In all seriousness, since this is the Dope and all… When one person tries and fails to open a jar, and then hands it to someone else who opens it easily, that’s not because the second person was stronger. It’s because the lid warmed up. A metal lid will expand (and hence loosen) when warm and contract (and tighten) when cold, but a glass jar has almost no thermal expansion or contraction at all. You’d get the same result trying again yourself, after the time you spent getting the other person to the kitchen. Or, if you want to speed up the process, run it under warm water.
That really seems like an unproveable meme that sounds like it could be plausible, but doesn’t hold up. I’ve done the thing where you hold the lid under warm water to get it to expand, and it’s never worked. Maybe if I held it under longer, but the length of time in your scenario wouldn’t be that long.
Most of the time it’s simply that the second person either has or uses a stronger grip. By the time I’ve tried a few times, my hand is getting sore and weak. The person I hand it off to has seen my struggle and goes into it full-on powerful. Plus, I’m not going to hand off the jar to someone who looks even punier and more small-handed than me.
- Small-handed arthritic weakling
The fuck it’s not. I routinely struggle with jars, then bring them to work. It’s gotten to the point where no words are spoken. I just hand my manager a jar with a pathetic look on my face, poink! and we’re both on our merry way.
Yes, I bought jar-opener thingies on Amazon. Turns out, the “sad face at work” schtick works out better.
I’m actually glad this conversation on jars came up. I compete in a grip-intensive sport and don’t typically need anyone to open jars for me, and I have wondered whether adult women typically need help with that sort of thing.
I did, however, need help opening a bottle of olive oil this week. Somehow the cap had been created without any threads on the inside of it, and so my boyfriend had to use a knife to cut through the seal connecting the top part of the cap with the bottom band and then pull straight up to get the cap off.
The only other time I remember struggling with a jar, I think I ultimately wound up being the one to open it. I struggled mightily, then handed it off to my bf, he struggled mightily and failed as well, and then I opened it. He’s a plumber and rock climber, so you know it’s hard to open if he’s struggling.
I’ve used this method, and it works if you hold it under long enough. I doubt the warmth of a hand would do the job; I think you’re right that the second person having fresh muscles (and/or a non-sweaty hand) makes more difference. Or else they are just stronger.
I rarely used to have trouble opening jars, but it’s becoming more frequent now. After a recent occasion where I needed to open 4 fresh jars in a row, I ordered a gadget from Amazon.
My mother used to work in a hospital lab. She brought home a rubber tourniquet to help open jars. It led me to think that the problem with jars isn’t that the force to open them is too much, but that you can’t grip them well enough. Wrap that tourniquet around the lid, and it became a lot easier.
I’ve never had a butter knife wedged and twisted slightly or lifted between the lid and glass fail me that I can remember.
Interesting. I’ve done it often, and it nearly always works. I run the water fairly hot.
I think that while some of it is average hand size, a whole lot of it is what you’re in the habit of doing. I used to prune grapes for a living, back before this was done by machine or with power assisted tools; and I had really strong hands and grip. (I’m female with small hands.) But when I started doing a lot less of that, I lost a lot of the hand strength.
Yeah, often even wrapping a dishtowel or something similar around the lid will work.
I’ll never forget the time I was at a Barnes & Noble. Fairly crowded, and towards the front of the store are the tables with various books. I was on the other side of the room and she had her back to me. Whatever she had going on just floored me. I was so attracted to her that I felt self-conscious. But of course everybody around me was oblivious. I had the notion of working my way around so I could see her better, and then just creeped myself out and I left without looking back.
I’ve had success with using a butter knife to hit the lid. Hold the knife by the blade and give the edge of the lid a couple of good, solid thwaps with the knife’s handle. Bonus: You get to hit something!
Yeah, I’ve heard of that method as well. I’ve been doing the under the lid trick since I was like ten, and have always wondered why people have so much trouble opening jars. You just need to get a little air in.
But what does that have to do with opening jars?
Another thing I find specifically attractive: when a woman’s mouth doesn’t close when her face is at rest. Think Susan Dey (who is my ideal feminine beauty) or Jenna Ortega.
Large man, attracted to small women. When I was younger I said she should be 1 ft shorter than me (so 5’4" or so), but after 20+ years married to a gal 18 inches shorter, that isn’t enough. Got to be 5’0" or less.
This does lead to me being the one to open jars. I am just bigger and stronger than she is.
There’s just something about a bad girl; hijacking threads, altering text within a quote, misspelling ‘co-worker’. Oh, be still my foolish heart. A woman like that could ruin me, if I was lucky.
Man attracted to women chiming in…
A fully fleshed out, but not flabby, upper arm will definitely get my attention.
I just thought of another thing that does it for me: women with dark hair and blue eyes. I once worked with a woman who had that combination, and every time she looked at me, I could not form coherent sentences. Random gibberish would tumble out of my mouth if I tried to speak. Fortunately, I had enough sense to withhold any speaking until I wasn’t looking directly into her eyes. I’m sure she thought I was a creep. And the dark hair/blue eyes combo was more of a thing for me before colored contact lenses.
Man Attracted to women.
Women with overbites and/or buck teeth have always done it for me — Lauren Bacall, Gene Tierney… not Francis the Talking Mule.
And then, oddly enough, I’ve got a soft spot for underbites too. Princess Anne, yes. English Bulldog, no. Unless it’s a Friday night and the lights are low.
What can I say? I’m an equal-opportunity occlusion enthusiast.
If you had asked me any time up until I was pushing 30 I would have said dark brown eyes. Last gf before I met my wife had dark hair and sky blue eyes. Ms. P has dark hair and sea green eyes. Both knocked me out, especially the latter.
Freckles, especially in combo with red hair.
I’m not disputing this, but apparently there is a sex difference in skin surface…I swear I’m not making this up, the fiber in men’s skin, and presumably hands, has a different structure and is more “criss-crossy" than women’s skin, so theoretically men have a better grip.
I saw this on Reddit, and somewhere else before that, but anyway, here is a cite, at least, for differences in dermal structure.