[newbie request for indulgence] I hope this is not the wrong forum for this thread. Please forgive me if I should have started it in one of the Columns Comments forums instead. [/newbie request for indulgence]
I was thinking about the fact that there is one Straight Dope column that affects me on a daily basis. Whether at home or abroad, I almost never use the bathroom without thinking about this. And shuddering. It tends to spring to mind again when I’m in the laundry room, too. Urk.
Just wondered if I was alone in this, or if others among you have been similarly scarred – er, I mean, enlightened – by a particular column.
Hmmm. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one traumatized by that column. But I hope Cecil doesn’t wander in and discover that it’s virtually the only one that has had a major impact on the Teeming Millions!
Whenever someone does something really stupid and outrageously self-defeating and I think that no one could possibly be that intentionally harmful to themselves, I think of the “things doctors have found up people’s butts” column and I squash that nonsense.
Oh my goodness, I was just looking for the right thread to talk about the way the toilet flushing column changed my life.
I always, always close the lid before I flush now. People who do not close the lids when they flush disgust me. And if I cannot close the lid before I flush (no lid, for example), I get away from it as soon as I flush. When in public restroom stalls, flushing is the absolute last thing I do before I quickly unlatch the lock and step out of the stall.
Obsessive-compulsive? I don’t know what you’re talking about…
The caloric content of sperm. As much as other articles may have informed me or whatever, that first article is what got me hooked (I saw “caloric content of sperm” from the page that was open. The book was on the floor).
That one phrase led me to the book, to the website, to the MB and eventually to my honey. Doesn’t get much more life-changing than that:D
Sometime early in 2001 there was a great thread on Eargasms, which is what you get when you use the Forbidden Cotton Bud On A Small Stick to clean your ear and you start to bliss out on the gentle pleasure of the penetration.
I was AMAZED to find this activity named and enjoyed by others. Now every morning I am reminded of the SDMB after I dry my head and then notice that naughty delicious dampness, urging to be throughly dried and teased…
I have to admit it’s partly the Forbidden thing that turns me on.
As to whether it changed my life, I’m not so sure. I haven’t started placing personal ads seeking other eargiests.
lel - Admitting you have a problem is the first step. Or something.
lovelyluka - I have been utterly compulsive about keeping the lid down before the flush and holding my breath and exiting stall post haste when there’s no lid ever since I first read that column.
iampunha - I was impressed by the caloric content of sperm column, but the one that convinced me that I had to read everything penned by Cecil forever was the one in which he answered the person who wondered whether the earth would be knocked out of its orbit if everyone in China jumped off a chair at the same time. From the moment I read that one, I was a devoted fan.
xash - Thanks for the welcome!
Redboss - I’ve been using the FCBOASS (ooooh!) daily for years and have not yet experienced bliss during the procedure. Will have to try to do better tomorrow.
For me it was “Is it true that male pigs have corkscrew shaped penises?”
I saw that in a student newspaper from the University of Chicago. It led me to the books, and later, after I got the computer, I had the bright idea to google “Straight Dope” on the web. And here I am.
I don’t know if my life was changed, but I liked the one x-ray linked to, and I wish I didn’t read the toilet one. But I still pretty much do everything the same…well, 99.99…% of the time