishing books. I used to joke that I had “book ADHD” because I would abandon even things I was enjoying to read other things. Hell, I even recommend books I’ve never finished. The most recent example is _Uniquely Human_ which made me a better parent but I still haven’t finished it. Well… It turns out I have “whole life ADHD” and books are just one example. I’m getting better at finishing books. I finish probably 2 out of 3 now. Right now I’m reading a 900 page collection of Ray Bradbury stories and it’s a race against time to see if I can finish them before they are due back at the library. I will finish because Ray is my homie, but oof I’m gonna need a break from Bradbury after this. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/5483 "2023-07-10T22:22:27Z")
In general, i don’t like tattoos, and i wouldn’t choose them for myself. But I’ve seen some that are truly artistic. The vast majority are crap, however. I see people with random images all over their bodies that appear to have no relationship thematically or artistically. These people remind of an 8-year-old who covers himself in stickers and proudly goes to school. I know they don’t care about my opinion, and i don’t offer it. But I still have one, even if I’m the only one aware of it. Lip piercings are just gross. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380.md?page=273) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380.md?page=275)