# Who else gets creeped out by this common practice. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 31, 2009, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392 "2009-03-31T02:56:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/1 "2009-03-31T02:56:00Z")
Tonight was my daughter’s boyfriend’s birthday. I baked a cake, with candles. He blew them out, we all ate cake and then I brought 1/4 of the cake home. As I was driving, I realized my brother might like a slice, and I was driving past his house, so I stopped. He was very happy to see cake, and got out plates to put his share on. His wife came in to see what kind of cake I had brought, and asked me, “Did anyone blow out candles on this cake?” I told her yes, and she said, “I’m sorry, I won’t have any, then. I can’t eat a cake that someone has blown out candles on.” I was a bit stunned…just a bit, because she has many, many things that she just hates or can’t tolerate. But this is the first time I’d heard this one. Now, the daughter’s boyfriend is 29. He’s not some four-year-old spraying saliva all over the place. I’ve never come across anyone with this hang-up before, and I thought this board had enlightened me to many, many food-related idiosyncrasies and germ-fearful practices. So does anyone else shun birthday cake with candles? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/2 "2009-03-31T02:58:55Z")
I thought you were going to say eating the cake with their hands or shoving their face into the cake or something…but this seems…excessive. If she’s extremely OCD, I could see it, though. Also–I’m glad your daughter’s boyfriend isn’t a four year old. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/3 "2009-03-31T02:59:24Z")
Totally creepy. I mean, you stopped over at someone’s house without calling first? Creeeeeeep city. 🙂 The “cake with candles blown by someone past puberty” thing I have no problem with. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/4 "2009-03-31T03:03:59Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > So does anyone else shun birthday cake with candles? I’ve never heard of this before. Funnily enough, with as little of their sweet tooth left as most adults believe they have, I think you’ll find many, many more who will eat a piece of cake that someone has blown out candles over than, say, broccoli. Not that that’s likely to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/5 "2009-03-31T03:09:56Z")
I take it that’s related to taking a sip out of someone else’s water bottle, something that some people _just won’t do_. My parents warned me against strangers and their _strange germs_, though it didn’t quite extend to cake. ---
**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:** [March 31, 2009, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/6 "2009-03-31T03:10:49Z")
In the moment, when I observe the candles being blown out, it has crossed my mind, but my cravings for cake far outweigh any germophobia I may have. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/7 "2009-03-31T03:14:26Z")
Think it would have something to do with any wax that would get sprayed onto the cake from the candles? ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/8 "2009-03-31T03:24:37Z")
Who the hell puts _candles_ on a cake? Bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/9 "2009-03-31T03:27:19Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Think it would have something to do with any wax that would get sprayed onto the cake from the candles? This is my guess. I’ve seen people pick off the wax, but never actually refuse the cake before. May also have been a cover-up for some other reason to not want the cake, like a diet. ---
**Author:** ![torie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@torie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torie)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/10 "2009-03-31T04:15:17Z")
Are you sure it’s a germ related thing and not a superstition thing? I know people who won’t cut the name on a birthday cake. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/11 "2009-03-31T04:18:09Z")
Oh, no, the hyper sanitary folks will not allow blowing out of candles. They also won’t pick up a cookie off a plate with their fingers. I find them…excessive. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/12 "2009-03-31T04:51:26Z")
Do these kind of people EVER have sex? Do your brother and wife have kids? Poor guy – unless he cheats or dumps her, he will never again have oral sex. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/13 "2009-03-31T05:23:18Z")
I dislike it, but have yet to come up with a graceful way of being at a birthday party and declining cake. Really, though, if you were buying a donut, and the Dunkin Donuts clerk picked it up and just blew on it before putting it in the bag, that would be gross, wouldn’t it? Birthday candles do not have magical antiseptic qualities. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/14 "2009-03-31T05:24:34Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Really, though, if you were buying a donut, and the Dunkin Donuts clerk picked it up and just blew on it before putting it in the bag, that would be gross, wouldn’t it? Birthday candles do not have magical antiseptic qualities. It really depends. Is she hot? ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/15 "2009-03-31T05:35:38Z")
Screw that. What kind of doughnut? ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/16 "2009-03-31T05:40:06Z")
Ug… you do _not_ want the glazed doughnut. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/17 "2009-03-31T06:36:35Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Ug… you do _not_ want the glazed doughnut. Or worse, the Bavarian creme. We called them ‘pusbuns’ when I was in high school. And I’ve seen (and heard) them being made. ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/18 "2009-03-31T06:59:55Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Totally creepy. I mean, you stopped over at someone’s house without calling first? Creeeeeeep city. 🙂 Hey, just about _anyone_ is welcome unannounced at my place if they’re bringing cake. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/19 "2009-03-31T08:12:08Z")
As I read the OP I knew what was coming because I sure I have heard of this before right here. It wouldn’t worry me but I like **NinjaChick** ’s take on it. I started imagining waiters serving meals and the blowing all around the plate just like with birthday candles. Or someone blowing on your hot coffee while you are waiting. ---
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/20 "2009-03-31T10:30:43Z")
I dislike most commercial cake frostings so this never crossed my mind, cuz I don’t eat the frosting anyway… But even if I were a Frosting Fiend, I find this a little stupid. I’ve never once shared birthday cake with some random stranger; maybe I’m too optimistic, but I would share a drink with my friends so why not a freakin’ slice of cake? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392.md?page=2)