# Things that one should just not do. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 3, 2006, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284 "2006-09-03T07:37:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284/101 "2006-09-18T17:16:26Z")
This just over the weekend: If the neighbours are breaking glass and accompanying their car stereo with the car horn late at night, they are very likely the type to find your request for moderation completely unreasonable, and threaten to be giant dinks in the future. Best just to turn the TV up. :smack: Also, if rebar is sticking out of the top of a parking block, don’t park right over it. And if you _do_ park right over it, don’t back up unless you really despise your front bumper. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284/102 "2006-09-18T23:31:30Z")
[QUOTE=Mama Tiger] 2) Stick fingers in front of sharp blade? Check. In my case, a rotary cutter used to cut fabric. Imagine, if you will, a circular Xacto knife blade, free-wheeling, with a handle to roll it along. Then imagine sticking your little finger in front of it. :eek: I was lucky that I only sliced off a sliver of my finger and the edge of the nail; 1/4 off and I’d be missing the tip of my finger. [/QUOTE] An easy way to tell if an ardent strip-quilter or commercial tailor/seamstress is right- or left-handed - just look at their fingertips. The hand without the flat spots on the fingertips is the hand that holds the rotary knife. :eek: [QUOTE=featherlou] Note to those who don’t know this yet - irons and stove burners heat up at about 10 times faster than you imagine they do. Best to just not ever touch them. [/QUOTE] We remind my aunt of that often - years ago, she checked an electric cooktop to see if it was hot, and won a spiral burn for her effort. ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284/103 "2006-09-19T02:16:50Z")
[QUOTE=Mama Tiger] Would you please explain this to my dear husband? At least once a day I walk in the kitchen and find he’s left something flammable – a paper plate, plastic bags, paper towels – on the stove. I simply cannot persuade him that this is a guaranteed way to end up filing a hefty insurance claim one of these days. [/QUOTE] Oh dear, I had to learn that one the hard way when I was a kid, too. I was “borrowing” my sister’s cookbook, and I left it laying on the front burner while I made a pizza sauce on the back burner. Except I didn’t turn on the back burner, I turned on the front out of habit because I rarely used the back burners. Fortunately, I caught it before it became a full-fledged inferno, but I ended up buying that cookbook from my sister. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284/104 "2006-09-19T16:27:49Z")
Something I learned from my roommates’ experience: If you are moving into a new apartment and your leases overlap, such that you’re spending a couple weeks leisurely moving things from the old place into the new one, either a) don’t cancel the electric service at the old place until you’re done moving out or b) don’t make cleaning out the fridge the last thing you do. ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284/105 "2006-09-19T23:43:53Z")
Never ever feed a stray kitty cat. I know you want to. I know you feel it’s the right thing to do. But trust me. IT will only come back to haunt you. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284/106 "2006-09-20T10:59:14Z")
One of the best cats I ever had started out as a stray that I fed. I totally 100% disagree with the previous person’s comment. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284/107 "2006-09-20T11:15:57Z")
One should engage one’s brain, and add some initial qualifiers before asking a Jewish woman, at a workplace with a large proportion of Jewish people whether Jewish people ‘dance’. :smack: What I \*\*MEANT \*\*to ask was whether the ultra-orthodox members of the Jewish community were permitted to _go out_ dancing as a form of entertainment…not just as a celebration of weddings and stuff. A question asked in all sincerity, but it backfired because of my lack of forethought. I have become the laughing stock of the yarmulked-bunch at work. Bugger’em. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284/108 "2006-09-20T11:20:49Z")
Here’s something you learn at Primary School Registrar’s camp… Never try and put out a well-set fire in a 240 lire plastic industrial garbage bin with a garden hose. The fire in these bins burns incredibly hot and the water vapourises almost immediately, until… BANG!! and a large, flaming lump of molten plastic shoots through the air, setting fire wherever it lands, and all you have left to water is the metal axle of the bin. What bigs me is they told me this would happen and I still did it. mm ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284/109 "2006-09-20T17:17:25Z")
Don’t try to clean the hair out of your razor with your thumb. Yes, you can avoid getting cut by moving in exactly the right direction, but one false move and you have a nasty cut. It’s not nearly as bad as explaining to people that you cut your hand shaving… ---
**Author:** ![taxi78cab](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47c2d/32.png) [@taxi78cab](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taxi78cab)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284/110 "2006-09-20T21:15:04Z")
[QUOTE=ultrafilter] Don’t try to clean the hair out of your razor with your thumb. Yes, you can avoid getting cut by moving in exactly the right direction, but one false move and you have a nasty cut. It’s not nearly as bad as explaining to people that you cut your hand shaving… [/QUOTE] Ooh, I’ve done that, and it reminds me of a similar one: if you’re shaving, and you have long hair which gets in your face, don’t use the hand that’s holding the razor to flick your hair back out of the way. The razor is sharp and will take out a chuck of hair, and it’s very embarrassing to try to explain your new jagged hairstyle to your friends. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![BunnyTVS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BunnyTVS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BunnyTVS)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284/111 "2006-09-21T11:00:33Z")
Don’t come home from the pub late at night and put a pan of soup on the stove before passing out. Especially when your little brothers budgie cage is in the next room. Next morning: No soup. No bottom to the pan. Not a lot of movement from the budgie. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284/112 "2006-09-21T11:41:17Z")
A friend of mine once pioneered the following method of lubing a motorbike chain. [ol]Put bike on main stand [li]Start engine[/li][li]Put bike in gear[/li][li]Wrap greasy rag around hand[/li][li]Apply greasy rag to chain[/li][li]Get rag caught between chain and sprocket[/li][li]Look on helplessly as hand is dragged between two moving pieces of hardened steel[/li][li]Inform world in general that you have just kissed the top joint of your middle finger goodbye, and that this is very uncomfortable.[/li][/ol] Adie Gazzard, you were, and doubtless still are, a plank. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284/113 "2006-09-21T11:54:45Z")
[QUOTE=BunnyTVS] Don’t come home from the pub late at night and put a pan of soup on the stove before passing out. Especially when your little brothers budgie cage is in the next room. Next morning: No soup. No bottom to the pan. Not a lot of movement from the budgie. [/QUOTE] Bloody hell mate, you’re a fucken murderer!! I hope your mum forgave you for killing her pan. ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284/114 "2006-09-22T23:56:31Z")
[QUOTE=BunnyTVS] Don’t come home from the pub late at night and put a pan of soup on the stove before passing out. Especially when your little brothers budgie cage is in the next room. Next morning: No soup. No bottom to the pan. Not a lot of movement from the budgie. [/QUOTE] :eek: That’s very responsible of you. What a horrible way to die. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Push\_Up\_Bra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/edb3f5/32.png) [@Freudian\_Push\_Up\_Bra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Push_Up_Bra)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284/115 "2006-09-23T11:10:06Z")
So what exactly happened to the budgie??? Things that I should just not do: [ol] [li] Walk around the apartment naked or some semblance of near-nakedness. Sorry Graham. :eek:[/li][li] Grow my fingernails. Especially my thumbnails. I have a nice little scar on my left index finger, near the knuckle. How? I took off my bra, and took a chunk out of my finger with my nail. [/li][li] Ride a bicycle. Front wheel; meet terracotta pot. Forehead and glasses; meet lattice fence. Everybody look at the the scar above my eyebrow.[/li][li] Get into Mia mias (Aboriginal hut-things) in the dark. Centre of forehead meets sharp stick. Bleeds everywhere. [/li][li] (I’m just listing all my scars here) Let Dad throw two year old me up into the air. Into a ceiling fan.[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284/116 "2006-09-23T11:25:11Z")
When in bed with two women, never, ever, forget which one you are married to. Just trust me on this. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Push\_Up\_Bra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/edb3f5/32.png) [@Freudian\_Push\_Up\_Bra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Push_Up_Bra)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284/117 "2006-09-23T13:03:49Z")
Oh no, **Paul** , I’m curious now. Very curious. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284/118 "2006-09-23T13:31:14Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] When in bed with two women, never, ever, forget which one you are married to. Just trust me on this. [/QUOTE] We definitely need the backstory on this one. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284/119 "2006-09-23T15:06:33Z")
[QUOTE=Freudian Push Up Bra] So what exactly happened to the budgie??? [/QUOTE] Nonstick coatings when overheated release toxic fumes that are especially toxic to birds. I will add - leave one of your cats locked in the bedroom when you go on vacation for a week. Fortunately, we had a very responsible pet sitter who made a point of looking for both kitties every day, and realized by the second day that she had only seen kitty number 1, twice, and made a full-house search for kitty #2. Another is teach your kitty how to turn a floor lamp on and off by pulling the little metal chain. Kitty turns lamp on, kitty knocks lamp over, light bulb starts fire. I now have a healthy fear of cats knocking over lamps. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284/120 "2006-09-23T15:33:33Z")
I don’t care how cold it is on Thanksgiving, if you are going to deep-fat-fry your turkey, do it totally outside away from the house, not in the kitchen or with you inside and the deep fat fryer outside by the window. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-one-should-just-not-do/371284.md?page=7)