# I Don't Tell My Friends That I'm a \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 18, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774 "2009-12-18T19:26:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774/21 "2009-12-19T00:48:55Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > The two subjects I rarely discuss with anyone: politics and religion. > > I also have a ‘colorful’ personal history and several skeletons which always remain firmly in the closet. Bet I’ve got more skeletons than you; you’re too nice to have many. ---
**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 19, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774/22 "2009-12-19T01:02:43Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I would avoid telling people that after they get to know you, too. 😉 It’s interesting to me to see how people make or break themselves with their own attitudes. Sr. Olives gets into it too. I don’t mean ogling either. “She knows how to walk, but she’s not smizing in her photos.” Hysterical. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774/23 "2009-12-19T01:08:57Z")
My Facebook posts are as generic as I can make them. I don’t say anything about being an atheist there because it would get back to my parents, who I haven’t “come out” to yet. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774/24 "2009-12-19T01:59:14Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > Bet I’ve got more skeletons than you; you’re too nice to have many. Honey, hush. I’d promise to sit down over a beer and discuss this with you, but I’ve quit drinking. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774/25 "2009-12-19T02:09:55Z")
I also go through weird, mental-patient type obsessions with things, usualy musicals. There was a while I was crazy about Rent, and listened to the soundtrack easily five times a day, and would leave work early on Friday to drive to New York to see the Friday evening show and the Saturday matinee, if possible, before heading back. Once I did this (not with Rent, but a previous obsession, Big River, and I was so poor and yet so stupid that I spent almost my last dollar to see the show again on Saturday, and didn’t have enough money to pay tolls coming home. (You know what happens when you can’t pay a toll? They give you a little slip of paper on the honro system and you get to send it in later). Since getting married, I haven’t been able to indulge my go-to-New-York-on-a-whim much. But the listening thing continues unabated. I didn’t click with anything for my first couple of years of marriage, and then Wicked came out…and I imagine my wife was wondering what had happened to the rational man she married. ---
**Author:** ![fandango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b5ac83/32.png) [@fandango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fandango)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774/26 "2009-12-19T02:14:59Z")
Mensan. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774/27 "2009-12-19T02:16:51Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > It’s interesting to me to see how people make or break themselves with their own attitudes. Sr. Olives gets into it too. I don’t mean ogling either. “She knows how to walk, but she’s not smizing in her photos.” Hysterical. I tried to watch it but instead of a parade of bitchy hot chicks it was a parade of bitchy mediocre-looking chicks. I don’t get it - supermodels are usually healthy-looking, unlike generic runway models. Why don’t they go for that look? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774/28 "2009-12-19T02:38:49Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I watch pro wrestling. I’ve defended it here before (though I’m the first to admit that it’s perhaps the lowest-brow form of entertainment there is) but I’d never do it around most of my friends. Same. Also that I’m an atheist. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774/29 "2009-12-19T02:40:42Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I know tons of them (Orlando used to be an industry hotspot, so there are lots of them living in Central Florida). > > They’re just like other people. Some are dumb, some are normal, some are [geniuses](http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/l/lanny-poffo.html). 😉 I was hoping you’d avoid the low-hanging fruit and go with Raven. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774/30 "2009-12-19T03:18:30Z")
My friends know everything about me. I don’t even hide things from total strangers. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774/31 "2009-12-19T03:19:36Z")
> [@Kyrie\_Eleison](#): > > There’s a show on the Oxygen network called _Snapped_ about female killers. It’s dreadful. They take what limited footage they have about each crime and stitch it together with some narration. The first three or four minutes after each commercial break is a recap of what was just presented before the break. Like most of the true crime genre, it’s not really usefully informative, and is just a voyeuristic time waster. > > I watch it religiously each time my Tivo records it in its suggested viewing folder. I won’t actually schedule any recordings, though, because then someone might see that I did so. Every few months I watch Snapped for a couple of hours. Total waste of time, but I still like to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774/32 "2009-12-19T03:33:39Z")
When last I worked in a conventional work environment, of the top of my head the most negative/stunned reactions I had was when I was found out to to be: 1. a Buffy fan 2. a hedonist My atheism or my boozing or my pretty left-wing leaning were all taken for granted. ---
**Author:** ![Incref](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@Incref](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incref)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774/33 "2009-12-19T04:59:57Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > When last I worked in a conventional work environment, of the top of my head the most negative/stunned reactions I had was when I was found out to to be: > > 1. a Buffy fan > 2. a hedonist > > My atheism or my boozing or my pretty left-wing leaning were all taken for granted. Wow I had to double check that wasn’t my post! Especially that last sentence! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774/34 "2009-12-19T05:12:19Z")
I’m in Mensa; I refer to it in conversation as “some people I know.” Then again, I do the same with online games and with the Dope. Roleplaying games only get mentioned if I’m reasonably sure the other people won’t assault the phone and call 911 saying “I’ve got a psychopath here!” Recently I wrote a paper on a critique of Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” and some of the stuff I used for background info came from the Dope (not posts, but news people linked). When I was writing the bibliography I kept thinking “man, if the prof knew where I’m getting my info…” Several of my professors are the kind of person who think anything that’s fun can’t be taken seriously, if you know what I mean. Me, I believe it’s anything serious that shouldn’t be taken too seriously. There’s many political issues I avoid like the plague unless I’m reasonably sure most of the audience will avoid jumping to conclusions. Expressing positions like “pro-choice pro-life” (or “pro-life pro-choice”) in front of an idjit holier-than-thou bitch or a moronic cokehead who claims nobody should have children isn’t just unpleasant: they usually don’t even let you finish. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774/35 "2009-12-19T05:17:30Z")
My guilty pleasure is trash entertainment… seriously trash. Gong Show, the Jerry Springer show, Weekly World News (the adventures of the batboy), etc. I don’t believe any of it, it’s just fun. ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774/36 "2009-12-19T07:32:08Z")
My dad has cancer. I don’t tell anybody because once I do, I’ll have to talk about it. And I don’t want to talk about it. and I don’t tell anyone I’m a recovering anorexic. Though they can probably figure it out… these days, the “recovering” part isn’t as accurate as it was. I used to talk about it a lot. Now, not really. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774/37 "2009-12-19T12:48:05Z")
I read women’s magazines sometimes. It’s entertaining to read how they think women think. I watch cartoons, including Nickelodeon. I actually like Blue’s Clues and a little show called Charlie and Lola. I like to watch the Disney channel. Pretty much anything else I can think of I wouldn’t want to reveal on here, either. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774/38 "2009-12-19T13:17:20Z")
I like to bake bread. Doesn’t really go with the corporate image… ---
**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:** [December 19, 2009, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774/39 "2009-12-19T13:21:09Z")
I don’t really have any friends. My colleagues think I have friends in my personal life, and my acquaintances in my personal life think I have friends at work. My ex best friend and I are still friendly, and once every couple of months we get dinner and coffee, but that’s the closest. I mean, my fiance and I have each other and, truthfully, he’s my best friend, but it would be nice to have other friends. So none of my “friends” know I don’t have any “friends” … ---
**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 19, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774/40 "2009-12-19T14:39:28Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I’m in Mensa; I refer to it in conversation as “some people I know.” Then again, I do the same with online games and with the Dope. Roleplaying games only get mentioned if I’m reasonably sure the other people won’t assault the phone and call 911 saying “I’ve got a psychopath here!” > > Recently I wrote a paper on a critique of Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” and some of the stuff I used for background info came from the Dope (not posts, but news people linked). When I was writing the bibliography I kept thinking “man, if the prof knew where I’m getting my info…” Several of my professors are the kind of person who think anything that’s fun can’t be taken seriously, if you know what I mean. Me, I believe it’s anything serious that shouldn’t be taken too seriously. > > There’s many political issues I avoid like the plague unless I’m reasonably sure most of the audience will avoid jumping to conclusions. Expressing positions like “pro-choice pro-life” (or “pro-life pro-choice”) in front of an idjit holier-than-thou bitch or a moronic cokehead who claims nobody should have children isn’t just unpleasant: they usually don’t even let you finish. So are the people in Mensa just as interesting and entertaining as us Dopers, or are they boring snobs? Also, you’re awesome. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-tell-my-friends-that-im-a-____________/521774.md?page=3)