# 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:** 433
**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:** [December 14, 2023, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8644 "2023-12-14T01:12:20Z")
I eat something first (at least presuming the pill can be taken with food) to get my mouth and throat into swallowing mode; put the pill in, take a big gulp of water, hope it goes down; if it does, immediately eat something else, to get rid of the sensation that I’ve got a pill in my throat, which otherwise is likely to last far longer than the pill was actually there. And my reaction would be neither “approve” nor “disapprove” but “I really hope that Friend knows what they’re doing and can provide the conditions all those creatures need and also that they can all live with each other instead of one of them eating the rest.” Combined with a side of "but buying them at the grocery just increases the market so that people will catch more of them to sell to the grocery – " Rather a sense of ‘the heart may be in the right place but it’s probably not properly hooked to the brain’. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8645 "2023-12-14T01:18:07Z")
I’m not a good pill swallower. The smaller the better. A Tylenol capsule is pushing it. Something like a Centrum is never ever happening. Once I had to take a course of Cipro which was about that size and I really struggled with them all two weeks long. It was torture for me. ---
**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:** [December 14, 2023, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8646 "2023-12-14T02:03:55Z")
> [@peccavi](#): > > Yeah, I didn’t vote because there wasn’t a “Don’t give a s\*\*t” selection. This. ---
**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:** [December 14, 2023, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8647 "2023-12-14T05:14:26Z")
I don’t really care what anyone does with the live shellfish from a store (but wait! You guys have stores with tanks of live shellfish in them? I must not be shopping at the fancy supermarkets), but if the person is really my friend, I disapprove just because it’s so _stupid_. I put pills in my mouth and then drink them with water, but I’m starting to have trouble swallowing larger pills. My mom had the same thing happen to her - it feels like they’re sticking in a pocket at the top of my throat. I’ve thought of trying to preload my mouth with some water to see if that helps, but I bet I’d just end up with water all down my front (and a pill stuck in my throat). ---
**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:** [December 14, 2023, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8648 "2023-12-14T12:56:24Z")
I watched a few YouTube videos where a guy put a lobster from the supermarket into a tank in his home. He actually does some physical therapy so that the claws eventually work again. The lobster looks a bit better each video. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8649 "2023-12-14T13:11:56Z")
I like gingerbread and ginger cookies/snaps, but if they had icing I would scrape it off before eating. Swallowing pills has never been a problem for me and I always do it without water, but the only pills I take are a daily vitamin(to please my better half), a couple of aspirin once in a while, or a (fortunately rare) antibiotic. It has always seemed to me that someone’s ease-of-pill-swallowing is inversely related to how many pills they have to take. The poor folks that have to take a dozen a day always seem to have the most trouble getting them down. I would heartily approve of a friend trying shellfish in their (presumably already existing) saltwater tank, mostly for amusement. But it certainly _could_ work. I have seen live lobsters in a tank at stores, but never crabs or flounder(or any finfish). Crabs and oysters are sold live, but they are always on ice and in a state of dormancy. The flounder is a more interesting problem if sold live from a tank. How do they get it out? The easiest way would be to gig it, but then it wouldn’t be alive anymore. Trying to net a free-swimming flounder would be comedy gold, especially after it was caught. They bounce around like ping pong balls. I would want it on video. Hook and line in a store would be equally entertaining. Then how do you get it home? Like a goldfish, but in a trash bag filled with water? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8650 "2023-12-14T13:14:29Z")
I’ve seen fin-fish live in tanks at upscale Chinese restaurants. Never at a supermarket. And never a flounder. I’ve seen live flounder somewhere. Maybe video? Maybe an aquarium? I agree that getting it home would be entertaining. ---
**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:** [December 14, 2023, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8651 "2023-12-14T17:18:59Z")
> [@Bayaker](#): > > It has always seemed to me that someone’s ease-of-pill-swallowing is inversely related to how many pills they have to take. The poor folks that have to take a dozen a day always seem to have the most trouble getting them down. I’m actually significantly better at it than I used to be when I almost never took any. I can even – usually – get down the Xigduo which includes a sizeable dose of Metformin, and Metformin pills are all great big ones. I take that one first in the day – and after that one the others all now seem easy, even though any of them would have given me trouble before I started having to take the metformin. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > I agree that getting it home would be entertaining. Probably not for the flounder. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8652 "2023-12-14T17:47:27Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > I agree that getting it home would be entertaining. > > Probably not for the flounder. I confess that i don’t care hugely how the flounder feels about the situation. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8653 "2023-12-14T18:21:17Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I’ve seen fin-fish live in tanks at upscale Chinese restaurants. Never at a supermarket. When we would go visit my grandparents as a kid the grocery store in their town had live fish in a tank. That always seemed like a novelty, because none of the stores back home had that. In hindsight, it seems kind of odd that a store in small town Wisconsin would have something “fancy” like that. But the town does have a large hospital, so maybe the store catered to the wealthy doctors. Where I live now the Asian supermarket has tanks of live fish. None of the “regular” grocery stores that I shop at do. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8654 "2023-12-14T18:24:56Z")
> [@Bayaker](#): > > Trying to net a free-swimming flounder would be comedy gold, especially after it was caught. They bounce around like ping pong balls. They … flounder? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8655 "2023-12-14T18:33:23Z")
Do they send fan mail to TV shows? ---
**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:** [December 14, 2023, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8656 "2023-12-14T18:52:15Z")
I crush my pills and mix them in creamy vanilla frosting, which i then spread between two soft gingerbread cookies. ---
**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:** [December 14, 2023, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8657 "2023-12-14T20:36:51Z")
Pittsburgh seafood market, Wholey’s, has live fish occasionally. I once bought a live tilapia. After purchase they gut and filet it. I made tilapia ceviche. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8658 "2023-12-14T22:25:25Z")
That’s an interesting idea. I swallow them whole, in a single handful of medication and supplements mixed. I did, however, do research first about what can and cannot be taken at the same 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:** [December 14, 2023, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8659 "2023-12-14T22:59:15Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I’m not a good pill swallower. The smaller the better. A Tylenol capsule is pushing it. I have a really sensitive gag reflex so there’s a high chance I’m going to gag any time I swallow a pill. I have one that I take that is shaped like a hexagon, I shit you not, that shape seemed like a good idea to whoever made my pill, and I gag on it about 90% of days. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2023, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8660 "2023-12-15T00:11:55Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > I crush my pills and mix them in creamy vanilla frosting, which i then spread > between two soft gingerbread cookies. That sounds like the ideal delivey system for Metformin. ---
**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:** [December 15, 2023, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8661 "2023-12-15T00:55:31Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > I swallow them whole Tilapia? Oh, never mind, I didn’t see which post you were replying 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:** [December 15, 2023, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8662 "2023-12-15T01:08:39Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Do they send fan mail to TV shows? That’s the first thing I ever think of when I hear “flounder.” ---
**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:** [December 15, 2023, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8663 "2023-12-15T01:33:16Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > I crush my pills Some of mine come with clear and vehement instructions not to do anything of the sort. Including the Great Big One. > [@eschereal](#): > > That sounds like the ideal delivey system for Metformin. Nope. At least not the version I’m taking, or the one I was taking before that. Must be swallowed whole! ETA: I used to chew up aspirin; tastes awful, but easier than swallowing pills. These days I can usually swallow them whole, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380.md?page=432) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380.md?page=434)