# What is going on with these damn twirly headphone cords? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 16, 2004, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-damn-twirly-headphone-cords/224764 "2004-01-16T15:05:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoneburg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Stoneburg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoneburg)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-damn-twirly-headphone-cords/224764/1 "2004-01-16T15:05:22Z")
Ok, I untwirl the cord to my headphones, sit down, put on the headphones and stay in this position for X hours. During this time I take off the headphones at most 3 or 4 times, simply placing them on the desk while I do whatever it is I need to be without them for. Still, the next day, when I sit down at my computer, I have to untwrirl the damn cord again! And it’s not 3 or 4 twirls, more like 15-20, What is going on?! There is no possibly way that the damn cord is being physically twirled 15-20 times in this period. They spend pretty much their entire existence either lying on the desk (immobilised) or on my head, and I don’t sit and spin on my chair. Is this the same mechanic that causes telephone cords to be in a constant state of twirlieness? Does it has something to do with electromagnetism or what? It’s crazy! How does this happen and is there anyway to stop this insanity? ---
**Author:** ![Lagged2Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ac8455/32.png) [@Lagged2Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lagged2Death)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-damn-twirly-headphone-cords/224764/2 "2004-01-16T16:51:04Z")
> [@Stoneburg](#): > > …I take off the headphones at most 3 or 4 times… Are you sure? Have you ever actually kept track? Do you put the headphones down and pick them up in the same orientation, or are you adding a half-twist or full-twist every time you do this? > [@](#): > > There is no possibly way that the damn cord is being physically twirled 15-20 times in this period. They spend pretty much their entire existence either lying on the desk (immobilised) or on my head, and I don’t sit and spin on my chair. Well, the cord doesn’t twist itself. One turn-around in the chair every half-hour adds 16 twists to the cord over the work day. ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-damn-twirly-headphone-cords/224764/3 "2004-01-16T19:45:20Z")
> [@Stoneburg](#): > > Still, the next day, when I sit down at my computer, I have to untwrirl the damn cord again! Well, the earth **has** rotated around its axis in the interim… ---
**Author:** ![Stover9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Stover9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stover9)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-damn-twirly-headphone-cords/224764/4 "2004-01-16T20:48:57Z")
Yes, Stoneburg, altough I have no answers for you, I too have experienced this phenomenon. I have even neatly placed the headphones on the coat-hanger hook that fits on my bedroom door, so that they quietly hang without becoming a frustrating ball of twirl, but nevertheless, they will always be tormenting me at one point or another. What I really need is a single headphone since I’m deaf in one ear (although I do like to rotate between left and right ears on the headphones to pick out different sounds)… ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-damn-twirly-headphone-cords/224764/5 "2004-01-16T21:08:37Z")
First investigate the half-twists. With phone cords, I found that I did indeed add a half twist every time I picked up and another when I put it down. Another theory (WAG): Whever there is a bend in the cord, that gets “imprinted” in the material. Like bending a twist-tie, once you bend it, it stays bent. Cord material doesn’t stay bent, but may retain some of that, lose some of it’s elasticity. Lawsy, could I say that less clearly? ---
**Author:** ![Stoneburg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Stoneburg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoneburg)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-damn-twirly-headphone-cords/224764/6 "2004-01-16T21:08:54Z")
> [@Lagged2Death](#): > > Are you sure? Have you ever actually kept track? > > Do you put the headphones down and pick them up in the same orientation, or are you adding a half-twist or full-twist every time you do this? > > Well, the cord doesn’t twist itself. One turn-around in the chair every half-hour adds 16 twists to the cord over the work day. Yes I am pretty sure. And even if I did take them off AND managed to add half a twist AND always managed to twist them the same way I’d have to have done it 40 times for it to become this twirly! When I say I took them off 4 times, I maybe did it 5 or 6 times, but I did NOT do it 40 times. Also, it’s actually a headset, with a mic boom sticking out, so I always put them down making half a twirl and pick them up by making half a twirl in the OPPOSITE direction! And no, I don’t spin on the chair every half hour. And if I spin, I spin back the same way I came, adding zero twists. _“Well, the cord doesn’t twist itself.”_ Oh yeah?! Unless someone is sneaking in here at night and twisting them, they do twist themself! Stover9: Do you know of any support groups we could join? This is driving me nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Lagged2Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ac8455/32.png) [@Lagged2Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lagged2Death)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-damn-twirly-headphone-cords/224764/7 "2004-01-16T23:44:33Z")
> [@Stoneburg](#): > > _“Well, the cord doesn’t twist itself.”_ Oh yeah?! Unless someone is sneaking in here at night and twisting them, they do twist themself! > > Stover9: Do you know of any support groups we could join? This is driving me nuts. Heck, forget the support group: Work on a way to harvest this new, heretofore untapped source of energy! 😃 In all seriousness, I used to work with a headset (with curly cord) all day. On the days when I just sat at my desk and stared at the screen like one of the waking dead, the cord was fine. When I had a busy day, and I got up a lot, the cord got twisted. The other headset-wearers in the office had pretty similar experiences; the smart old hand who was bored restless always had his cord in a tangle, but the pudgy, sedentary guy who sat in the corner all day never had trouble. The curly cords on the _hand_sets, which none of us ever used, were absolutely perfect. I never counted the twists, or the times I took my headset off. But then again, I wasn’t blaming the headset, either.