# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/41 "2009-03-31T15:17:43Z")
There is an obvious upside: every anal-retentive, OCD, hypochondriac with a germ phobia who turns down a slice of cake is thereby leaving an extra slice of cake for the more well-adjusted. If it means more cake for me, I see no reason why I would want that person to lose his neuroses. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/42 "2009-03-31T16:03:36Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#): > > Upon reading this thread, I have come to realize that oral sex can always be had with some people. It just depends on strategic placement of a donut. You just now figured out why doughnuts have holes? How quaint… ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/43 "2009-03-31T16:09:19Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > 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. Preach it brother! ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/44 "2009-03-31T16:12:15Z")
No. That’s full-bore insane. Joe ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/45 "2009-03-31T16:25:58Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I’ve got such a thing for white icing that I will eat it off of other people’s discarded plates. I’ve got such a thing for cake that I’ll eat it off other people. Especially female other people:D ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/46 "2009-03-31T16:46:44Z")
I’ve discreetly abstained from blown-over cake when the birthday boy had hepatitis. (Everyone else knew, too.) I know the risk wasn’t huge, but higher than I care to take, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/47 "2009-03-31T16:53:11Z")
Hrm. My 4-yo Number Two Nephew manages to get both hands onto any birthday cake, to lick the frosting therefrom. Would probably give germaphobes apoplexy if they saw it. I think it’s kind of funny. And I expect he’ll manage it tomorrow, with _my_ birthday cake, too. inasmuch as I _may_ have given him the idea, so as to annoy my brother… ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/48 "2009-03-31T17:09:38Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > Hrm. My 4-yo Number Two Nephew manages to get both hands onto any birthday cake, to lick the frosting therefrom. Would probably give germaphobes apoplexy if they saw it. See, now that’s different. Little kids are gross. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/49 "2009-03-31T17:19:08Z")
I certainly wouldn’t eat cake fingered by someone with Number Two in his name. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/50 "2009-03-31T17:51:11Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I certainly wouldn’t eat cake fingered by someone with Number Two in his name. Number One’s lemonade stand business isnt booming either…go figure ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/51 "2009-03-31T18:00:26Z")
Seeing as how people from Washington, DC, always have to turn every conversation back to politics: > [@](#): > > Pelosi’s Sugar Rush. Cupcakes are the new black. Proof that the little pastries really have taken over Washington: Speaker Nancy Pelosi got a plateful of them for her 69th birthday last week. > > HOH hears that Pelosi kicked off her big b-day on Thursday during a whip team meeting with toasts from a pal, fellow California Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo, and a gallant tribute from Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.). > > After a rendition of “Happy Birthday” from assembled Members and staffers, Pelosi showed the cupcakes (from Dupont Circle’s Hello Cupcake, for those of you paying attention to the city’s ongoing cupcake wars) the respect they deserve. **Our spy says that before making a wish, she plucked the candle out of the cupcake and declared, “I don’t blow on cake,” and proceeded to blow out the flame.** [(I think subscription is required.)](http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_110/hoh/33611-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS) Now, it doesn’t say that the Speaker is a germophobe, but it sure sounds like it. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/52 "2009-03-31T18:28:05Z")
But you know, that’s akin to the President using hand sanitizer after he shakes hands. When you have that many strangers at your birthday, I can see it might be considered polite to not blow on the cake. However, to say it like that is just icky and tacky. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/53 "2009-03-31T18:33:04Z")
I think it’s neurotic and phobic and it reflects a cultural trend that seems to becoming more and more fashionable. People are now being brainwashed from childhood to believe that all other people are nasty and unclean and that normal human contact will give them cooties. Aggravating the issue is the way these kinds of irrational fears and phobias are catered to by the service industry. You don’t have to touch anything in a bathroom now, they give you wipes to wipe your carts at the supermarket (God forbid your child sit in the same child seat where anther child has sat), everybody acts like this is all perfctly normal and that these ridiculous fears are justified. It’s all such a joke, because _everything_ has germs all over it. Hamburger has shit in it. Most all canned or processed foods have “acceptable” levels of insect fragments and rat droppings in them. Computer keyboards have more germs than toilet seats. The air is filled _everywhere_ not just with the germy breath of fellow human beings, but with all kinds of industrial pollutants. The water from your tap is purified sewage. Worrying about breath on a birthday cake is ludicrous self-delusion. It’s not possible to avoid germs. You get germs in and out all day, no matter how careful you are. That’s why we have these things called “immune systems.” People are much better off just letting their immune systems do their jobs instead of torturing themselves with worry over every doorknob and water faucet. What are they really so scared of anyway? Catching a cold? Is that really worth all the terror they put themselves through every second of the day? What’s so horrible about a cold. Personally, I’ll take a cold any day over OCD or germophobia. I’ll get over a cold. The phobics will have their diseases with them always. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/54 "2009-03-31T18:33:47Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I’ve got such a thing for white icing that I will eat it off of other people’s discarded plates. I should take you to every party&wedding. I dislike frosting in almost all forms and feel funny about leaving it like a skeleton on my plate. I’d heard about the germs-on-birthday-cake thing, but that’s never been the reason I don’t eat the frosting. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/55 "2009-03-31T18:36:43Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Hamburger has shit in it. If you’re around in a few hours, I’ll even show you the reverse. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/56 "2009-03-31T18:40:02Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > It’s all such a joke, because _everything_ has germs all over it. Absolutely, but those germs are becoming resistant to treatment and can kill. Generally speaking I agree with you (certainly in the case of an adult blowing out candles), and know my immune system and drugs if necessary will combat germs. If my friend’s daughter hadn’t died from a bug she picked up in the normal life of a four-year-old, I would be right there with you. For myself I don’t care but I can see why parents might be afraid for their kids. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/57 "2009-03-31T18:47:52Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Personally, I’ll take a cold any day over OCD or germophobia. I’ll get over a cold. The phobics will have their diseases with them always. OCD is a legitimate disorder-it’s not just a “quirk”, if that’s what you’re implying. :dubious: Before I got treatment, I was never germophobic, but I went through an episode where if I heard anyone near me got the stomach flu, I’d freak out and do whatever I could to avoid it. When you have OCD, **Dio** , you KNOW you’re not rational, but it can’t be helped. :rolleyes: As for the OP, you HAVE to tell us about your sister-in-law and her reaction to the HPV vaccine. Was it just the standard “encouraging sexual promiscuity?” Or something even stranger? And the kids still sleep with their parents? How old are they? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/58 "2009-03-31T18:55:44Z")
> [@Doody\_Pants](#): > > There is a show on Food Network called Food Detectives that tested birthday cake germs. Their results showed birthday cakes that had candles blown out on them had way more germs than cakes without candles. They also tested an adult’s cake versus a kid’s cake, and while they were both crawling with germs, the kid’s cake won the prize for most germy. Yep. I never had a problem with cakes someone had blown out the candles on until I saw that episode. Sweet alien Jesus that was nasty. It literally made me want to barf up all the birthday cake I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/59 "2009-03-31T18:57:57Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Now, it doesn’t say that the Speaker is a germophobe, but it sure sounds like it. That’s not germophobic, that’s just stupid. If there’s any cake in the world where a germophobe would be OK with blowing out the candle and eating it, it’s a cupcake. What is she worried about, swallowing some of her own saliva? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392/60 "2009-03-31T19:06:38Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > And the kids still sleep with their parents? How old are they? I think they meant these people have kids, and the parents sleep together. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-gets-creeped-out-by-this-common-practice/491392.md?page=4)