# twisted subject **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 20, 1999, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-subject/1401 "1999-06-20T22:04:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 1999, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-subject/1401/1 "1999-06-20T22:04:00Z")
Why is it that certain cords (headphones, but telephone most notably) tend to twist themselves into little bundles almost just by looking at them? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 1999, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-subject/1401/2 "1999-06-20T22:06:00Z")
See: “The last question” thread. Its all about entropy. * * * The facts expressed here belong to everybody, the opinions to me. The distinction is yours to draw… Omniscient; BAG ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 1999, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-subject/1401/3 "1999-06-20T22:28:00Z")
Fresh from the entropy thread, I see…Had me fooled there for a sec, my twin brother/sister 😃 Hope _this_ thread doesn’t become as heavy! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 1999, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-subject/1401/4 "1999-06-21T03:25:00Z")
Your basic answer: You answer the phone in your right hand, then when you have to right something down, you switch it to the left and (twisting 180 degrees) hang up and do it over and over until you’re finally really bored one day and un twist it (in case you didn’t catch it, everytime you move it from one hand to the other it get’s a half twist in it (and sometimes another half when you havg it up)) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 1999, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-subject/1401/5 "1999-06-21T14:34:00Z")
Having just read the thread on OCD and garbage, here’s my .02- I came to the conclusion on twisted phone cords at work a couple of months ago because the tangled phone cord was driving me nuts. I couldn’t reach across my desk without dragging the phone near or off the edge. So I spent the better part of a quiet hour untangling the damn thing. Next time I answered the phone I noticed the cord crossed over itself in a half-twist, and the moment of epiphany was upon me. I picked up the phone, twisted it the other way, and replaced it. No more twist! So now I just give the phone a reverse twist before I hang up on a call and I haven’t had a problem with the cord since. Fortunately I haven’t started obsessing with other people’s twisted phone cords yet, so there may be some hope for me. 😃 * * * Cave Diem! Carpe Canem! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 1999, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-subject/1401/6 "1999-06-21T14:46:00Z")
I’ve found that if I’m pacing while talking, I pretty much have to unwind the cord or I can barely hang the phone up. Or have another conversation while pacing the other direction. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 1999, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-subject/1401/7 "1999-06-21T15:30:00Z")
Office Depot (or any office supply store) has a little doo-hickie (sp?) that you plug into the handle jack or phone jack. It spins 360 degrees and keeps the cord from tangling at all. I don’t use one because untangling the phone cord is just one of the things I do to break up the monotony. I really need to get a life. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 1999, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-subject/1401/8 "1999-06-21T15:33:00Z")
Phone cords and the like also have some ability to twist themselves due to the memory of the wires inside (they themselves are twisted as part of the manufacturing process and formed into the little loops we tend to stretch out when fighting with the self-coiling snake attached to our handset). Unplugging the jack from both ends of the cord makes the untangling process way easier. (But you knew that). Garden hoses are also subject to the loop-de-loop coiling as means of putting them away, too. Wrestling with 150 feet of angry garden hose on a regular basis is enough to drive anyone down to K-Mart for a $70.00 plastic hose reel that will shatter unexpectedly the first time the temperature drops below say, 30 degrees. Why do long flexible cylinders twist? Because it’s an immutable law of the universe that they do so. Your panties are subject to the same law when you have to deal with the injustice. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 1999, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-subject/1401/9 "1999-06-22T14:19:00Z")
Nickrz You mentioned unplugging the phone from both ends before untwisting, but I’ve found that it’s much easier to unplug it from JUST the base and hold the cord in the air with the handset suspeding at the bottom, the weight of the handset will use gravity to untwist it for you. It’s harder with longer cords but it can still be done. * * * Formerly known as Nec3f on the AOL SDMB