# What seemingly innocuous things can you just NOT look at? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 27, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714 "2010-08-27T20:44:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714/161 "2010-09-03T16:02:57Z")
Corn fields. Okay, I can look at them, but they scare me. ---
**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 3, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714/162 "2010-09-03T17:00:01Z")
Our office once received a nice foral arrangment that included some cattails. A women ws walking by it and suddenly she screamed so loud I thought she was being attacked. Me: What’s going on? Her: Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh… I run out to see what’s going on. Turns she had touched the cattail and it had exploded, revealing its seeds. It had totally freaked her out. She cannot bare to see a cattail now. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa\_Ann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lisa\_Ann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa_Ann)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714/163 "2010-09-04T05:56:57Z")
Today reminded me I don’t like horses. Up close. They are just so BIG. And I don’t speak horse. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714/164 "2010-09-04T09:59:42Z")
I’m not sure it’s really innocuous, but medical procedures. From needle jabs to surgery, I _cannot_ watch that, be it in real life, on TV or even done on me. I have no problem with watching someone getting cleaved in two with an axe or a blown-up soldier trying to put his guts back in, but the sterile autopsy Y incision thing they do in every cop show ? _shiver_ Also, cheese. Because seriously, that stuff is just gross every step of the way. I can look at it or eat it on other things (like pizza, or salad, whatever), but cheese by itself is ick city. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714/165 "2010-09-04T10:06:39Z")
> [@Lisa\_Ann](#): > > Today reminded me I don’t like horses. > > Up close. > > They are just so BIG. > > And I don’t speak horse. But the only thing that your reprise signifies is that although you can’t speak to horses, horses can speak to you. You are being talked to. Like many animals speak to me… especially equines and bovids appeal to my social animal. Horses seem particularly reasoned with, in my herd. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa\_Ann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lisa\_Ann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa_Ann)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714/166 "2010-09-05T02:11:03Z")
No! The horses are NOT communicating with me! : plugs ears: lalalalalalalalalalala ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714/167 "2010-09-05T15:38:27Z")
Okay, just FTR gum chewing kinda squicks me out in other people; however, on some days I teach five classes in a row and have to chew gum to keep enough saliva going and avoid sore throats. I love ketchup, but despise the “gettin-ketchup” process. If it’s in litle fast-food packets, it invariably gets on a finger, which I have to wash immediately. Home-ketchuping means a Heinz bottle from which oooky ketchup plasma comes out before the real stuff. _Shudder_ ---
**Author:** ![NoiseBomb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/49beb7/32.png) [@NoiseBomb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoiseBomb)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714/168 "2010-09-05T23:38:24Z")
> [@AmericanMaid](#): > > I can’t look at webpages with black backgrounds and light type. It does something weird to my eyes and I feel on the edge of a migraine. People often think I’m nuts when I tell them this. I can’t read more that a couple paragraphs before I can feel the headache starting. I was sooooo happy when the black background fad of the late 90s started to die out. Also, the sound of a fork scraping a plate or bowl in just the right way to make that scrapey-squeaky sound. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714/169 "2010-09-06T00:14:27Z")
Pending wrecks; one of the reasons I don’t watch NASCAR. I can deal with the aftermath, no matter how bad. But that car starting to go sideways, on track or street, makes every nerve in my body scream. ---
**Author:** ![tmoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e5b9ba/32.png) [@tmoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tmoh)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714/170 "2010-09-06T03:59:30Z")
Thirding (or fourthing?) the banana thing–it’s the texture for me, too, though after years of association the smell is just as bad. I’m okay with banana bread, though. I also hate hate _hate_ pumice soap. My high school had a bar of the stuff in the art room, and every time I used it I’d get this weird synesthetic response where I could _hear_ its texture. It was like fingernails on a chalkboard, and I could feet it in my teeth! It’s only the bar soap, though; or whatever reason, I’ve never had problems with the liquid variety. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714/171 "2010-09-06T04:05:35Z")
Ground/pureed food. To point I can’t be near people while they’re eating it. ---
**Author:** ![dobieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@dobieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dobieman)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714/172 "2010-09-06T16:59:54Z")
Sarah Palin. I have lived in Alaska for 41 years now and it creeps me out in general that she even exists but almost as bad is that folks elsewhere will judges us Alaskans by her behavior. She totally grosses me out. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714/173 "2010-09-06T17:15:22Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > [Newer windmills](http://osha.europa.eu/en/blog/windmill.jpg). Jeezy Creezy they creep me out so bad! They look like the kind of thing that would show up in some horror scene in a movie. > > [person gets out of car on a road near open land, windmill in the distance] > [close up shot of their face, then where they’re looking] > [new shot like the original but the windmill is _closer_] > [person looks down at something] > [OH MY GOD THE WINDMILL IS RIGHT BEHIND THEM AAAAAAAAUGH] They creep me out, too. I’m not so much afraid they’re going to chase and step on me, but…they’re so alien looking. And BIG. And what’s really disturbing is right now I’m watching Dirty Jobs and Mike Rowe and some guys have not only climbed up inside of one, but are standing, outside, on top of a windmill! They look like tiny tiny ants and combined with the Aliens and the vertigo fear of heights…I have to turn the TV off, too much inadvertant horror in one TV show. ---
**Author:** ![llazzllo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a698b9/32.png) [@llazzllo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llazzllo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714/174 "2010-09-06T19:03:31Z")
> [@palacheck](#): > > Chalk. > > … Touching it, scratching my nails on it, twisting a big piece of sidewalk chalk between my teeth… Great. I DIDN’T have a problem with chalk, till you mentioned chalk and teeth in the same sentence. That’s just awful! I think I’d rather chew on tinfoil!! ---
**Author:** ![llazzllo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a698b9/32.png) [@llazzllo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llazzllo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714/175 "2010-09-06T19:19:06Z")
Mayonnaise is really the only thing that creeps me out. Won’t eat it, don’t like to look at it, can’t stand having to touch the jar it’s in. Oh, and silverfish. But is there really anyone who ISN’T freaked out by them? On the flipside, I have three pet rats. I think they’re adorable. I don’t get it when people say ‘I just can’t look at their tails, it’s just creepy!’ I’m considering making them bushy tail toupees, and telling everyone that they’re some exotic Asian breed of squirrel. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714/176 "2010-09-06T23:42:45Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > I love ketchup, but despise the “gettin-ketchup” process. If it’s in litle fast-food packets, it invariably gets on a finger, which I have to wash immediately. Home-ketchuping means a Heinz bottle from which oooky ketchup plasma comes out before the real stuff. _Shudder_ If you shake the ketchup/mustard/condiment-with-vinegar-in-it bottle a little before you go to squeeze it out, you won’t get the separated vinegar effect, nor will you have dried-out crap when you get to the end of the bottle. My squick-out moment is hearing people eat their food when it makes smooshy noises. I used to not have this issue until I had a coworker who’d eat at her desk during non-normal lunch times; she was about 10 feet away from me at max, and she always had something that’d make that awful “squish squish squish” noise while she chewed happily with her mouth partially ajar the whole time. It was disgusting, and now I have trouble listening to people eat their food if they make that noise at all. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714/177 "2010-09-07T00:08:02Z")
If you have a stud in your lower lip and you mindlessly and habitually wiggle it with your tongue, you will soon have my vomit on your shirt. ---
**Author:** ![NGC2024](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f475e1/32.png) [@NGC2024](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NGC2024)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714/178 "2010-09-07T01:11:33Z")
1. The smell and texture of gummy candy 2. The way the word “tuber” sounds to my ears 3. The sound of someone scraping a yogurt container to recover the last molecule of yogurt remaining in the container 4. The smell of Red Bull ---
**Author:** ![BestWifeEver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/838e76/32.png) [@BestWifeEver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BestWifeEver)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714/179 "2010-09-07T12:05:29Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > I won’t look at a clock from the time I go to bed until I am ready to get up in the morning. If I have to get up in the night, I avoid looking at clocks. When I wake up in the morning I turn on the radio and listen until I hear what time it is, then I can get up and look at clocks and go about my business. OMG I do the EXACT same thing! Thank goodness I’m not the only one. I don’t want to look at the clock when I get up to pee during the night because I’m afraid there will be like only 10 min left before the alarm goes off… It’s not exactly something I can’t look at but: revolving doors. I avoid them like the plague. If I HAVE to go through one, I am constantly thinking that the door will get stuck and I’ll be trapped with no way out… :eek: _shiver_ Regular doors work just fine for me - I don’t see how anyone can stand going through those things… ---
**Author:** ![llazzllo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a698b9/32.png) [@llazzllo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llazzllo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714/180 "2010-09-07T13:03:43Z")
> [@Shannon](#): > > 1. The way the word “tuber” sounds to my ears Never really thought about it before, but yeah, it doesn’t really sound like what it is. It sounds more like a giant worm or slug-like creature than a potato. If someone told me we were having roasted tubers for dinner, I think I’d hurl. Wow, this thread is giving me all sorts of new neuroses… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-innocuous-things-can-you-just-not-look-at/551714.md?page=10)