What's worse - too hot or too cold?

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#21

I prefer the cold. This is partly because Australia doesn’t have proper winters (not in the major cities anyway), and partly because of the reasons listed above concerning amount of clothing.

But, I feel also need to mention the pressure summer puts on you.

Summer’s a blast if you’re happy. Things are great, you party all the time, you can go to the beach, you see girls in bikinis, you drink lots.

But if nothing’s going right in summer, the hot weather just rubs your face in it. Yeah, people are falling in love and having a great time, but what are you doing? You’re sitting around feeling hot, and you’re alone, and the weather’s great for hanging out at the beach, but you aren’t doing that because nobody loves you. And you can’t even get good and mopey because it’s so damn sunny outside.

Winter is the opposite. If it’s cold and things are great, it doesn’t matter. You’re still having fun, you’re still partying, and if you’ve got a significant other, well, as The Promise Ring says in Pink Chimneys “it’s only cold when you sleep alone.” You snuggle up close, you wear long coats and you sit inside staring out at the elements, glad that you’ve got heat and warmth and love in with you.

And if things suck in winter, the cold weather sympathises with you. You feel grey inside, and it’s grey outside. Good! Why should the world be happy when you’re not? And you’re not missing out on anything sitting here inside feeling sorry for yourself and lying in bed all day, because there are no girls in bikinis, there aren’t any romantic walks along the beach and there certainly aren’t wild summer parties going on.

And besides, in winter girls put all this cute clothing on and look really hot.

#22

Hot weather is the worst! If it’s cold, I can put on a jacket or a blanket. Or I can turn on the heater. If it’s cold, then there is nothing to do do about it. Sunday night I could not get to sleep, it was soo hot in my room. I don’t have an air conditioner, and since I’m a storey up from the street it would be a hassle to install one. Also, it’s much cheaper to thrown on a blanket to get warm than it is to run an air conditioner to stay cool. It’s also cheaper to run the heater than an air conditioner.

With gas prices being over two dollars a gallon and my 43-mile one-way commute and another 43 miles back, I’m doing what I can to save fuel. Running the air conditioner in the vehicle costs a couple miles per gallon.

I like wearing jackets.

Heat makes me lethargic. Cold invigorates me. On hot days the city seems brown. On cold days the city seems crisp and clean.

Cold is better.

#23

I dont fare well in either extreme, but I’d rather be too hot than too cold. I pass out from the heat, and I get paralyzed from the cold. Give me a perfect 83 degrees (F) and I’m a happy gal.

#24

Well, for me its like this:

Good Hot: Sunny and very dry. Slight wind blowing. You feel the RADIATION more than anything.

Bad Hot: fetid and muggy. You drip with perspiration and yu cant muster the energy to do anything.

Good Cold: Rosy cheeked cold. Its biting and refreshing. Your warm inside and its cold outside.

Bad Cold: Cold that saps the heat out of your bones. You feel depressed and chilled. No amonut of rugging up can warm you up as you feel like your not even generating any heat.

#25

Hot weather just plain sucks for me. As others have pointed out, it’s harder to escape from too much heat than it is to protect oneself from the cold. I don’t have A/C in my house and I just have to sit in front of a fan running full blast and drink ice-chilled beverages to keep somewhat cool (but not comfortably cool). When it’s hot I sweat profusely and I’m sure this makes me less desirable to be around. Since I have more body hair this makes me sweat even more. I am very modest about this and I don’t ever wear shorts or go shirtless because of my body hair, so I just have to put up with sweaty, smelly clothes by the end of the day. I also hate being out in the sun, especially on a hot day.

When it’s cold I can just put on a coat and a heavier shirt and I’m good to go. If I do work up a sweat while in the cold the chilling air is a refreshing relief. In the summer the sweat just feels like it’s clinging to my body and it doesn’t do much to cool me off even though the humidity is low where I live. I find it more satisfying to go inside and warm up after being out in the cold than to try to cool off after being outside on a hot day.

I’d gladly take a cold, blustery below-zero day over a hundred-degree heat wave any time.

#26

I’ll take the heat any day. Especially after the crappy winter we just had.

#27

That’s me, too.

#28

Too cold. You feel hot, go insane, take off all your clothes and die in relative comfort. If you’re in a Jack London novel, that is. I’d also rather be slightly too cold than slightly too hot.

And this seems the perfect thread to yet again trot out a favourite Robert Frost poem!

Some say the world will end in fire
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favour fire.
But if it had to perish twice
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

And what sort of name is C K Dexter Haven?

#29

I hate the heat. Unfortunately, I live in one of the frickin’ hottest places on earth.

When it’s cold I can put on enough clothing to stay warm, but when it’s hot I can’t take off enough to stay cool. Because I keep my house at 68-70 in the winter, and 78-80 in the summer, my winter utility bills are less than a fourth of my summer utility bills. I rarely (three times this winter) need to turn the heat on, but I will be running the A/C from May to October.

#30

Other than the girlie bit, I could have written the OP. I can deal with the heat, especially if the humidity is not too high, but once my toes get cold I’m miserable and unhappy.

#31

You beat me :frowning: This has always been my answer to this question. I really think that gender has little to do with temperature preferences, location probably has more effect (affect? I always get them confused)

#32

I would rather be too hot. For me, cold is painful. My hands and feet start to hurt and then go numb. It’s really not a good thing. Putting on more clothes and things doesn’t always help. This can also happen in 50 degree weather too. I can’t hold an ice cube in my hand because it literally hurts. It’s a circulatory condition called Reynaud’s Phenomenon.

I’d rather sweat than hurt.

#33

Hot bad.

Cold good.

#34

My thoughts exACTly. You can only get so naked, and you’ll still suffer, but you can always make more cocoa.

#35

Cold bad.

Hot good.

My ideal place to live would be in the California desert, indeed, I have lived there at times. Hot, dry, I love it. I used to play golf in Palm Springs when it was 110-115 degrees outside, just take a big bottle of water, and the course is pretty much yours! You cold wimps are all in your air-conditioned hotel rooms.

Of course, two bottles of water for 9 holes goes without saying - you’ve got to keep yourself hydrated.

Now, cadolphin, that’s another story. I married a woman who’s idea of bliss is 15 below zero and snowing.

note to self: Change lock on air conditioning controls before hot weather hits.

Put me in that kind of weather, and I’ll be chattering and stamping my feet in no time. Cold weather sucks.

#36

As far as I can tell, contemporary Americans prefer feeling slightly cold, which is odd because, you know, historically, cold is dangerous. (There are few places in the world where heat alone will kill you yet tons of landmass where the cold is too much for a human.)

Actually, the yen for keeping cool is dangerous now. Any idea how much of our energy we use for cooling?

Question for hot people - when you have surgery, do you turn down the heated blanket? And if you turn it down, do the OR staff insist?

#37

I don’t see many folks from the Northern states or Canada choosing cold. As a Minnesotan, I prefer heat. 40 below sucks, in such a severe, vicious, unforgiving kind of way. It hurts too. And it can give you burns just as bad as sun burns, but quicker.

#38

I don’t see many folks from the Northern states or Canada choosing cold. As a Minnesotan, I prefer heat. 40 below sucks, in such a severe, vicious, unforgiving kind of way. It hurts too. And it can give you burns just as bad as sun burns, but quicker.

#39

NurseCarmen - don’t you see all those crazy Canadians buying Icees and ice cream cones in all weather! I never, ever get used to how common Slurpee machines are up there.
Brrrrrr!

#40

Given the choice, too cold. As somebody said up the thread, you can bundle up if it’s cold. If it’s hot enough you’re going to be miserable when you’re naked.

I HATE heat. And humidity. Why, oh WHY did I move HERE?