I cheerfully acknowledge your discovery of the adhesive properties of a bit of strategically placed oil. I, personally, have used this magical phenomenon to cause an ordinary penny to stick to my forehead as though my head and the penny had ferro-magnetic co-attraction.
Said surface-tension adhesion has absolutely nothing to do with:
A) Your erroneous claim that oily secretions somehow enhance friction thereby increasing one’s fingers ability to move objects, thus reducing one’s need to moisten one’s fingers with saliva in order to facillitate movement of aforesaid objects (namely; pages, and/or foldable currency)…
or
B) Your seeming ingorance of the amazing gripping possiblities of electrostatics…! Without sebum or spit, I can show you how to pick up itty-bitty bits of confetti with a metal or plastic knife.
Fine, fine – I used the wrong term. Mea culpa. I appreciate being corrected by the blameless. All the same, that doesn’t change the fact that you anti-saliva freaks are able to maintain the higher ground only because you ooze out so much grease from your fingertips.
Blegh. There are few things that bother me more than if I lend someone a book and I watch as she licks her fingers before turning the pages. For Christ’s sack, if you feel the need to do that, couldn’t you at least not do it right in front of me? Ack.
I had a teacher in high school that would lick her fingers before handing out tests and worksheets. More than once I got a paper with a giant saliva spot. Just typing this is literally making me gag.
Somebody tell me that a glob of ick propelled from the mouth at speed, if containing disease, is more likely to cause disease in others than a semi dried saliva mark on the edge of a page.
Unless you spit directly on someone or some communal item, there is little chance of contact with that spit. On the other hand, people touch money and books every day, and if they are also spit-turners, that may contribute to infection.
How long the viruses can survive outside the body depends on the virus. HIV, for example, can only survive for a few hours. Hepatitis B, maybe a week. Smallpox, on the other hand, can stick around for years. Cite. Of course, the virulence of these varies, and none of this addresses bacterial agents.
You people crack me up. Seinfeld did not go off air, it just got moved to a text version on the SDMB.
I guess it’s gross if you think about it, but so is skin oil. From now on everyone wear rubber gloves when handling stuff. Oh and throw out your shoe laces when they touch the bathroom floor.
There was this woman at my old work who used to lick her fingers before she’d hand you any paper products. she’d also pick her nose, then when she was walking by, run her hands over the tops of the cube walls (they were just half walls) and all over everyone’s desks. she smelled kinda funny, too. ick. just thinking of her makes me shudder.
Your same link points out that “Just about everything we touch is covered with germs. They usually have no effect on us because our immune systems deal with them. Also fortunate is the fact that simple hygiene steps – such as washing your hands thoroughly before eating – can reduce the chance of infection significantly.” I’ve never heard of any disease being transmitted through paper or other highly porous, dry materials. Doorknobs, food, drinking glasses – sure. But show me some evidence that ever a disease has been transmitted through a trace of dried saliva on a page.
What a minute, were you asleep when you did those biology classes at school.
When someone spits, there are lots of little globs that also come out with the big glob and the speed of projectile spit is so great that it could easily hit someone whilst still fresh. Whereas, page-turn spit is less likely to be fresh, unless it has been directly handed to you immediately after the spit covered finger has left the page. The amount of spit must also count for something, a glob is way bigger than a bit from a finger.
Guess what, sometimes I eat food that has fallen off the plate onto the table or even onto the floor - yeah, thought that would freak you out!
And I sit on public toilet seats, not squat over them - feeling queazy?
I think the grossest thing I’ve ever seen anyone do at work as pick their ear wax, smell it, then taste it a few times before surreptitiously eating it. It could be worse, but it really struck me as nasty at the time.
For God’s sake, people, before you go leaving secretions from whatever bodily orifice you happen to be fingering (or oil, or butter, or “I Can’t Believe It’s Not The Body of Christ,” or whatever you’re munching while reading,) on the Book of Kells, use your loaf, and invest in some historical wisdom!
Actually, there’s a lot of scientific evidence to show that diseases are transmitted via mucous membranes. The reason it’s disgusting for people to touch their tongues, mouths, noses, assholes, etc., is because that’s where the germs are. Not the same as “skin oil” at all.
Hold the phone there, Bub. Why don’t you show us your evidence that diseases can only be transmitted through non-porous materials. I’ve never heard that one before.
