Oh yeah I can see me waddling over to the sink with my pants down around my ankles to wash my hands. Them germs will just have to ride around with me till I get the next shower.
“I think it speaks to the duality of man sir.”
-Private Joker in Full Metal Jacket
aha - obviously not close enough - your mental image springs to full life at the beginning of the film.
Cave Diem! Carpe Canem!
I shake hands, kiss, hug, give scalp massages (not necessarily only to people I am intimate with), get breathed on, etc. all the time! It seems to me that since our surrounding is full to germs and bacteria, the teeming billions, so to speak, that our bodies would have normally developed the antibodies for most unwanted attacks. Granted, you can catch the very unusual germs from people who are sick, or with open sores, etc., but I would say that the probability is very small. That is why we do not get sick all the time just going our normal business. By not absorbing the “normal” germs overusing Lysol, etc., perhaps we stand a chance to not develop the antibodies necessary for a really massive attack one day. I would echo the “Grossness” factor…that is for each individual to deal with.
I agree with you, Centerline. People evolved in the wild, without antibacterial soap or Pine Sol. If you don’t accept evolution, Adam and Eve surely didn’t have disinfectants, either. People have, until relatively recently, made do with dirt floors and outhouses. (Actually, most people worldwide still live this way.) We’re prepared to deal with it.
Then again, people did die very frequently in the past from contagious diseases that have been less common since the advent of modern sanitation. In the 1700’s, as many as 80% of children died of disease before reaching adulthood. And the growing population of elderly and otherwise immune-compromised people is more susceptible to contracting and dying from disease.
Excuse me; I have to go wash my hands.
Survival of the fittest? Don’t flame, its possible you know!
The Army taught me how to hover over a slit trench. Istill do it today, you should see my ABS
I’ve been meaning to post on this thread, but then see that ruadh has already posted Jill’s mailbag answer about what diseases can be caught from a toilet seat.
Here’s a repeat of the link if anyone missed it: http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtoilet.html
Assuming intact skin on the back of thighs & butt, & that you sit reasonably midline, so that, um, your mucosal surfaces don’t come in direct contact with the seat, you will not catch any STD, sperm.
Sue from El Paso
Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.