# Free Advice: Don't Swallow Rancid Oil
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [November 14, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953 "2005-11-14T04:38:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953/1 "2005-11-14T04:38:39Z")
Fuck! (Okay, here I am in the Pit.)
A few hours ago, for reasons we needn’t go into here, I swallowed a small amount of olive oil. If it had been nice, fresh olive oil like they give you in a good Italian restaurant, all would be well. But no, thanks to my malfunctioning brain I swallowed a bit from the bottom of a really old bottle. (Obviously, an intelligent person would _expect_ that to be rancid. I did mention “malfunctioning brain”, but if you wish to elaborate on the theme, feel free.)
Just a tiny amount; less than a teaspoon. But now, over four hours later, I still can’t get the horrible taste out of my mouth. I’m afraid this may put me off olive oil forever. (In my youth I used to eat raw potatoes like apples. Then I got a bad one; the smell of raw potato has made me nauseous ever since, and that was a quarter century ago.)
This particular idiocy is a new experience for me in a lifetime rich with humiliating blunders; if anybody else has done this, how long did it take before you stopped reliving the wretched experience? Does the taste go away? Should I go ahead and vomit so I’d have emotional closure?
I’m recovering from a severed tendon I had operated on three days ago – and right now it’s bothering me way less than that rancid fucking oil. God, I’m a bloody idiot.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2005, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953/2 "2005-11-14T04:42:20Z")
> [@Baldwin](#):
>
> I’m recovering from a severed tendon I had operated on three days ago – and right now it’s bothering me way less than that rancid fucking oil. God, I’m a bloody idiot.
The tendon may mean you’re on painkillers, in which case my advice just possibly may not be the best advice in the world. But if you’re not on painkillers, have you considered swishing with cheap whiskey? The alcohol might break up the oil and help you remove the vestiges from your mouth; the harsh taste might help to overwhelm the rest of it.
Just try not to imagine that you’re licking clean a five-year-old barrel of oil while you do it: your imagination can make the flavor really linger, especially if you work on the details.
Daniel
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### Author:  [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2005, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953/3 "2005-11-14T04:44:56Z")
I once used olive oil to grease my frying pan when I was making some eggs. Never again.
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### Author:  [@incidental](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/incidental)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2005, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953/4 "2005-11-14T05:02:01Z")
> [@Rysto](#):
>
> I once used olive oil to grease my frying pan when I was making some eggs. Never again.
It never would have occured to me to use olive oil to make eggs, but now I’m curious. What happened? Just a bad flavor combination?
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### Author:  [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2005, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953/5 "2005-11-14T05:27:16Z")
> [@](#):
>
> The tendon may mean you’re on painkillers, in which case my advice just possibly may not be the best advice in the world. But if you’re not on painkillers, have you considered swishing with cheap whiskey? The alcohol might break up the oil and help you remove the vestiges from your mouth; the harsh taste might help to overwhelm the rest of it.
Thanks; I am indeed on painkillers, which is the only possible excuse I have for my stupidity. I used mouthwash, put some honey on my tongue, etc. I think maybe if I had vomited right away it would have helped. Now it’s past midnight and I’m going to try and sleep. I could take another painkiller, but I’m afraid I’ll vomit in my sleep and choke to death.
Just hasn’t been the best two weeks for me. No, to be fair much of it has been good. Our trip to England was great, except that on the second day I slipped on a wet grate and hit my kneecap hard enough to rupture my quadriceps tendon, leaving me on crutches for the rest of our vacation. (Didn’t stop me from hauling myself up the tallest tower at Caernarfon; fantastic castle!) I just hate taking drugs (except for all the nice lager I slid down my throat in the U.K.); the painkillers make me a little confused and now I’ve got rancid oil nausea to boot (if I could boot; can’t even bloody boot until the leg’s healed).
Well, I’ll try for sleep and hope the yuckiness is out of my system by morning.
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### Author:  [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2005, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953/6 "2005-11-14T05:43:23Z")
Poppycock! Next you’ll be telling me not to eat spoiled eggs, or get ripped to the gills on rubbing alcohol.
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### Author:  [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2005, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953/7 "2005-11-14T05:47:53Z")
> [@incidental](#):
>
> It never would have occured to me to use olive oil to make eggs, but now I’m curious. What happened? Just a bad flavor combination?
I was out of both margarine and cooking oil, so I resorted to olive oil. The flavour was terrible.
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### Author:  [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2005, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953/8 "2005-11-14T07:28:49Z")
> [@Rysto](#):
>
> I was out of both margarine and cooking oil, so I resorted to olive oil. The flavour was terrible.
I use olive oil, or occasionally a combination of olive oil and butter, to fry eggs all the time. I’m surprised you find it disgusting.
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### Author:  [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2005, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953/9 "2005-11-14T08:50:37Z")
> [@Excalibre](#):
>
> I use olive oil, or occasionally a combination of olive oil and butter, to fry eggs all the time. I’m surprised you find it disgusting.
Perhaps **Rysto** was using **Baldwin’s** bottle of oil.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2005, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953/10 "2005-11-14T09:03:30Z")
The best use for olive oil, natch, is stigiling it off your dirty dirty girlfriend.
If you want to drink said oil afterward, that would be crossing an icky icky line.
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### Author:  [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2005, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953/11 "2005-11-14T11:55:21Z")
> [@Baldwin](#):
>
> Should I go ahead and vomit so I’d have emotional closure?
If I were the type of person to say, “I just threw up in my mouth a little bit,” I would immediately switch to this instead.
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### Author:  [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2005, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953/12 "2005-11-14T15:45:32Z")
Guess what the Google ads are for!
Well, it’s the next day, and most of the nausea is gone, but there’s still a lingering hint of rancidity. I’m hoping another day will see it completely out of my system.
Man, life just keeps supplying me with ironic lessons. In this case, that a half-teaspoon of crappy old oil can trump a major injury in taking up my attention.
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### Author:  [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2005, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953/13 "2005-11-14T15:57:50Z")
For many years I couldn’t tolerate soy sauce because as a kid I had had a bout of Norwalk virus shortly after eating some rice with lots of soy sauce on it. Now I can have a little bit. But for a long time the smell made me want to retch.
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### Author:  [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953/14 "2005-11-14T16:00:35Z")
This thread is far too inspirational and uplifting to be a Pit thread. Boy meets rancid oil, boy drinks rancid oil, boy learns an important life lesson about rancid oil. Boy, meet MPSIMS.
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### Author:  [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953/15 "2005-11-14T16:23:24Z")
Oh, man, this happened to me just last week. We have a big gallon jug of olive oil and a smaller, more managable bottle. When the bottle runs out, we refill from the jug. The jug was just about out when I refilled the bottle last week. Poured a bit out to dip my bread into, tasted, and ewwww. Just a touch rancid. Funny thing is, my roommate says he doesn’t think it is rancid, so he doesn’t want to throw it out. I admit it’s not noxious, but definitely gone bad.
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### Author:  [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2005, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953/16 "2005-11-14T17:11:24Z")
When I was a teen I got sick after drinking a rootbeer float.
I couldn’t drink rootbeer for at least 5 years afterward.
Luckily I had no problem with ice cream. 😃
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### Author:  [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953/17 "2005-11-14T17:19:36Z")
I feel this way about peppermint schnapps. Never again…
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### Author:  [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953/18 "2005-11-14T17:25:59Z")
Just remembered a story.
My brother worked at a grocery store a few years back. He was unloading skids in the storeroom on a hot day and spied a carton of orange juice sitting on the floor. He was pretty thirsty so opened it and took a big swig. He said that just as he felt “large oily chunks” of something going down his throat, one of his co-workers saw him and said, “Uh, hey, that carton was found sitting on a shelf in the baking aisle. It’s been there for like, probably 2 weeks.”
Bro got promptly ill. He said it tasted like warm milk mixed with vodka. :hoorg:
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### Author:  [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953/19 "2005-11-14T17:33:48Z")
Olive Oil goes bad? Huh.
:: Wanders away, scratching head ::
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### Author:  [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-advice-dont-swallow-rancid-oil/330953/20 "2005-11-14T19:11:36Z")
> [@Winston Smith](#):
>
> Olive Oil goes bad? Huh.
>
> :: Wanders away, scratching head ::
Addm e to the list of people who wonders how olive oil goes bad…I mean, how long does it take you to use up your olive oil? I use it in almost any recipe calling for vegetable oil in the skillet (ie heat 2tbsp of veg oil in skillet, then put in chicken, garlic, tomatoes, whatever). This is to be distinguished from subbing it in recipes and the like, for instance, I don’t use olive oil when making waffles…
I also use a quick spray of PAM cooking spray for eggs, pancakes, and the like. Even a minor olive flavor with my breakfast would be too much.
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