# What makes you truly weird? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 11, 2001, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-truly-weird/61595 "2001-04-11T13:46:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Queen\_Isabella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Queen\_Isabella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Isabella)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2001, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-truly-weird/61595/41 "2001-04-15T04:44:03Z")
I can’t swallow pills either. I eat soup with a fork. I can’t tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi. I can’t tell if something is caffeinated (sp?) or not. Christina is better than Britney. Backstreet is better then \*NSync. I eat unsweetened Kool-Aid right out of the packet. I am addicted to lip balm. ---
**Author:** ![Templeton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Templeton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Templeton)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2001, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-truly-weird/61595/42 "2001-04-15T07:56:34Z")
I am still upset they no longer show “Beavis and Butthead” on MTV. I can’t stand wearing socks without shoes. I have had “The Cars Greatest Hits” in the tape deck of my truck for almost three years now. The T.V. series “Dragnet” is what I consider to be a comedic masterpiece, even though it was intended to be a drama. ---
**Author:** ![Mersavets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@Mersavets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mersavets)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2001, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-truly-weird/61595/43 "2001-04-15T14:36:16Z")
Well… I consume my own semen after masturbating. Is that weird? (enough) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2001, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-truly-weird/61595/44 "2001-04-15T16:37:59Z")
Nobody around here knows this–I haven’t told anyone. I “collect” the green push pins. Any shade of green. No thumb tacks, just push pins. When no one is watching, I nonchalantly switch them with pins of other colors, which I carry with me in my backpack. I have done this all over campus, from practically every bulletin board, in classrooms,in professor’s offices, on field trips. On my best day, I managed to get 12. I have over 200 of them in a film canister. Yes, I know I could just go to Staples and buy some, but where would the challenge be in that? I know of several offices and boards with lots of them, that I havent been able to get at unobserved, and I like to relax by planning ways to get them. I call this, “getting in touch with my inner dragon”. ---
**Author:** ![wolfseyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/97f17d/32.png) [@wolfseyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfseyn)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2001, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-truly-weird/61595/45 "2001-04-15T20:52:21Z")
Christina _is_ better than Britney. ---
**Author:** ![Nacho4Sara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Nacho4Sara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nacho4Sara)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2001, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-truly-weird/61595/46 "2001-04-16T02:25:34Z")
Let’s see, I think there are quite a few: 1. I am capable of entering a room and discerning the mood of every person within five feet of me. I can just _sense_ how someone is feeling. I think it comes from being abused; who knows? But I weird people out when I walk up and say, “Hi, how come you’re feeling so pensive today?” 2. I can make friends anywhere. I think it’s handy; my friends think I’m weird. Every Tuesday night when a group from work goes to the bar, I make friends with people I don’t know. I just introduce myself and start talking. I don’t usually have to buy my own drinks. 3. I have an eidetic memory. I read a book once and can recite random passages, complete, from memory. I usually remember page numbers too. It’s random, but useful at parties. I’m known for my verbatim Shakespeare soliliquoys. If you asked me right now, I could recite about twenty 10+ line passages from Shakespeare. 4. I have an acute sense of smell. I’m like a dog or something. When I was 10, I was seperated from my mom at a mall and found her when I caught a whiff of her. Turned around and she was rushing by. I catch a whiff of something blowing by while going 10mph on a boat in the windy harbor and I can say, “Fluere de Rome candles from the Nature Company!” 5. I carry on long conversations with my dogs, Beaner the chihuahua and Ollie the retriever. Really, I talk to them, and they listen, I swear it. I’ve actually frightened the neighbors. 6. When I was 12 I gave up on God and started praying to my Brad Pitt poster (from Legends of the Fall). Now if I really need to pray or talk about something, I clutch my rose quartz or tiger’s-eye stone and address “anyone who’s listening right now.” ---
**Author:** ![They\_Call\_Me\_Sneeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@They\_Call\_Me\_Sneeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/They_Call_Me_Sneeze)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2001, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-truly-weird/61595/47 "2001-04-16T02:28:26Z")
In the Real World, I don’t think this really makes me a weirdo, but in terms of this board I think I stand pretty much alone on this issue. I don’t think Cecil is that great. He does not impress me. Just because “Cecil says it’s so” does not, for me, amount to much more than a smarmy hill of beans. You might even say I’m unimpressed. Weird? ---
**Author:** ![Amedeus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Amedeus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amedeus)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2001, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-truly-weird/61595/48 "2001-04-16T03:00:08Z")
-Im looking foward to the time I reach “10 years without sex” (3 years to go…woohoo) -I don’t like watching sports, but love playing them. (some think this is wierd at least) -I like the taste of crayons. Hmm, probably more, but I cannot think of them right now. ---
**Author:** ![Orbifold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orbifold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orbifold)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2001, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-truly-weird/61595/49 "2001-04-16T03:16:22Z")
- I cure hiccups by drinking an entire glass of water at one go while holding my thumbs in my ears, and then immediately holding my breath for as long as I can. - Whenever I open a can of pop, I have to tear the little tab right off the can. It just doesn’t seem right to drink it otherwise. - The things I do to amuse myself when I’m bored include: converting random bits of pseudo-code into continuation-passing format, converting numbers that I see on the street into base 2, 8, or 20 in my head, and attempting to approximate the square roots of random small integers in my head. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2001, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-truly-weird/61595/50 "2001-04-16T03:56:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nacho4Sara \* > …I read a book once and can recite random passages, complete, from memory. I usually remember page numbers too. It’s random, but useful at parties… The “random” part stinks, doesn’t it? I’ve had Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” stuck in my head for about 10 years now. All 19 verses. What’s really weird is when one of the memories is on a trigger, and just cascades–I once responded to a simple question in an 8[sup]th[/sup] grade science class with an entire 7-page essay. _Verbatim_. Out loud. You could hear eyes glaze. The disturbing thing is that once the memory cascades, it’s _gone_–I still remember the gist, but I couldn’t quote a single sentence. It’s not much good for party tricks, so I snap fire from my fingertips instead. **Math Geek** , I do odd bits of math in my head when I’m bored, too. I recall spending quite some time on a long road trip deriving and testing a formula for how much you reduce trip time by speeding a certain amount. I don’t remember the exact formula offhand, but it was a hyperbolic, of course–I wish I could have shown it to some of the maniacs who passed me on the way home today. (Note: If they’re in front of you, they’re idiots; if they’re behind or passing, they’re maniacs.) Sort of a public service announcement: “You’re risking your lives and, more importantly, **mine** to shave 5 minutes off your trip time. Slow the ^\*@% down.” ---
**Author:** ![Xploder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a183cd/32.png) [@Xploder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xploder)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2001, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-truly-weird/61595/51 "2001-04-16T04:54:56Z")
I put salt on EVERYTHING \. I collect Bob And Tom \ CD’s and sound-clips. I listen to Frank Zappa, Yes, ELP and Progressive (other) rock exclusively. I can bend all my fingers on BOTH hands into VERY odd shapes…don’t ask. I’m perfectly able, thanks to ARMY TRAINING, to srink at the very LEAST, a fifth of Rum at one sitting…although she hasn’t allowed me to do this for quite some time… A-1 is a condiment for sandwiches such as peanut butter, egg, spam, bologna and hotdogs. I have enough components to re-build at LEAST seven whole computers complete with monitors but haven’t done so. I can burp on command. Disgustingly. I have worn socks about four times in the entire time we have been married…and that includes our wedding. I have this insane obsession with watching war documentaries on the History Channel. I’ve actually made a shrimp omelet. Delicious. I like the taste of warm, flat, diet coke. I could go on and on even more but what would ne the point? ---
**Author:** ![Nacho4Sara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Nacho4Sara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nacho4Sara)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2001, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-truly-weird/61595/52 "2001-04-16T16:53:20Z")
**Xploder** , I only watch the History Channel. I love History’s Mysteries the best, but I’ve seen nearly every show on that channel. I’m also a big fan of the Spanish Channel. I don’t speak the language, but it’s fun to make up my own story lines. Or sometimes I’ll just devolve into a coma and then float away. If I’m not watching one of those, it’s either the Newlywed Game on the Gameshow Network, Oprah, or the Animal Planet. I just really hate the boring crap they play on other stations. I thought of another one! I own about six pairs of plaid pants, vintage ones that old men used to wear golfing. Right now I have on a navy blue pair with a thin red and white pattern (it’s always 4th of July at my house). My favorites are hot pink and navy blue. I usually just wear a GAP sweater or something with them (right now I’m wearing a black old lady’s cardigan with white pearl buttons and black heels), but I get some weird looks. I like them, though, especially the polyester ones which are really comfortable. > [@](#): > > The “random” part stinks, doesn’t it? I’ve had Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” stuck in my head for about 10 years now. All 19 verses. What’s really weird is when one of the memories is on a trigger, and just cascades–I once responded to a simple question in an 8th grade science class with an entire 7-page essay. Verbatim. Out loud. You could hear eyes glaze. The disturbing thing is that once the memory cascades, it’s gone–I still remember the gist, but I couldn’t quote a single sentence. It’s not much good for party tricks, so I snap fire from my fingertips instead. Dude, that sounds just like me! I got ten points extra credit on a project in my senior history class when I recited that song, every line, perfectly. My teacher was really cool, and I got a B on an essay, which would’ve fucked my low A. So I made a bet that I could do it, and I got my A after all. 😃 The curse has actually saved me a few times though, like in my Shakespeare class. We were reading _Twelfth Night_, which I had read about three years before. The professor had damned me to hell for forgettting my book, and the discussion (points needed for participation) was being led by these two annoying girls. So I raised my hand and anaylzed the passage, “To well what love women to men may owe/ In faith, they are as true of heart as we.” I recited the whole thing in bits and pieces and the professor was truly impressed. I am well known for my live bar performances of Shakespeare. “But soft! What light through yonder window breaks/ It is the east, and Juliet is the sun” is a crowd-pleaser. I can do the whole speech until “Oh! That I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek,” and usually everyone applauds me. I have to be really drunk and feeling good, though. If you get enough feeling in the, “She is my lady/ O she is my love/ O that she knew she were” part, everyone goes nuts. Something else weird…I love Thoreau. It’s a tradition in my Lit classes that everyone hates him, but I think he was one cool guy. For some reason, the extended metaphors he uses that confuse everyone else make perfect sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Creaky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@Creaky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creaky)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2001, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-truly-weird/61595/53 "2001-04-17T14:26:58Z")
I’m almost 39 and I look like I’m 20. I don’t know why. I’m not flattering myself; I’m stating a fact. I definitely like it, but it makes me a bit unusual. Hijack - (Or does it?? Anybody else out there who looks significantly younger than your years?) - End Hijack. Thank you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-truly-weird/61595.md?page=2)