# What were you THINKING? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 13, 2023, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532 "2023-10-13T19:36:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 326
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6890 "2026-03-24T00:12:32Z")
Back when I was delivering pizzas in college we informally surveyed the number of times each driver knocked. The answer was all over the place from as many as seven to one sociopath who only knocked once. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6891 "2026-03-24T00:18:54Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > from as many as seven “Shave and a hair cut, two bits!” > **[Shave and a Haircut](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shave_and_a_Haircut)** > > "Shave and a Haircut" and the associated response "two bits" is a seven-note musical call-and-response couplet, riff or fanfare popularly used at the end of a musical performance, usually for comedic effect. It is used melodically (both in a minor or major key) or rhythmically, for example as a door knocker. > "Two bits" is a term in the United States and Canada for 25 cents, equivalent to a U.S. quarter. "Four bits" and "six bits" are also occasionally used, for example in the cheer "Two bits, fo... ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6892 "2026-03-24T00:19:17Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I always thought that knock twice was what you did entering your dorm room if you’re bringing in a BF / GF / squeeze _du jour_. Luckily that wasn’t a problem at the University of Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6893 "2026-03-24T00:44:36Z")
So I _wasn’t_ supposed to fling the door open, turn on the lights and yell out, “Hey! I found your missing sock!”? ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6894 "2026-03-24T00:47:42Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Playing on the ceiling must be really hard. Some people [manage it](https://youtu.be/bg3kpF0aGek). ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6895 "2026-03-24T01:16:59Z")
I’m sure there’s a great joke or story there, but boy, that sailed so far over my head I didn’t even hear the whooshing noise. May as well have been in orbit. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6896 "2026-03-24T01:26:09Z")
Yeah, do tell. I spent some time in Chicago dorms in the late 60’s (there is no glory for me in that story, so I’m not going to tell it) and everyone I knew there was very nerdy and backwards, including me. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6897 "2026-03-24T01:27:18Z")
Exactly! That’s why it wasn’t a problem. No sex, no need to warn your roommate. (I was in Broadview dorm in '88-'89, by the way…mostly single-person rooms, because it had been an old hotel). Or, as the Perfect Master put it: > **[Does prohibiting gays from donating blood still make sense?](https://www.straightdope.com/21344282/does-prohibiting-gays-from-donating-blood-still-make-sense)** ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6898 "2026-03-24T01:29:41Z")
That’s sort of a relief, I thought I was so backwards I wouldn’t have recognized sex if it was happening in front of me. I wished for a single-person room, two people in our dorm rooms were definitely in the position of having to walk sideways to get past each other (I don’t remember the name of our dorm, it was on a corner at the northern end of campus, across the street from a fire station, and there were 8 residential floors divided into four 2-floor “houses.”) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6899 "2026-03-24T01:46:18Z")
Pierce? That’s where we ate. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6900 "2026-03-24T01:48:11Z")
Yeah, that sounds familiar. Dining hall was on the street level floor, IIRC. Along with the tiny TV room, which was always jammed on Star Trek night. Anyway, I think that building has been torn down, at least I can’t find it on a street map. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6901 "2026-03-24T01:55:52Z")
I think you’re right — it’s gone! Replaced by the “Ratner Athletics Center,” it seems. Or that parking garage next to it. Okay, thanks, folks, for letting us indulge in this hijack (hey, at least it’s Cecil Adams-adjacent…) ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6902 "2026-03-24T02:35:20Z")
Med school there. International House. Met my now wife there! So … well … 😊 ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6903 "2026-03-24T03:31:45Z")
I House! Yes, the one part of campus full of cool people, by definition. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6904 "2026-03-24T03:33:52Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Luckily that wasn’t a problem at the University of Chicago I lol-ed! ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6905 "2026-03-24T03:56:20Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > So I _wasn’t_ supposed to fling the door open, turn on the lights and yell out, “Hey! I found your missing sock!”? Lol. I was at a square dance convention last weekend, and a friend left the lobby (where we were eating lunch) saying he wanted to take a nap. He was back 10 minutes later, looking a little antsy. “You’re not napping…” His roommate was in flagrante, but had not put a sock on the door, or even thrown the deadbolt. He just used that latch thing that lets the door open part way. Oops. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6906 "2026-03-24T04:01:25Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I thought a sock on the door knob was the preferred signaling device. One of my dorm roommates had this doohickey, which he demonstrated to me at the start of the school year; it could be attached to the door, and essentially keep someone outside from being able to open the door, even with a key. it featured a little “flag” that protruded past the door jamb, next to the doorknob, to signal that the room was in use, as it were. He considered himself a ladies’ man (I’d known him the year prior to us being roommates), but he went through a drought during the year that he and I shared a dorm room. However, my girlfriend and I made use of that device several times… ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6907 "2026-03-24T05:16:34Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > She took all that in good grace, too The hell she did. At least, not around the porn issue. You can just look at her posts in this thread (that was around the time I decided to ignore here so if she’s improved, good for her, but don’t claim she’s always had good grace. Like fuck she has.) > [@How do we feel about teachers fired for posting homemade porn?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-feel-about-teachers-fired-for-posting-homemade-porn/994614/1): > > Maybe you’ve seen this story or one related to it. I’m honestly not sure where I stand on this. On the one hand, adults have the right to free expression, and to make money by any legal means they like. It shouldn’t be anybody else’s business if someone wants to make videos of themselves having sex and share them online. On the other hand, you don’t have to be a prude to see where it might be more difficult to teach middle-schoolers if they’ve seen your online sex videos. Lots of jobs have ru… ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6908 "2026-03-24T10:40:24Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > the one part of campus full of cool people, by definition I was there… so by definition not _completely_ full of cool people.🤓 ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6909 "2026-03-24T20:47:46Z")
That is quite an entrance into a 5 year old, 1,000 plus messages spanning thread that clearly deserves a nomination for: **(what) were they thinking?** [Why don’t you lift weights? - #1145 by enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/1145)? > [@Why don’t you lift weights?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/1145): > > Well, I have not read this huge thread. I find the question insulting. Don’t challenge me. I, at 65 years old, take care of all house repairs. I mow my grass. I shovel the snow. I walk our dogs (daily). I ride my bike every other day. And I do lift weights for my back. Every day. But it’s frankly none of your business why I don’t lift weights. I do it every damn day, just taking care of business. A question for the OP, have you ever worked? I mean really worked. Quite a headscratcher… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=325) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=327)