Nah, that’s coded behavior, not learned. I don’t think people realize how many behavior patterns are largely genetic. Probably fallout from the strong emphasis on the behaviorist approach to psychology that didn’t really fall out of favor until the 80s.
My little sister S. did a few weird things — like wearing a couple pairs of different colored socks at the same time, and eating peanut butter and mustard sandwiches — that none of us ever did. My mother’s sister, however, used to do the same things at around the same age. Until she saw S. doing those things, my mom never mentioned those quirks. Aunt M. lived in Kansas; we saw her maybe once every few years. No possible way S. could have learned those things, but the similarities in behavior were eerie, according to my mom. Happened to some extent with my other aunt’s kid too, the one who strongly resembled aunt M. and my sister.
Heh. When teela brown first said it I thought it referred to some sort of holy man. I obviously don’t have (real) cable.
I haven’t seen mine yet! I have a hard time finishing food and drink items that have multiple servings in one container. I can finish a cup of yogurt in one go, but if I buy a carton of milk or a box of cereal or a jug of juice, 99% of the time the last bit of it ends up going down the drain or in the trash (usually after sitting around way too long with that tiny bit left in the bottom).
This has also extended to books, though I think the Harry Potter series finally broke me of the habit. For years I would read books until I reached the last chapter, or about 20 pages. Then I would stop and wouldn’t pick it up again for months, and by that time I would have to back-track a few chapters to remember it before I could finish. There are some books I never finished. This always seemed to be worse with books I liked a lot, it’s like I never wanted it to end…so it wouldn’t! But I finished all the Harry Potter books and it hasn’t been a problem since, but truth be told I read more magazines than books these days.
Outing my SO: he always has to use a small fork and a small spoon, no matter what he eats. Steak? Salad fork. Soup? A teaspoon. Also, he cannot stand to have any sharp or pointy object pointing in his direction, even if you are not intending to do it and there is no sense of threat. When our cat was sick and we had to give her daily injections, I ended up kicking him out of the bathroom because I could not endure his constant, horrified pain-faces even when I was being extremely careful not to point the needle in his direction. By comparison it was much less stressful to just stick the cat on my own. However, in his defense he managed to stick her all by himself when I once came home slobbering drunk, so kudos to him for overcoming a big fear for the sake of the kitty (RIP).
A friend of mine will eat only one thing at a time. It could be at the Cracker barrel or any fast food restaurant. Burger and fries? The burger gets eaten before one fry is touched. I mentioned it once to him and he gave a wtf look so I dropped it.
For me this is probably more just a habit than a quirk. Right sock first, left sock next. Repeat with my slacks as well. Every single time. I’m not sure if I could even start with my left leg.
I do all of these that I believe have already been mentioned:
Must touch things “evenly”–same amount of pressure with both hands, etc…This can look really ridiculous when I’m running and one of my hands brushes against my leg.
Sit facing the open part of a room.
Counting steps. If I’m walking down a hallway and I’m going to have one less step with one foot, then I will intentionally shorten my stride to even things up.
Walking in patterns–especially on tiles. I only will walk on a tile if it is 2 away from the one I’m on. It could be in any direction, but must be 2 away. I do this a lot when I’m on the phone.
Eating one food at a time.
Lining things up.
Here are a few more:
I count the numbers 1-4 in every possible combination in my head as fast as I can. I do this all the time. 1,2,3,4–2,1,3,4–3,1,2,4 and so on until I have hit all 24 combinations. I do it in the same order every time.
When I’m making something in the kithchen, I always put things away right after I use them. So, if I’m making a turkey sandwich–I put the bread away, then use the turkey and put it away (close the fridge door), then the mustard, then mayo, then tomato, pepper. You get the idea.
I’m a math teacher. I will only put one problem on the board at a time when giving examples. Then I erase this problem–which is in the middle of the middle chalk board–and put the next one exactly in the same place.
I try to microwave everything using consecutive digits. 1 minutes 23 seconds is the most common.
I’m the exact opposite of all of those people who separate their food. I like to have a bit of everything on the plate in each fork- or spoonful. Every time.
It’s on the plate together, it gets all mixed together at the end, and I like combinations of flavors, so what’s the problem?
I also eat all around the crust first when I’m having a sandwich.
My quirk is that I don’t like pointy numbers, like 7, 4, and 1. I was kinda dreading 2007 (although it turned out ok) and being 47 (ditto). I was really happy when I had a birthday recently and turned 48. The nice round 8 cancels out the pointy 4.
For those who are curious, the difference between a habit, quirk and compulsion are that in a compulsion, the person is freaked out, anxious, etc, if they do not do their thing. A habit is just something that developed over time and doesn’t cause distress, and a quirk is just a weird habit.
Ok, those last two definitions are just mho, but the definition of a compulsion is the official one.
I don’t wear matching socks. Deliberately. The more mismatched, the better. Additionally, I love cute animal socks. Therefore, I especially love wearing socks with different animal patterns on them – cat sock on one foot, Halloween/bats sock on another foot. It’s like I can’t just settle for one cute animal – I have to have as many as possible. If you saw me walking down the street, you wouldn’t know I was wearing mismatched animal socks, but I would know, and that is the important thing.
This led to a rather amusing exchange between my husband and I a couple years back:
Me (triumphantly): My underwear match my socks!
Husband: I’m surprised your socks match your socks!
ETA: Brynda, I almost mentioned your quirk. It is without a doubt my favorite quirk of all time. You posted about it a long time ago in some other thread and I never forgot.
My quirk is more of a rebellion against coloring inside the lines. I’m sorry, but this quirk may drive some of the more OCD-inclined among you a bit batty. Please don’t shoot me with your toe lasers.
Few examples~
Microwaves:
If I’m punching in time on the microwave (as opposed to using the :30 quick-key), I won’t use round numbers. :17 seconds, :142 seconds, 4:51 seconds… no rhyme or reason, though sometimes I’ll use an anniversary or other fun number if it’s there. I have no problem with even amounts—I do use that quick key all the time—but you just won’t find me putting something in for an even minute or minute thirty. (I also generally don’t let it completely finish running, and open the door with a couple seconds left. I don’t know if this is a quirk or an aversion to the beeping noise.)
Cakes:
If there’s a cake to be sliced, don’t expect an even grid. Granted, if we’re having a dinner party for clients, things will be a bit different, but in the privacy of ourselves or our friends, expect a cubist-like shape from some random quadrant. If it’s really casual (e.g., a birthday cake or a binge Entenmann’s we’re eating with just forks) I’ll eat little paths and tunnels around the thing. I don’t hack apart a turkey or loaf of bread haphazardly, just things where neat order doesn’t really matter. (Not sure if this one counts though—the cake is a lie.)
Spelling:
This is a bit off, seeing as I spend most of my time editing. But in handwritten notes and lists, words are my own to write as I please. All “to do” lists start with “toad hue” or “tieu dieu” or some other inane absurdity. Our spice rack is labeled with things like “jar lick,” “que men,” and “Swarovski gin jeer” (you truly understand the madness if you know what the last one is). To break away from the food examples, one of our printers is the “Late Tsar,” the other is the “epée’s son.” It spills over into pronunciations, but that’s harder to explain here. We have quats, not cats. We eat ve-je-TAY-bulls or ve-JET-ables. The dude from CSI: Miami is “hora-she-oh,” and so on. This is mostly in conversations with Mrs. Dvl, but there are plenty of times I’ll slip and use one of those with a stranger or clerk. Funny though, they generally get what I’m talking about with nary a raised eyebrow.
Eh…I used to take pens of different colors and pretend that they are swords…and the right hand will fight the left hand…
I turn walking home into a mental video game. I will try to step on manhole covers to give me powerup, cracks as traps and traffic lights as save points…
Up till I am 14, I would take rulers and slip them through the ‘clip’ which most pens have and enact epic space battles…
For all of you who find the need to shutdown your applications and start them in a given order, I give you Taskbar Shuffle - just move them to where you want them to be.
Toes…I have to “floss” between my toes with my socks after taking them off.
I sleep on my side and need two pillows, one under my head, one over.
I have a morbid fear of needles, deep enough that when I needed blood drawn for an insurance exam, the phlebologist came to my dentist’s office where I could be on nitrous oxide for the procedure. I also occasionally freak out a bit in grocery stores due to the presence of those long hooks mounted to the edge of the shelves - right at eye-poking-out height.
When I was a kid, I was one of those who had to eat all my food in order, with nothing touching. I got better. But back then I was also a ventriloquist. I got well.
I tie my shoes in a way unlike anyone I’ve ever met. My dad wanted to teach me to be creative, so he didn’t show me how to tie a shoe. Instead, he made me a wooden shoe with laces, showed me what a bow looked like and said “Make something that looks like that”. I came up with my own method.
BTW, I don’t recommend repeating the “raise a creative child” experiment. Teachers do not generally appreciate creative children, preferring non-creative, non-questioning, non-curious children as they make the job easier.
These are the ones I notice. I’m probably a giant bundle of quirks to an outside observer, but being married for 28 years, my wife and I are used to each others quirks and no longer even notice.
I do everything in the same order in the shower too with the point being to keep the conditioner on as long as possible so that I can comb my hair without yanking it out. I always stay in there until the hot water runs out and I can’t stand to touch a bar of soap or washcloth that anyone else has used. I’ll share everything else that I have with my partner but not my washcloth. He has to use his own. I’m also obsessed with clean nails which is not a good thing for a gardener to be obsessed with. Sometimes I scrub them with a nail brush ten times a day.
If someone as much as breaths on my monitor, never mind touches it with their nasty oily fingers I have to clean it immediately. Even if I can’t see the fingerprints and germs I know they’re there.
One of the weirdest things is that when I’m alone I dance as I move around instead of walking normally and I dance in place while I’m waiting for something. That wouldn’t be so weird for a teenager but I’m almost 50 years old.
