Ever since I was a small child, I’ve noticed that I can experience a very strange phenomenom: whenever I lick a popsicle stick or any other similar wood item, I get a really bizarre and uncomfortable feeling that makes me want to immediately stop. It’s not unlike the recoil we exhibit when we hear grinding nails on a chalkboard, only I suppose this would be the same effect in taste form. I can even feel a little bit of the effect when I rub my finger over a wooden spoon, and even though it’s not nearly as bad as licking it, I still have the insatiable urge to stop right away. It’s not painful, it’s just really really annoying.
I hope I’ve described it well enough for some of you to picture it (believe me, this is not something that’s easy to describe), so now I ask you: what the hell is going on here?? I’ve asked a lot of my friends and family if they have had similar experiences, and no one else except my father understands what I’m talking about. Has anyone else here had similar experiences, or at least heard of someone else having it? I’d even appreciate some wild theories as to what’s really causing it.
I have a morbid fear of getting splinters from the stick. As soon as the stick begins to show, I use my teeth to scrape off the remaining ice cream or popsicle. I can’t use wooden toothpicks either for the same reason. The texture of the stick doesn’t bother me though if the stick touchs skin.
Wow! I thought I was the only one. I get nervous when the ice cream or popsicle starts to get close to the stick. I try to pull of the remaining bit with my teeth without actually touching the stick itself. The feeling of the stick against my teeth sends shivers all through me. Nothing else has this effect.
On a related note, I have a friend who can’t stand the sound of fingernails on paper/cardboard, and can’t stand the feeling of her own fingernails scratching paper/cardboard. It’s very bizarre. Also really, really funny, but that’s another story.
I think everyone has something that has that effect on them. Popsicle sticks and toothpicks don’t bother me, but I just hate touching unfinished stoneware - my wife has some of this stuff, it’s sold through parties like Tupperware. (Someone will know the name - something gourmet.) They grate against each other when pulled out of the cabinet and it just sets my teeth on edge. She makes me put them away - seems to think it’s funny.
first post as a charter member, and it’s about kitchenware… sigh
That’s exatly how I am. It’s worse then finger nails on a chalkboard. I have to walk away at work if I see someone trying to pick tape off a box with their nails (or I QUICKLY hand them a knife or a key to cut it with). When I carry boxes up on my shoulder (especially in winter, for some reason it’s even worse when the air is dry) I tend to curl by finger tips in so the box rests on the palm of my hand and there’s no chance of my nails touching it. Ugh I shiver just thinking about it. It almost makes me sick when I hear/do it.
What gives me the ol’ shiver down the spine is the thought or action of scratching a bar of soap, and also imagining grinding one’s teeth down a rough brick wall. Yikes! :eek:
At least I’ve gotten better. Watching someone rub their hand over a surface as harmless as an ironing board or a rough wood surface used to give me the jeebies. Actually, the ironing board still does.
Cecil covered something similar in the Stright Dope archives – specifically, why nails on a chalkboard are so annoying. One explanation offered was that the frequency range was similar to that of the warning cries of macaque monkeys, so our cringes could be primitive instinct. But, I can’t imagine how our reactions to rough textures could be explained by a similar basic instinct.
But what really gives me the jeebers is if anything touches my forehead. It’s not so much any specific item or texture-- but as far as unusual tactile-related heebie-jeebie-inducers go, this is mine.
