# How to tell is one is anal retentive. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [January 26, 2013, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-is-one-is-anal-retentive/648408 "2013-01-26T04:24:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MrFlimsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4da419/32.png) [@MrFlimsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFlimsky)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-is-one-is-anal-retentive/648408/1 "2013-01-26T04:24:22Z")
I have tried this numerous times and feel that it is a valid process. If you suspect that someone is anal retentive, you ask them if anal retentive has a hyphen in it. If they say Yes or No, then they are. If they say, who cares? Then they’re not.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-is-one-is-anal-retentive/648408/2 "2013-01-26T05:03:46Z")
> [@MrFlimsky](#): > > How to tell **is** one is anal retentive. (bolding mine) “if” The thread title should read “How to tell _ **if** _ one is anal retentive.” Sorry, that was bugging me. What? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-is-one-is-anal-retentive/648408/3 "2013-01-26T05:33:14Z")
Actually “how to tell [if] **one** is anal retentive” would refer to a process by which one assesses their own propensity vis a vis anal retention, not that of another party. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-is-one-is-anal-retentive/648408/4 "2013-01-26T06:07:23Z")
[Here is a link to the column in question.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/876/how-to-tell-if-youre-anal-retentive) ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-is-one-is-anal-retentive/648408/5 "2013-01-26T06:12:54Z")
My trick is to leave 3 magazines neatly overlapped on the coffee table with the 4th one askew and see if they fix it. What’s really great is if you can get someone who likes piles and someone who likes spreads and they spend the rest of the afternoon piling the magazines in a stack and fanning them out. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-is-one-is-anal-retentive/648408/6 "2013-01-26T06:17:42Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > My trick is to leave 3 magazines neatly overlapped on the coffee table with the 4th one askew and see if they fix it. What’s really great is if you can get someone who likes piles and someone who likes spreads and they spend the rest of the afternoon piling the magazines in a stack and fanning them out. Would the anal retentive be the one who would go to this much trouble just to find out who might be anal retentive? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-is-one-is-anal-retentive/648408/7 "2013-01-26T07:19:37Z")
I find anal retentive people tend to be listmakers. I am a constant source of frustration due to my inability come up with anything resembling a cohesive grocery list. ---
**Author:** ![Troppus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-is-one-is-anal-retentive/648408/8 "2013-01-26T13:35:36Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Would the anal retentive be the one who would go to this much trouble just to find out who might be anal retentive? > > 😃 When I’m getting to know someone new, it’s worth the small effort for me. I’m uncomfortable in the presence of that special brand of low level tension that Type A’s generate as the move about a world not ordered to their liking. I appreciate their neatness and powers of organization, but the minutiae of their feedback like lint-picking, adjusting my personal items, and worrying over my plate gets old. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-is-one-is-anal-retentive/648408/9 "2013-01-26T20:23:24Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Actually “how to tell [if] **one** is anal retentive” would refer to a process by which one assesses their own propensity vis a vis anal retention, not that of another party. Not to be anal retentive about this, but ‘one’ is used correctly here to refer to some unknown third party agent who might possible also include oneself, as in, “Love the one you’re with.” If one means to reference oneself, then one uses ‘oneself.’ ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-is-one-is-anal-retentive/648408/10 "2013-01-27T06:30:27Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > My trick is to leave 3 magazines neatly overlapped on the coffee table with the 4th one askew and see if they fix it. how do you mean fix? place the fourth overlapped matching the others. arrange by cover date and then place all four overlapped matching the three original. arrange by ISSN then arrange by cover date and then place all four overlapped matching the three original. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-is-one-is-anal-retentive/648408/11 "2013-01-27T06:45:27Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > how do you mean fix? > > place the fourth overlapped matching the others. > > arrange by cover date and then place all four overlapped matching the three original. > > arrange by ISSN then arrange by cover date and then place all four overlapped matching the three original. Scour Ebay and old bookstores to acquire all issues of each magazine from its first issue, arrange by date, order collections alphabetically with spines flush with the bookcase’s shelf’s edge. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-is-one-is-anal-retentive/648408/12 "2013-01-27T13:18:40Z")
> [@moriah](#): > > Scour Ebay and old bookstores to acquire all issues of each magazine from its first issue, arrange by date, order collections alphabetically with spines flush with the bookcase’s shelf’s edge. Isn’t there a diff between “obsessive/compulsive” and “anal retentive”? ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-is-one-is-anal-retentive/648408/13 "2013-01-27T18:48:25Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > Isn’t there a diff between “obsessive/compulsive” and “anal retentive”? For Freud, not much. For modern psychology, a non-question since “anal rententiveness” is a discredited theory. In common parlance, a matter of degree. ---
**Author:** ![MrFlimsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4da419/32.png) [@MrFlimsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFlimsky)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-is-one-is-anal-retentive/648408/14 "2013-01-28T12:34:22Z")
“One” definitely does not apply to me. Today I have to go to my office and clean it out after a water pipe broke over the weekend. I’ve been in that office for 34 years…so possibly “Paper Hoarder” might be closer to the truth, cause “Hey, ya never know.” ---
**Author:** ![Crab\_Rangoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Crab\_Rangoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crab_Rangoon)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-is-one-is-anal-retentive/648408/15 "2013-01-28T13:17:14Z")
Ya never know when a pipe might burst and you’ll need all that paper to act as a giant sponge to soak it all up? Yeah - my husband is the hoarder and I’m the (anal-retentive) anti-hoarder. It’s an awesome dynamic. We complete each other! ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-is-one-is-anal-retentive/648408/16 "2013-01-28T15:05:42Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I find anal retentive people tend to be listmakers. I am a constant source of frustration due to my inability come up with anything resembling a cohesive grocery list. I wanted to jump in here and say “How hard is it?” But I realized that might classify me as one of the anal retentives. I just like organization. I am definitely a left brain type of girl. As to the OP, some of us just like correct grammar and spelling. If that makes me anal retentive so be it.