# Examples of your weirdness. Now or when you were a kid. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 13, 2009, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-your-weirdness-now-or-when-you-were-a-kid/517391 "2009-11-13T01:10:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-your-weirdness-now-or-when-you-were-a-kid/517391/21 "2009-11-14T20:43:08Z")
From about sixth grade on I refused to walk on the sidewalk. I felt that would be allowing some total stranger to tell me what to do. I was a “Wadda 'ya got?” kind of rebel, I guess. . . ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-your-weirdness-now-or-when-you-were-a-kid/517391/22 "2009-11-14T20:55:33Z")
I love the sound of running water. When I was a child, I would curl up in my closet and listen to the shower run (the pipes for the shower were in the wall my closet shared with the bathroom.) Even to this day, I still will curl up in the bathroom and listen to water run when I’m totally stressed out and just need to calm down. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-your-weirdness-now-or-when-you-were-a-kid/517391/23 "2009-11-14T20:58:28Z")
I used to make long lists of people’s names. Not surnames; just lists of first names. I guess it was sort of like what you would find in those “Name your baby!” books, except I wasn’t doing it for any real reason. I just liked collecting names. I’d go through my parents’ old yearbooks and write down all of the first names that appeared. I hadn’t thought about this for years, before making this post, but now I’m kind of having an urge to go make a list of names again. D’oh. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-your-weirdness-now-or-when-you-were-a-kid/517391/24 "2009-11-14T22:41:38Z")
> [@Sofis](#): > > The funny thing being that, in saying no, you gave her the answer she _actually_ wanted to hear. Yup. Funny how that works. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Blut\_Aus\_Nord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Blut\_Aus\_Nord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blut_Aus_Nord)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2009, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-your-weirdness-now-or-when-you-were-a-kid/517391/25 "2009-11-14T22:57:57Z")
I collect armpit hairs from female mimes and store them in my bunghole to provoke convulsions. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2009, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-your-weirdness-now-or-when-you-were-a-kid/517391/26 "2009-11-14T23:02:11Z")
> [@Serenata67](#): > > Even to this day, I still will curl up in the bathroom and listen to water run when I’m totally stressed out and just need to calm down. You should buy one of those CD’s with womb sounds (including blood rushing and heart beating) they sell to soothe babies. Me, I like the sound of rain, and I bought a CD with rain and thunder sounds on it. It has music on it, too, but I prefer just listening to the rain. I liked the long seconds of applause on Classical Radio, too, for the same reason. A soothing, rushing sound. ---
**Author:** ![susan\_foster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@susan\_foster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan_foster)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-your-weirdness-now-or-when-you-were-a-kid/517391/27 "2009-11-15T00:57:24Z")
I ate crisco. Out of the can. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-your-weirdness-now-or-when-you-were-a-kid/517391/28 "2009-11-15T01:28:02Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > I used to make long lists of people’s names. Not surnames; just lists of first names. I guess it was sort of like what you would find in those “Name your baby!” books, except I wasn’t doing it for any real reason. I just liked collecting names. I’d go through my parents’ old yearbooks and write down all of the first names that appeared. > > I hadn’t thought about this for years, before making this post, but now I’m kind of having an urge to go make a list of names again. D’oh. Yours is more interesting than mine: I used to fill sheets of paper with words beginning with a particular letter. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Rosetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Green\_Rosetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Rosetta)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-your-weirdness-now-or-when-you-were-a-kid/517391/29 "2009-11-16T01:17:42Z")
As a child, I ate deodorant. I also chewed the legs off of my cousin’s action figures. I still love to chew rubber, but I don’t think that is all that weird. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-your-weirdness-now-or-when-you-were-a-kid/517391/30 "2009-11-16T01:26:30Z")
> [@susan\_foster](#): > > I ate crisco. Out of the can. WT_F?!!!_ Oh, wait. _Crisco_, not Drano. :: sigh of relief :: I went through a phase where I said, “Est-ce question ce?” whenever I had a question. I spent untold hours drawing machines with conveyor belts. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-your-weirdness-now-or-when-you-were-a-kid/517391/31 "2009-11-16T15:28:10Z")
> [@Chakra Nadmara](#): > > I collect armpit hairs from female mimes and store them in my bunghole to provoke convulsions. Mom? ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-your-weirdness-now-or-when-you-were-a-kid/517391/32 "2009-11-16T16:25:17Z")
I decided not to cooperate with the standard grade school screening for hearing problems and raised my hand (meaning I heard the sound) at the wrong time. I don’t know why I did this. I caused my parents a lot of worry and a couple of days off from work since they had to take me to the ENT hospital for additional testing. I decided to respond properly this time and never admitted my wrong. ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-your-weirdness-now-or-when-you-were-a-kid/517391/33 "2009-11-16T16:57:22Z")
I had a notebook that I used to keep track of the weird shapes I saw in the clouds. That one looks like Micky Mouse, and that one there looks just like California! Pages and pages of that stuff. (Age 8) I read through the entire Encyclopedia Brittanica and Worldbook Encyclopedia, at least twice. (Ages 7-14) Got my ham radio license (Novice class) at age 11, and my General Class license at age 14. Yeah, I got my butt kicked at school all the time. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-your-weirdness-now-or-when-you-were-a-kid/517391/34 "2009-11-17T17:52:20Z")
I have a thing for [bathrooms.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=540207) ---
**Author:** ![SMullen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@SMullen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SMullen)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-your-weirdness-now-or-when-you-were-a-kid/517391/35 "2009-11-17T18:26:57Z")
People have mentioned sounds they like. I like the sound of sweeping, and also the sound of someone raking leaves. Weird things eaten as a kid. I’m old. There used to be a powdered coffee creamer called “Pream”. I would eat that out of the jar. I never could eat more than a spoonful, but that spoonful really tasted good. And people have mentioned being scared of places for no good reason. Whenever I get bad vibes like that I figure it’s for a good reason, even if I don’t understand, and I do my best to act accordingly. I guess in general, I believe that there’s more to life than we humans take in with our 5 senses. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-your-weirdness-now-or-when-you-were-a-kid/517391/36 "2009-11-17T18:46:26Z")
I dress in Amish attire (including hat) and ride my Harley through downtown Pittsburgh. And that was yesterday. When I was a kid I was _really_ strange. Ever since I was old enough to think, I have lived by the phrase “it sounded like a good idea at the time”. Which is, I guess, the slightly more intellectual form of “Hey Bubba - watch this”. As a kid it was more short-term one time shot things. Now its more easily repeated things. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-your-weirdness-now-or-when-you-were-a-kid/517391/37 "2009-11-17T19:00:28Z")
> [@Maiira](#): > > Heh, I was the exact opposite, **Lobsang**. Ever since I was a baby, I loved music. When I was a baby, my mother would hang a musical mobile above my head, or play music, and I would be happy for hours. > > From another thread: > > When I was around 3 or 4, I had the complete inability to answer any sort of question. If you asked me what color the sky was, I’d be at a loss for about five minutes. The thing was, I was so afraid of getting the answer wrong that either I wouldn’t answer at all, or I’d give an answer I thought the asker wanted to hear. One time, my mother decided she wanted to test this. So she asked me “Maiira, do you want a spanking?” > > I nodded eagerly and said “uh-huh!” > > Well, what else could she do? She grabbed me and gave me a swat. She then said “now do you want a spanking?” > > I looked at her, confused, and say “…yes?” > > She swatted me again. Asked me the same question. Now almost in tears, I choke “…yes??” > > This repeats for another few minutes. Finally, when my mother couldn’t take it anymore, she grabbed me by the arms and shouted “MAIIRA, YOU DON’T WANT A SPANKING. JUST. SAY. NO.” She asked me again if I wanted a spanking, and I sobbed “NO!” > > Kind of a strange few minutes, but ultimately I learned a pretty important lesson: **don’t just give the answer you think someone wants to hear**. Say “no” when you mean “no.” > > [snip] {Bolding mine} And thus a promising natural talent in management consulting was lost. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Real\_Regency\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@The\_Real\_Regency\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Real_Regency_Elf)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-your-weirdness-now-or-when-you-were-a-kid/517391/38 "2009-11-17T19:19:56Z")
I’m pretty sure I had a mild case of OCD during middle childhood to my early teens. Whenever I was riding in a car and saw a view I thought was pretty, I would wave my hand across my field of vision as if to…I don’t know. Frame it? Try to somehow take it all in? And I often did the same thing while standing in the dining room facing in a certain direction. The reason why was unknown to me even then. It was just something I had to do. My mom noticed once but didn’t make a big deal out of it. I outgrew the compulsions by age 15. And in sixth grade a classmate informed me that I weirded other people out because I laughed out loud for no reason. I had no idea that I was doing it. I started to improve my self-monitoring skills a LOT more after that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-your-weirdness-now-or-when-you-were-a-kid/517391.md?page=1)