# When did microwave ovens become spawns of Oedipus? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 22, 2011, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336 "2011-04-22T07:06:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336/21 "2011-04-22T17:29:41Z")
Modern cars piss me off too. STFU already! If I wanted to drive with a nag I’d get married. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336/22 "2011-04-22T17:47:23Z")
I lucked out with my new Panasonic microwave (bought last year). It gives a short beep-beep when the cooking is done. There’s no nag beeps afterward. Like other posters, I ignore the sensor cook mode. I’ve used timer mode for over 25 years. I know how long it takes to heat food. We had a couple short power failures this week. Microwave won’t work until I set the time. Thankfully, there’s no date to enter. I love the kitchen timer on the microwave. Something my old Litton didn’t have. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336/23 "2011-04-22T19:05:11Z")
Please explain the Oedipus thing. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336/24 "2011-04-22T19:19:33Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Please explain the Oedipus thing. You see, when a mommy and a son love each other very much… ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336/25 "2011-04-22T19:26:15Z")
_sigh_ I walked right into that one, didn’t I? ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336/26 "2011-04-22T19:26:18Z")
My microwave is faboo. It beeps once when the food is done and then silence. Plus I don’t have to reset the time when the power goes out to use it! I love my microwave. Just not in _that_ way… ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336/27 "2011-04-24T08:38:29Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Please explain the Oedipus thing. I think the idea is that the microwave is the deformed, mentally challenged, inbred child of a mother and son. At least, that was the first thing that made sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336/28 "2011-04-24T08:57:53Z")
Maybe the microwave poked its eyes out. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336/29 "2011-04-24T10:54:04Z")
No, no. The microwave is the spawn of Oedipus, not Oedipus himself. The microwave leads its blind father around by the hand, until the daddy microwave beeps its last. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336/30 "2011-04-24T11:18:41Z")
I have a Sharp microwave. I like it. It’s smart. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336/31 "2011-04-24T13:22:18Z")
I took a microwave to college and used it almost exclusively to nuke AOL CDs. Run water over the disk, place it print side down, and microwave it for a few seconds. It makes a nice little electrical storm. Then make popcorn. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336/32 "2011-04-24T14:28:53Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Please explain the Oedipus thing. I thought he may have meant “motherf’ing”, however he threw “spawn of” in there, so I guess that’s more of a child of a motherf’er which I didn’t think was quite as bad, just a little “special”. In un-PC terms, his microwave is retarded. (or what Big T said) ---
**Author:** ![Cara\_mel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@Cara\_mel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cara_mel)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336/33 "2011-04-24T23:33:42Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Modern cars piss me off too. STFU already! If I wanted to drive with a nag I’d get married. Boy, I hear ya there - when I used to pick up my daughter from work, all I wanted was to sit in the carpark with the radio on and the door open , but Noooo - beep, beep, beep “your door is open - you can’t listen to the radio with the door open!” Whose life is it anyway? Oh, and I still have my microwave from 15 years ago (Sharp) - I don’t wanna change it for the very reason the OP has suggested. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336/34 "2011-04-24T23:52:47Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > I took a microwave to college and used it almost exclusively to nuke AOL CDs. Run water over the disk, place it print side down, and microwave it for a few seconds. It makes a nice little electrical storm. Then make popcorn. [Homer Simpson]Mmm, dioxins.[/Homer Simpson] ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336/35 "2011-04-25T01:18:34Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I lucked out with my new Panasonic microwave (bought last year). It gives a short beep-beep when the cooking is done. There’s no nag beeps afterward. Model number, please? My current microwave is a Sharp, which replaced my previous Sharp. The nagging on the new one is louder than the actual ‘food’s done’ beep. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336/36 "2011-04-25T11:46:27Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > I don’t need to hear a “beep” every 13 seconds while I’m doing my ol’ lady doggy style just because my can of cheap ass soup is done!!! It takes you longer than nuking cheap ass soup? You’re doing it wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Baracus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@Baracus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baracus)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336/37 "2011-04-25T12:35:54Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > My microwave is fine. Except for one thing. It supposedly has a sensor on it so that I could use that and it would automagically “sense” when my food was fully cooked and stop itself, instead of me entering an arbitrary time. Whatever. I never use the sensor cooking - I’ll enter my own time and you’ll like it. However, I think that sensor is futzing with the last second of my cook time. > > Routine is this: open door, toss in food, close door, enter cooking time, press Start. Microwave starts and counts down and all is well in Snicker’s Universe. Until that last second. That’s when the sensor kicks in (probably because I’ve neglected it) and does its sensor thing. “Is Snicks’ food cooked well enough? Maybe? Let’s look.” That last second can last anywhere from a real-time second to like 10 seconds or more. Then we finally get the beep that “hey! food’s done!” > > It annoys me to no end. I’m all ready to get my food, but have to wait for whatever the duration of that last second is this time before I can get it. And it always changes. Sometimes it’s right away, sometimes its a little wait, sometimes it’s a big ass long one. It’s obnoxious. I yell at my microwave when this happens. Does it rotate the food while cooking? One of the microwaves at work does what you are describing and I think the reason it keeps running even after the time is up is to get the food back to the orientation in which it was originally placed in there, i.e. if you put a mug in with the handle facing out then it will finish with the handle facing out. ---
**Author:** ![Shecky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@Shecky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shecky)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336/38 "2011-04-25T13:11:49Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Our power went off a couple weeks ago because of a storm, so the clock went out on the microwave. I couldn’t use it even to heat something up until I reset the clock – _including the month, date, and year_. Yes, I had to enter the _year_ before I could nuke something. This is for when you want to cook around the Daylight Savings Time changes. Then it knows when the soup you’re making is either done for an hour or will travel back in time. PS - Don’t put an almanac in there. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336/39 "2011-04-25T19:53:38Z")
Panasonic NN-SD978S bought it last June at Best Buy to replace my dying Litton. It beeps when the cooking is done. There’s no nag beeps afterward. It is full sized just like the old Littons were. I don’t like the compact counter-top models. [http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-electronics/shop/Home-Appliances/Microwave-Ovens/Countertop-Microwaves/model.NN-SD978S\_11002\_7000000000000005702](http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-electronics/shop/Home-Appliances/Microwave-Ovens/Countertop-Microwaves/model.NN-SD978S_11002_7000000000000005702) > [@jabiru](#): > > Model number, please? > > My current microwave is a Sharp, which replaced my previous Sharp. The nagging on the new one is louder than the actual ‘food’s done’ beep. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336/40 "2011-04-25T23:35:28Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > I have a Sharp microwave. I like it. It’s smart. Then you’ve got an Odysseus microwave. Which is good and bad. It’s really smart but you end up waiting years for your food because you didn’t check the directions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-microwave-ovens-become-spawns-of-oedipus/579336.md?page=3)