# Things you've seen that actually made your jaw drop. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 12, 2001, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187 "2001-02-12T19:34:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187/81 "2001-02-16T16:58:18Z")
Call me narrow-minded if you wish, but when the kid is old enough to ASK for the boob, it’s no longer breast-feeding, it’s a hot date. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187/82 "2001-02-16T17:07:29Z")
You’re narrow-minded. ---
**Author:** ![Palandine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/958977/32.png) [@Palandine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palandine)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187/83 "2001-02-16T17:27:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Degrance \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Cyn \* > > \*\*Amid our collective dropped jaws, Mom says “I don’t have anymore milk, but she still likes to suckle.” \*\* > > I find it horrifying that a child nursing caused anyone’s jaw to drop. What were you raised by machines? > \*\* Cyn noted that the mother said she didn’t have milk anymore. Therefore, it is _not_ nursing. I wouldn’t assume it was exploitation of a child, but it’s certainly not right, either. ---
**Author:** ![Sue\_Duhnym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Sue\_Duhnym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sue_Duhnym)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187/84 "2001-02-16T17:57:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Degrance \* > I find it horrifying that a child nursing caused anyone’s jaw to drop. What were you raised by machines? > > FYI the average age of weaning for the entire human population is about 4.5 years. That is the average not the top end. I think you need to get out more. Oh for chrissake, most of the world’s population is also in third world countries. Nursing for longer periods when you don’t have access to vaccinations, clean water or adequate medical care makes sense. I’m all for nursing (My daughter weaned herself at about 1 year, I would have liked to go longer), but once a child can unbutton your shirt on their own and your milk is dried up, it’s time to stop. ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187/85 "2001-02-16T18:38:54Z")
Last week driving home from work on 395 between Maine Ave. and MLK in DC. I see something in the road ahead, thinking its trash or debris. Its a guy calmly walking down the middle lane of Eastbound 395- an 8 lane highway. I immediately called the cops and didn’t see anything about a fatality on the news so I’m assuming he survived. ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187/86 "2001-02-16T19:10:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Palandine \*\*\*Cyn noted that the mother said she didn’t have milk anymore. Therefore, it is _not_ nursing. I wouldn’t assume it was exploitation of a child, but it’s certainly not right, either. \*\* The post made it quite clear that the jaws dropped before that statement. The reaction of horror was because a child that age was nursing not because the mother was not lactating. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Sue Duhnym \*\*\* > Oh for chrissake, most of the world’s population is also in third world countries. Nursing for longer periods when you don’t have access to vaccinations, clean water or adequate medical care makes sense._\* This is not just about third world countries most of Europe nurses years longer than the US. It is a cultural thing. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Max Torque \* > \*\*Call me narrow-minded if you wish, but when the kid is old enough to ASK for the boob, it’s no longer breast-feeding, it’s a hot date. \*\* You are not narrow minded you are a sick puppy. Maybe all you can think about when you see a naked breast is sex but they do have a primary function that has nothing to do with eroticism. ---
**Author:** ![KJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b2d939/32.png) [@KJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KJ)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187/87 "2001-02-16T19:20:57Z")
Add me to the “I thought I had a good story but, DAMN you guys” group… One of the minor jaw-dropping things I’ve seen is the scene in The Cell (which I just watched again yesterday, on DVD) with the horse. If you’ve seen it, you know what I’m talking about. I wasn’t necessarily disgusted, by it was very interesting, and so bizarre my jaw dropped the first time I saw it. Hell, that whole movie had some jaw-dropping special effects. In the “disgusting” catergory: A few weeks ago. I innocently got onto my computer. Apparently somebody else in my family was on it before me, and had opened up MSIE without closing it afterwards. No, it’s not what you’re thinking, no child porn or anything like that (though that certainly would’ve made my jaw drop in disgust.) It was a website (that I do not remember the address to) about life in Afghanistan. It was pretty horrible. The people were very poor and malnourished, and they had actual photos of somebody carrying around hands that had been amputated, presumably as punishment for theft. I will admit, it’s not nearly as bad as seeing something like this in real life, and certainly not as bad as some of your guys’ stories, but it was very disturbing. And I was also pretty speechless watching old Holocaust footage, but that kind of goes without saying. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187/88 "2001-02-16T20:39:50Z")
- Driving south on I-95 from Boca Raton to Key West… just a few weeks after Hurricane Andrew. QUITE enough to make one’s jaw drop. It looked like someone had dropped a bomb on southern Dade County. Second jaw drop: realizing if I had lived 60 miles further south, or Andrew had turned just a little bit to the north… I’d have been in the dead center of that devastation. - Seeing Trent Reznor’s roadie go down on Marilyn Manson onstage, in the middle of Manson’s set. (Actually, kinda near the end.) Completely gratuitous and unneccesary. Turned me off Manson forever. Bleh. ---
**Author:** ![FallenAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@FallenAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallenAngel)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187/89 "2001-02-16T22:37:12Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Degrance \* \*\* > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cyn \* > \*\* > I find it horrifying that a child nursing caused anyone’s jaw to drop. What were you raised by machines? > > FYI the average age of weaning for the entire human population is about 4.5 years. That is the average not the top end. I think you need to get out more. > > Our daughter will be three next month and is quite happily nursing. Mostly just when going to sleep but it also comes in handy for skinned knees, etc. Nothing comforts a young child quicker or more completely. > > People need to understand that normal nursing can extend until a child is 5 or 6 years old. While this is just accepted as normal in the rest of the world. In the states it is usually referred to as “extended nursing”. > > BTW: This is not just a personal gripe. The US mind set on this topic is ruining lives. An Illinois woman just recently lost custody of her child for six months because someone reported ger to DSS for nursing her 5 year old. > > Now that is enough to make your jaw drop. \*\* Well, my jaw did a bounce off the floor after reading THAT post. [/hijack] I find it horrifying that anyone is PROMOTING breast feeding that late. After reading this post I was fairly sure it went against most of the medical and child psych current best reasoning. I was right. An hour of searching online turned up NOTHING to back up the 4.5 year nurisng average claimed above. I was also unable to find anything that didn’t recommend starting weaning at approximately 5-6 MONTHS, not years. Of all the sites I turned up, this one is pretty well representative: [http://www.growingwell.com/faqs/genfaqsbreastfeeding.htm](http://www.growingwell.com/faqs/genfaqsbreastfeeding.htm) While it’s nearly universally recognized that breast feeding is the preferred method for newborns, it certainly doesn’t carry through to the toddler stages. Using breast feeding as a curative/comfort/behavioral reinforcement activity in older children strikes me as a good way to ensure the child ends up poorly adjusted, with weak social coping skills and a tendency toward reversion in the face of stressful situations. It has seemed to me that children keep getting less and less well-behaved and able to adapt at what would have been appropriate ages when I was a child. Badly reasoned child rearing activities like this are, I’m willing to wager, a major contributor to that trend. ---
**Author:** ![kaiju](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a587f6/32.png) [@kaiju](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaiju)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187/90 "2001-02-16T23:40:33Z")
I was shoe shopping. The store had two floors, with up and down escalators side by side, running up through the center of the store. No walls on either side until you got to the ceiling of the first floor. There was a family shopping. Mom and aunt, or Mom and best friend, and two or three assorted kids. One kid, a boy, probably about kindergaten age, was playing by the escalators, trailing his hand along the up handrail. Stupid, but the sort of thing I’d done as a child. The rail caught his coat cuff and hauled him off his feet and up into the air. He was riding along on the outside of the escalator, heading for the ceiling and supported by a scrap of cloth. I was frozen to the spot, staring up. I heard myself saying, “Hang on!” And thought, “How stupid is that? It’s not like he wants to let go.” A good samaritan, heroic guy, has a lot more sense than I do, and runs like a rabbit up the down escalator, and down the up, intercepting the kid before he rams his head into the ceiling or pulls loose and falls back to the first floor. He grabs the kid by the coat collar and hauls him in, taking him back to the first floor to his mother. His mother looks furious. Not only did she not thank the man who rescued her son from possible death, dismemberment, or at least a nasty fall. She looks like the minute she gets sonny out of the store, she’s going to beat the crap out of him. I like to think that it was just because she was scared, but you never know. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187/91 "2001-02-16T23:49:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Degrance \* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Max Torque \* > > \*\*Call me narrow-minded if you wish, but when the kid is old enough to ASK for the boob, it’s no longer breast-feeding, it’s a hot date. > > You are not narrow minded you are a sick puppy. Maybe all you can think about when you see a naked breast is sex but they do have a primary function that has nothing to do with eroticism.\*\* In an attempt to wrestle this thread back on topic, I’ll just say that “humor-impaired people always make my jaw drop.” (anyone else have the sinking feeling that a series of JDT-esque pro-breastfeeding-until-well-into-junior-high threads are gonna pop up?) ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2001, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187/92 "2001-02-17T00:54:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by plnnr \* > As I turn around I see one of the workers get knocked down in the rear of the truck and then it backs over his head. Good god almighty…I was going to post my jaw-dropper, about seeing a pigeon go under the wheel of a truck…but somehow it doesn’t have quite the impact. But I do have another…Berkeley campus, Sproul Plaza, mid-day in the spring of 1976, on the day Saigon fell. And a woman is strolling through the throngs, totally naked. Her way of celebrating, I came to understand. And she wasn’t drawing much attention at all. ---
**Author:** ![50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/b9e5f3/32.png) [@50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/50)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2001, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187/93 "2001-02-17T00:57:59Z")
someone mentioned a jogger and this came to mind… I was walking home from work, and was heading around the lake to get home, and theres this jogger guy joging ahead of us. Hes got these short Umbro shorts on, and whyle hes running, he slows down, shakes a dump out of his shorts and continues jogging. You gotta love those hard core fitness people. ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2001, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187/94 "2001-02-17T02:58:21Z")
Ok, I got another one. It just happened about a half-hour ago. I don’t think it qualifies as jaw-dropping, but it was definately weird. An ambulance and a health care van pull up outside my neighbors house tonight about 8:00. The ambulance dome lights are on as well. Two guys take this person (I couldn’t tell if it was a he or a she) out of the back of the ambulance and proceed to wheel/carry this person to the house in what may have been a wheelchair or a tilted stretcher. The weird part? This person was completely covered from head to toe in sheets, or maybe it was one big sheet. Not one part of this person was exposed. Now what the hell would be a reason to have someone covered in sheets in that way? And why were the ambulance guys taking this person _into_ the house? I mean aren’t those dome lights for emergencies? And if it was an emergency, shouldn’t this person be going _from_ the house not to it? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2001, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187/95 "2001-02-17T17:31:20Z")
Deprance-attachment parenting, or non-coercive parenting? I’m sorry, but also, wouldn’t sucking on the breast be REALLY bad for a child’s teeth? Count me in as one of those with the eeeewww! factor! ---
**Author:** ![LifeWillFall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@LifeWillFall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeWillFall)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2001, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187/96 "2001-02-17T20:42:20Z")
I don’t know if this really qualifies but my jaw dropped when I read Spoons first post to this thread [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=55001](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=55001) ---
**Author:** ![St.Attila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@St.Attila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Attila)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2001, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187/97 "2001-02-17T21:12:22Z")
**[breast-feeding hijack]** _Originally posted by **FallenAngel** _ > [@](#): > > **I find it horrifying that anyone is PROMOTING breast feeding that late. After reading this post I was fairly sure it went against most of the medical and child psych current best reasoning. I was right. An hour of searching online turned up NOTHING to back up the 4.5 year nurisng average claimed above.** [La Leche League](http://www.lalecheleague.org), a fifty year old organization with links to the [World Health Organization](http://www.who.int/), established to promote breast-feeding, is a great resource. I’m surprised you didn’t find it in your hour’s worth of searching. From [http://www.lalecheleague.org/LawExtended.html:](http://www.lalecheleague.org/LawExtended.html:) > [@](#): > > the average age of weaning around the world is 4.2 years. You then said: > [@](#): > > \*\*I was also unable to find anything that didn’t recommend starting weaning at approximately 5-6 MONTHS, not years. > > Of all the sites I turned up, this one is pretty well representative: [http://www.growingwell.com/faqs/genfaqsbreastfeeding.htm\*\*](http://www.growingwell.com/faqs/genfaqsbreastfeeding.htm**) From your link (emphasis mine): > [@](#): > > This is a **gradual process** starting around 4-5 months as mother’s milk alone is not sufficient to sustain baby’s growth. Solid foods are typically introduced at four to five months, but weaning is a gradual process that can take years. > [@](#): > > **Using breast feeding as a curative/comfort/behavioral reinforcement activity in older children strikes me as a good way to ensure the child ends up poorly adjusted, with weak social coping skills and a tendency toward reversion in the face of stressful situations.** Again from [http://www.lalecheleague.org/LawExtended.html:](http://www.lalecheleague.org/LawExtended.html:) > [@](#): > > Meeting a child’s dependency needs is the key to helping that child achieve independence. And children outgrow these needs according to their own unique timetable. Some youngsters who continue to nurse well into childhood are for many years nearly weaned. Actual weaning, says La Leche League, is a personal decision to be made by each mother, based on her particular family situation and individual circumstances. Mothers instinctively know when the time is right. **[/breast-feeding hijack]** ---
**Author:** ![St.Attila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@St.Attila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Attila)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2001, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187/98 "2001-02-17T21:37:11Z")
**[breast-feeding hijack]** _Originally posted by **Guinastasia** _ > [@](#): > > \*\*I’m sorry, but also, wouldn’t sucking on the breast be REALLY bad for a child’s teeth? > > Count me in as one of those with the eeeewww! factor! > \*\* From [http://www.lalecheleague.org/LawExtended.html:](http://www.lalecheleague.org/LawExtended.html:) > [@](#): > > Some people are upset, if not shocked, to learn that children can nurse for so long. Curiously, these same people are hardly surprised to see kindergartners sucking their thumbs or fingers. The truth is that the need to suck, like many other dependency needs, does not disappear overnight, and often lasts longer than we as a society are willing to accept. Fact is, the nipple is much softer tissue than a digit. Children do not bite down on a nipple because of the rather negative reaction they get from Mom, but they will lightly bite down on their fingers and thumbs, which contributes to overbites and related problems. Since a child who weans himself from the breast naturally will feel no need to suck their fingers or thumbs, their teeth will be healthier for it. FWIW, I was never breast-fed, and sucked my thumb till I was eight. My teeth showed it. My parents tried everything to get me to stop, but I didn’t until I decided to stop myself. **[/breast-feeding hijack]** ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2001, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187/99 "2001-02-17T21:40:54Z")
It’s sick that a child beyond an infant is suckling. ---
**Author:** ![St.Attila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@St.Attila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Attila)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2001, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187/100 "2001-02-17T22:40:11Z")
_Originally posted by **Phobia** _ > [@](#): > > \*\*It’s sick that a child beyond an infant is suckling. \*\* Apt name, **Phobia**. Have a look at the [Straight Dope main page](http://www.straightdope.com/); it says, “fighting ignorance since 1973 (it’s taking longer than we thought).” I’m beginning to understand why. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-that-actually-made-your-jaw-drop/54187.md?page=6)