# More Personal Peculiarities **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 14, 2014, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534 "2014-08-14T18:23:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534/141 "2014-09-07T13:06:30Z")
> [@Dunkelheit](#): > > When we had devil’s-food cake as a kid, I would turn it upside down and eat the cake first, then squish the frosting between the tines of the fork and lick it off. I do the cupcake version of this. I hold the cupcake above my mouth and eat the bottom first - in the end, you have a delicious cookie-sized round cake thing with icing. It started in elementary school as a way to rebel against the kids who would lick he icing off the cupcake and throw the rest away. Of course, if I’m with strangers, I’ll eat it the civilized way. 😃 But seriously, I think that the way you eat a cupcake is a baked good Rorschach test. And there’s no elegant way to do it - even if you eat everything at once, equally, you get frosting on your nose. Oh, and I also make the classic mashed potato gravy volcano. The peas stuck in the mash are dinosaurs. What’s that, you say? Maturity? Pah! ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534/142 "2014-09-07T13:21:13Z")
I prefer the toilet paper roll with the available sheet _against_ the wall. I’m the only known human who does this. I know this because of the angst this particular action can bring. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534/143 "2014-09-07T23:44:41Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > Another quirk: after I scoop the litterbox I can’t touch _anything_ until I’ve washed my hands. If there’s laundry to be brought up I have to go downstairs, scoop the kittyboxes, go upstairs and wash my hands, then go back downstairs for the laundry. That’s not a quirk, that’s just being sanitary. At least considering what my cats do in their litterbox. > [@](#): > > \*\* > Nava Nava\*\*: > > > [@](#): > > > > **Drunky Smurf** > > I have “home” clothes and “Not home” clothes. I have specific shorts and t-shirts that I wear at home and shorts and t-shirts that I wear not at home. A common scenario is I’ll get up on a weekend and change from my pajamas into “home” shorts and t-shirt and then about 10 AM I’ll change into “not home” shorts and t-shirt and then go to the store and then when I get back home I change back into “home” shorts and t-shirt. > > > > “Home” clothes just make me feel more homey and comfortable. > > That’s weird? I don’t think that’s weird either – and I’d bet that most people over about age 40 were raised to do that. Go home, take off your “good” (school) clothes and put on something that it’s ok to spill Kool-Aid on. 30 years later, I still do that, but it’s work clothes I’m saving and I’m drinking wine. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534/144 "2014-09-07T23:45:48Z")
I only eat the tops of muffins. I’ve always done this. Long before that \*Seinfeld \*episode, I might add. ---
**Author:** ![Sodalite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@Sodalite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sodalite)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534/145 "2014-09-08T06:18:00Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > If I am eating a group of things, one of them has to be plain. Like if I am eating hot dogs, one has with nothing on it. Bagels, plain bagel with nothing on it etc. A plain donut etc. One of my dream foods is I wished they made chocolate chip cookies without the chips so I could have one before I ate the regular cookies. No need to dream. Chocolate chip cookies without the chips are butter cookies. They sell them in the store, but they are much tastier made at home. The home of a friend who cooks better than you is also a good place for them to be made. That way you don’t even have to be there. 🙂 All they have to do is find a good recipe for CC cookies and then just leave out the chips. If you’d rather not bother anybody else, you can take a box mix, pour it through a sieve/colander to remove the chips, then make as instructed. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534/146 "2014-09-08T08:21:57Z")
> [@campp](#): > > I prefer the toilet paper roll with the available sheet _against_ the wall. I’m the only known human who does this. > > I know this because of the angst this particular action can bring. We’re a club with two members. I know someone who actually changes the direction of the roll in _other people’s houses_ if it doesn’t face the correct way, according to her. ---
**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:** [September 8, 2014, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534/147 "2014-09-08T13:10:59Z")
> [@Indyellen](#): > > The thing my husband finds most peculiar (I didn’t think it was peculiar until he pointed it out) is that I don’t usually want anyone else using my cell phone, and I’d rather not use someone else’s. I’m ok if my daughter or husband use my phone, but I’d rather not use either of theirs, and I am most certainly not going to allow someone I don’t know (or only know a little) to use my phone. It’s much too personal. It’s like a violation or something. I don’t know why. I’m like that with my cameras. No one touches my cameras. Ever. A few times when I’ve been on vacation and struggling to take a selfie, people would ask me if I’d like them to take a photo of me. I always say “no, thanks”, because that would involve them TOUCHING MY CAMERA. Also put me down for the hand wave thing at automatic doors, and saying “Honey, I’m home” to an empty house. Lastly, at various times, any of several neighborhood cats will be hanging out in the fenced-off entry walk at the front of my house when I get home. I always say. “Don’t panic, it’s just me” as I pass through the gate. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534/148 "2014-09-08T13:25:46Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Nay, sir. All the eggs have to be at one end of the carton. The empty side goes in fridge first, so when you take them out next time, the weight is in your hand and not pulling the carton to the floor. When your thumb pokes through the cheezy styrofoam. My mother used to do that. A ten egg omelette on her floor when a child tried to help healed her of that. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534/149 "2014-09-08T16:42:27Z")
When I’m walking out on the sidewalk, I always try to take no more than one step per sidewalk segment. Cracks across the segments are tremendously helpful, as it makes two segments which each allow a step. I usually walk right next to the curb, because the curb provides another segment which can be used as needed. Indoors, if I’m someplace with floor tiles a foot on a side, I always find myself driven to take steps in knight’s-moves: That is, if we call the tile where my left foot steps (0,0), then my right foot will be at (1,2), or maybe (2,1) or (-1,2). The local public-transit trains mostly run in below-ground-level open cuts (alongside freight tracks), so you go up stairs to get to the street level. When I get off, I always try to be higher than the highest point on the train (the contacts to the overhead wire) before the train passes me. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534/150 "2014-09-08T17:02:11Z")
> [@PorchePine](#): > > This one is probably common enough that its not even peculiar, but when eating M&Ms, I eat all of one color before proceeding to the next. Whereas I go for the absolute opposite: assess a handful of M&Ms and eat them individually by color until I have the same number of every color represented in the hand. And then eat them in one-of-each-color sets, maintaining color parity until I have zero M&Ms. I also apply my impressive Jedi telekinetic powers to open automatic doors and lights. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534/151 "2014-09-08T17:28:58Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Whereas I go for the absolute opposite: assess a handful of M&Ms and eat them individually by color until I have the same number of every color represented in the hand. And then eat them in one-of-each-color sets, maintaining color parity until I have zero M&Ms. Maybe not TOO strange: when eating Peanut M&Ms, I suck off all the candy coating and chocolate, spit the nuts into a pile and eat the pile later. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534/152 "2014-09-08T18:07:23Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > At one point in 2008 all my pets had passed away and I spent 2 weeks without any until my current cat was old enough to bring home. Messed me right up every time I left my apartment. > > Another quirk: after I scoop the litterbox I can’t touch _anything_ until I’ve washed my hands. If there’s laundry to be brought up I have to go downstairs, scoop the kittyboxes, go upstairs and wash my hands, then go back downstairs for the laundry. I won’t even touch doorknobs after ive scooped the litter box. If for some reason I have to open a door, I use my elbow (all the knobs are levers, not round). I look like a TV surgeon with my hands held up as I go to the sink. ---
**Author:** ![toastie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@toastie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toastie)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534/153 "2014-09-08T21:01:01Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > - the volume of anything has to be set to a even number or a multiple of five. Yes, I do this too. Even numbers are preferable to ones ending in 5. Most of my quirky behaviors are food related: If I have milk, it must be out of a white cup. When eating pancakes, the syrup cannot run down the sides of a stack. If I get a stack, I must take the stack apart, butter the bottom most, apply just enough syrup so that I can spread it out with a knife without any running off the side. Then place the next pancake on the stack, and repeat until all are prepared. I then eat the stack one pancake at a time starting at the top, cutting it into 8 equal wedge shaped pieces. If it is a large pancake so that each of the 8 pieces is too large, I’ll cut each wedge in half in such a way that it has one wedge shaped piece, and one roughly trapezoid shaped piece. I think I usually eat the pieces in clockwise order. If I get a plate of pancakes that aren’t in a stack or are overlapping, I’ll move all but the bottom most out of the way so I can build the stack. I become uncomfortable when my wife eats pancakes her way, which is to just haphazardly spread butter and syrup over them, and she cuts and eats variable sized pieces. For toast made with rectangular shaped pieces of bread, I prefer each slice to be cut into 2 triangles. I then bite the corners off the long side first, gradually moving in and to the back. The 3rd corner is always last. I know my dad ate his toast this way, so I think I picked it up from him. ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534/154 "2014-09-08T21:14:38Z")
A sandwich needs the bread slices to have been neighbors in the loaf and the sandwich must have the tops facing the same way (no rotation). Then eat the upper left corner, upper right, bottom right, then bottom left. There is now an iron-cross of a sandwich. Take two even bites out of the bottom edge, two out of the left, two out of the right, and two out of the top. Rarely, if the bread is not square, two opposites sides might require only one bite each. Once the sandwich is a round of bites, bite out the edges of the bites counter-clockwise into the next smaller round of bites. Circle once again if needed until one bite remains at the center. I must usually “correct” the toilet paper to top over “dispensation” versus bottom under. If the guest bathroom is very nice, I may fold a little triangle just for giggles. I can handle the mass-distribution of casseroles and egg cartons. I just have to order the eggs by color in an alternating pattern. I can’t imagine not having “house clothes”. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534/155 "2014-09-09T12:13:27Z")
I solved the egg carton issue by buying a plastic holder for the eggs. It’s stronger than the styrofoam ones and flat on top so you can set other stuff there. ---
**Author:** ![Dunkelheit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dunkelheit/32/248_2.png) [@Dunkelheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunkelheit)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534/156 "2014-09-09T15:24:06Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > When I’m walking out on the sidewalk, I always try to take no more than one step per sidewalk segment. Cracks across the segments are tremendously helpful, as it makes two segments which each allow a step. I usually walk right next to the curb, because the curb provides another segment which can be used as needed. > > Indoors, if I’m someplace with floor tiles a foot on a side, I always find myself driven to take steps in knight’s-moves: That is, if we call the tile where my left foot steps (0,0), then my right foot will be at (1,2), or maybe (2,1) or (-1,2). I do the one-step-per-segment thing too, whenever possible given my stumpy legs. Also, this: [Floor Tiles](http://xkcd.com/245/) ---
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534/157 "2014-09-09T15:26:47Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > We would totally clash, since I will only enter an odd number of seconds on the microwave to heat my food. Now that you mention it, I tend to enter short times on the microwave in multiples of 11 (11, 22, 33 … 99) - to avoid needing to move to a different button. :o ---
**Author:** ![curious11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac91a4/32.png) [@curious11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curious11)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534/158 "2014-09-09T17:31:12Z")
[quote=“Antinor01, post:4, topic:695534”] Like a burger, I’ll take off the top bun and eat that with most of the veggies and whatever condiment, then I’ll eat the bottom half. QUOTE] I’ve noticed that I’ll order a burger at a restaurant with everything. Then I will remove the lettuce and tomato from the burger and eat them seperate from the burger, then eat the burger. I’ve also noticed that every time I take a bite of a burger, or burrito, or chicken wing, or other finger food, I put the item down, the clean my hands and face, and then take another bite. I tried not cleaning my hands and face, waiting till the end, and my friends made all these “you have something on your face” motions. Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches, I’ve come to find out, are made differently by every person. My style is to spread the peanut butter on both sides of the bread, then put the “Jelly” (fruit spread or honey or nutella) in the center on one slice and then push the “Jelly” out towards the edges, leaving a 1/2 centimeter of clean peanut butter. Then assembling the sandwhich by standing up the slices, pushing the bottom together and then “rolling” my hands up the bread, concentrating on the edges, to create a pocket of “Jelly” in the peanut butter. This way the “jelly” won’t soak through the bread. If it is a peanut butter and banana sandwich, then forget all that and just smash the two slices together. I have to go now. ---
**Author:** ![curious11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac91a4/32.png) [@curious11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curious11)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534/159 "2014-09-09T17:36:10Z")
> [@Amberlei](#): > > I’ve never heard of anyone doing it before. I totally do that! Especially with the 18 and 24 egg cartons/crates. ---
**Author:** ![MsKaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@MsKaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsKaren)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534/160 "2014-09-11T03:14:58Z")
What a relief to read about so many totally normal people! One quirk I have is eating my sandwich into the shape of Ohio. I’ve always loved maps and was, as a child, very pleased the more accurate the border was to Lake Erie and the Ohio River. I’ve tried other states, but a move to Louisiana just resulted in a messy sandwich, and many states are dull. Pennsylvania and Texas are not bad, but Ohio is the bomb! I’ve never tried Hawaii, on purpose anyway, 🙂 I live in Florida now and it is no better than Louisiana or California were. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-personal-peculiarities/695534.md?page=9)