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.
You just now figured out why doughnuts have holes?
How quaint…
Preach it brother!
No. That’s full-bore insane.
Joe
I’ve got such a thing for cake that I’ll eat it off other people.
Especially female other people:D
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.
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…
See, now that’s different. Little kids are gross. 
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
Seeing as how people from Washington, DC, always have to turn every conversation back to politics:
(I think subscription is required.)
Now, it doesn’t say that the Speaker is a germophobe, but it sure sounds like it.
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.
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.
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.
If you’re around in a few hours, I’ll even show you the reverse.
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.
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?
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.
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?
I think they meant these people have kids, and the parents sleep together.