# Let's hear some stories of injuring yourself in stupid ways **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 29, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063 "2009-05-29T18:49:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063/61 "2009-06-09T03:43:12Z")
> [@Bad\_Samaritan](#): > > . > One day, my wife came in from retrieving the trash container from the curb, crying and with a big red mark on her cheek. We have a big 90 plastic gallon trash bin with a hinged lid on it. Just as she got to the bin, a big gust of wind kicked up and the lid flew up and smacked her in the face. She had a black eye and a bruised check the next day, when she went for a big job interview. Fortunately, she got (and still has) the job. At least she had the wind to blame. It wasn’t just her own stupidity. I was doing some raking in the yard today and went to move the yard waste bin closer to the pile of debris. Being efficient and all, you know, moving the bin to the stuff, instead of trying to carry the stuff to the bin. And it was only a few feet, so who needs to close the lid? Well, me, that’s who, so I wouldn’t step on the hanging lid, knock the bin flat to the ground, and fall into it. (Or pretty close, anyway.) No actual damage, but bruises in a lot of places, especially on both shins where they hit the edge of the lid, and one real doozy on my wrist where something must have hit the bone. Hurts even to type. And they don’t show, so I can’t even milk them for sympathy. ---
**Author:** ![jormundgondir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@jormundgondir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jormundgondir)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063/62 "2009-06-09T04:17:39Z")
More banal and pathetic than stupid, but I managed to break my leg in six places and spent four days in the hospital after slipping on a patch of hay while walking from the bathroom back to my tent in the middle of the night at a camp-out. I was just so glad I got to pee first. I first broke that same leg in first grade after going over a small cliff on a saucer sled and getting my leg jammed under a chain-link fence on the downhill side. ---
**Author:** ![Kingspades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecae2f/32.png) [@Kingspades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kingspades)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063/63 "2009-06-09T15:51:50Z")
> [@Bad\_Samaritan](#): > > The first and only time I’ve been snow skiing –I blew out my ACL. Same here. Three months ago yesterday, as a matter of fact. It was my second day ever on the slopes. I was doing really well, had graduated from the bunny hill, ridden the chairlift about half a dozen times. The instructor encouraged us to go a little faster since we were all skiing so well. I was nearing the edge of the slope, going faster than I ought to have been, but figured I’d negotiate the turn and then veer uphill to slow myself down. Wiped out in the turn, ski didn’t detach, torn ACL in my left knee. The good news is that it barely hurt at all (which makes no sense). I didn’t need the brace after a week and didn’t need to wrap it at all after two. Going in for surgery in four and a half weeks, 'cause ACLs don’t fix themselves. Will I go skiing again? Heck yes. I was having a ball! ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063/64 "2009-06-09T19:47:29Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > Three weeks ago, we finished taking the finals for our last class. A few of us went to buy a celebratory six pack of Dos Equies. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a bottle opener. Fortunately, I know how to open a bottle with pretty much anything that’s hard and flat. So I used my car keys. I lost grip of the keys and ended up cutting huge gashes in my finger when it hit the sharp end of the bottle. Fortunately, we had a six pack of anesthesia for the pain 😃 In a related incident: First week of my freshman year in college my dorm mates discovered, at a party, that I had never shotgunned a beer… obviously this needed to be rectified ASAP! If you’re not familiar: shotgunning involves poking a hole in the side of a can of beer, sealing your lips around said hole, applying as much suction as possible and then popping the top, causing the entire contents of the can to shoot down your throat in an instant! Observation: This does not work as well when you manage to suck your upper lip _inside_ the can and snag it on the jagged metal inside. Another observation: A dorm room full of drunken freshman are no help when you are bouncing around the room with a can of Budweiser stuck to your face, blood streaming down your chin, cursing as you have to literally RIP it off your lip… and it was my first beer, so no anesthetic effects. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063/65 "2009-06-09T21:28:48Z")
> [@](#): > > And, in a separate incident, a jellyfish swam into my bathing suit. :eek::eek: Good God! You have my sympathy! I understand those things are NASTY!! ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063/66 "2009-06-09T23:26:53Z")
I’ve posted most of mine here in similar threads, but here are a few I may not have mentioned: Scar on palm: Opening a can of liverwurst from the minibar in a Munich hotel room. Pulled on the lid, sliced open my hand. Chipped tooth: Trying to open a can of Tang at a friend’s house. We were helping her move and she couldn’t find the can opener and we were thirsty, and I was a manly man… Scars on hip, head, and hand: I looked over my shoulder to because I heard a car behind me. When traveling 45 miles per hour down a steep hill. On a bicycle. Very close to the rock-filled ditch at the side of the road. > [@liberty3701](#): > > And, in a separate incident, a jellyfish swam into my bathing suit. ow. Ow! OW! _ **OW!!!** _ ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063/67 "2009-06-10T00:04:03Z")
As a young kid, I always saw those cartoons where the guy steps on a rake or a hoe or shovel or one of those rigid sorta rake things and gets it in the face. Well, I wanted to try that. I was pretty cautious at first, really ready for that thing to fly up. I tried and tried and tried. Stomping harder and harder each time. Also getting less and less worried that it would actually work. About the time I was convinced it would not work and I was stomping as hard as I could and not even remotely protecting my face is when it finally worked in perfect fashion… ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063/68 "2009-06-10T02:42:07Z")
Playing catch with a friend of mine. With a bowling ball. About his third throw, the middle finger of my left hand got between the ball and the floor. The finger didn’t break, although at first I thought it had, but it was all kinds of specatcular colors for a couple of weeks. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063/69 "2009-06-10T03:02:09Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Playing catch with a friend of mine. With a bowling ball. > > About his third throw, the middle finger of my left hand got between the ball and the floor. The finger didn’t break, although at first I thought it had, but it was all kinds of specatcular colors for a couple of weeks. Dude! How often in ones life does one have the abilitiy to give others the "technicolor bird’? ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063/70 "2009-06-12T22:25:02Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Playing catch with a friend of mine. With a bowling ball. > > About his third throw, the middle finger of my left hand got between the ball and the floor. The finger didn’t break, although at first I thought it had, but it was all kinds of specatcular colors for a couple of weeks. My youngest got a finger between two bowling balls on the ball return when she was three. That one didn’t break, either, it just split the end. She still has the scar. I can’t even imagine having one land on a finger. OOWWW! ---
**Author:** ![Dryfreeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@Dryfreeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dryfreeze)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063/71 "2009-06-13T13:27:01Z")
Oh man, I’ve got a couple of them. I have a scar on the top of my wrist from a ladies razor (I’m a man) in the shower. I was having a good ole time scrubbing my hair in the shower when I realized my elbow knocked something off of the shelf thing, knowing a razor was there, and knowing my poor toes were exposed, I reached down all ninja-like to grab it. Somehome, I managed to catch the top of my wrist on the razor perfectly enough to cut a nice deep gash. That was about 2 years ago; I imagine I will have the scar forever. At work about a month ago I was going to refill my awesome REI water bottle when a shard of ice stabbed me in the eye and almost blinded me. We have this ice maker at work that dispense it in sheets of ice requiring the ice to be broken up by the scoop. Well, I needed ice, and there was only a sheet on top. So, I begin to break up the ice when all of the sudden I see this crystal like item hurtling towards my eye. No biggie, right? I wear glasses, ha! Nope, somehow it managed to fly up under my glasses and stab me directly in the eye. . . Eye was swollen for a few days and hurt even longer. . . Two weeks ago I ran into a parked car in a parking lot on my motorcycle . . . 4700 in damage to the car, 2500 to my bike and I have a severly sprained or broken wrist, slightly torn rotator cuff and dislocated jaw. . . yep. . . I would have died if I wasn’t wearing a helmet, as evidenced by the dent on the top of the car from my head . . . There’s more, but I shall wait. . . ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063/72 "2009-06-13T18:27:09Z")
> [@Dryfreeze](#): > > . . . 4700 in damage to the car I spend too much time playing World of Warcraft. I read this and thought, “Hmmm. Must have been a critical hit. That’s a lot of damage.” ---
**Author:** ![Dryfreeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@Dryfreeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dryfreeze)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063/73 "2009-06-13T20:00:02Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > I spend too much time playing World of Warcraft. I read this and thought, “Hmmm. Must have been a critical hit. That’s a lot of damage.” I suppose a 35mph side to side impact motorcycle to car can be considered a critical hit to a Kia Rio . . . ---
**Author:** ![jormundgondir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@jormundgondir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jormundgondir)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063/74 "2009-06-13T20:35:35Z")
> [@liberty3701](#): > > And, in a separate incident, a jellyfish swam into my bathing suit. Oh, god, that reminds me: was on a little motor boat on a tour off Puerto Vallarta, and the operator pulled into a cove near a sandy beach so we could all go for a swim. I was one of the younger people on the tour and everyone was acting quite shy about getting into the water, so i jumped in first! About ten feet from the boat started feeling a little tingly, and around 25 feet out it started to taste like burning… I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to unnecessarily alarm anyone, so my husband jumped in too. At which point I looked more closely at the water, yelled for him to get out of the water and started to swim back myself: turns out that when we pulled into the cove, we went through a swarm of jellyfish, and the propeller on the motorboat had chopped them all up into a toxic jellyfish soup: I was swimming through a slurry of live and dead jellyfish bits. So that sucked, and I got a sunburn on top of it, and my husband was mad at me for not warning everyone earlier. It hurt just to exist for several days. ---
**Author:** ![StuffLikeThatThere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@StuffLikeThatThere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StuffLikeThatThere)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063/75 "2009-06-13T21:39:50Z")
I don’t think I actually did anything particularly stupid in this instance, but I sure felt stupid when people asked how I hurt myself. I’m standing thigh-deep in the water on a beach in the Outer Banks, enjoying the waves coming up to the beach. It was pretty rough that day, so I wasn’t planning on going further out. A big one rolls in and hits me so hard that it knocks me completely on my butt, _completely tearing my left ACL_ in the process. Thank God I was with a level-headed friend, or I would have drowned. The pain in my knee was so intense I couldn’t figure out how to get out of the water. It’s really more random than stupid, but I hated telling people how it happened. If they were strangers, I told them I was saving a small child from a speeding bus. ---
**Author:** ![hotea1313](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/898d66/32.png) [@hotea1313](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotea1313)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063/76 "2009-06-14T00:06:31Z")
> [@tds1273](#): > > Sure, it may seem obvious, but remember, if you should ever decide to jump off a swingset, make sure you jump when the swing is all the way forward _not back_. Your nose might never be the same. i did that and got hit in the ear with it it was one of those rubber seat ones with chains i i think i was 10 at the time i have 3 scars on the palm of my left hand first one i cant remember how i did it but i stabbed myself with a knife cutting something when i was 6 i only remember how much it hurt 2 i stabbed myself in the palm with a screwdriver yes a screwdriver i was tryign to pull apart a computer by force don’t do it 3rd trying to use sharp wire to hang something from a nail ---
**Author:** ![Picard\_Kills\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dec6dc/32.png) [@Picard\_Kills\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Picard_Kills_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063/77 "2009-06-14T05:10:33Z")
Just recently, cooking with MIL. She picks up a pan which was sitting on a burner that was accidentally left on. She drops pan and runs to faucet. Since I am helping her do the dishes, I walk over and pick up the exact same pan, still burning hot, still sitting on a heated burner. Bad thing was that our hands hurt for a while, good thing was that we didn’t have to do dishes for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Suse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Suse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suse)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063/78 "2009-06-14T16:43:04Z")
I managed to sprain my foot in my bed, in my sleep. I don’t know what I did but I remember waking up in pain and almost immediately falling back asleep. Unfortunately I did not remember it when I first woke up yesterday morning and tried to stand on that foot. So this weekend has been a bust in terms of doing anything more interesting than watching TV. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063/79 "2009-06-15T02:34:22Z")
We had the furniture repair guy coming, so I got out the vacuum. When I turned it on, it smelled funny and sounded worse. So I turned it up on its back to see what was going on. Let’s see, take the cover off, yeah, the belt is still on and there’s not too much crud wrapped around the brush roller. Hmmm, let’s make sure the belt is sitting right on the roller part on the other end. You know, the metal pulley roller type thing? Did I mention the funny smell was like overheating? The blister that popped up immediately on my index finger was interesting after I stuck it in my mouth and sort of bit it. It’s hard to get anything done with your finger stuck in a glass of cold water. The good thing is, it doesn’t hurt anymore. I figure in a couple of weeks that part of my finger will just peel off. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063/80 "2009-06-15T05:35:48Z")
> [@liberty3701](#): > > Got my leg caught in a [turnstyle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Turnstile.alewife.agr.jpg). Ooh, I got my arm caught in one of those once! I only just remembered that right now! I haven’t thought about that in many years, I must have been 7-8ish at the time. I don’t think it actually broke the skin but I can remember it hurting so bad as it basically just compressed my entire elbow & upper arm, which just got worse as the bars were rotated to try and free my arm. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-hear-some-stories-of-injuring-yourself-in-stupid-ways/498063.md?page=5)