# Why don't people do crazy things? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 21, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969 "2010-12-21T17:01:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969/21 "2010-12-21T22:46:57Z")
I wear odd socks on purpose every day. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969/22 "2010-12-21T22:50:25Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I wear odd socks on purpose every day. Are they the same thickness? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969/23 "2010-12-21T22:55:55Z")
> [@The\_Bith\_Shuffle](#): > > If a lot of people do things the same way, it’s probably because that way of doing things makes the most sense. That’s sometimes true, but it doesn’t mean people have to feel _bound_ by those conventions. They may exist for a reason but they don’t exist for their own sake. There’s a logical reason to wear clothes when you go bicycling, but your examples about child-naming and metal bands are just matters of taste. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969/24 "2010-12-22T01:16:15Z")
Besides, Zither is more a prog instrument. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/jWO9WKQjLk0/maxresdefault.jpg "Zither Manä plays Pink Floyd") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWO9WKQjLk0) ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969/25 "2010-12-22T02:00:24Z")
Why do you assume people are too terrified to do crazy things? I don’t do crazy things or associate with people who do because I don’t find unpredictability enjoyable. This seems to me the kind of question a 12 year old might ask. Aging causes a significant decrease in your free time and your ability to do random or crazy things, because crazy random things do not put money in your bank or food in your stomach. If I had all of my economic needs met without having to work full time, then I might be more impulsive. Until then, I’ll seem boring to you. And I don’t give two shits. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969/26 "2010-12-22T02:03:53Z")
Because there’s far more potential downside than upside to craziness. Crazy behaviour is by definition unwise - that’s what makes it crazy. Not that I’m ungrateful for the affable loonies in the world, don’t get me wrong. But they themselves almost never have good lives. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969/27 "2010-12-22T02:04:25Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Oh, sometimes I like to face the back of the elevator instead of the more conventional facing front. If I’m the last to board an elevator, I do that quite frequently. Really bothers the hell out of everyone. I have no plans to stop. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969/28 "2010-12-22T02:56:54Z")
Today at work I wore my [“Tim the Enchanter” hat](http://www.toyvault.com/montypython/Tim%20Enchanter%20Hat%20-%20Large.jpg) and rang my [musical anoscope](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMjI-cMn_ag). Crazy enough for you? If not, then know that I work in a maximum security prison. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969/29 "2010-12-22T03:24:06Z")
I am a public official in my town. Earlier this month at the age of 52 I donned clown makeup and a costume and clowned in front of the Town Hall for 5 hours during a public holiday event. Made the front page of two weekly papers. . . ---
**Author:** ![Diamonds02](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Diamonds02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diamonds02)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969/30 "2010-12-22T03:34:24Z")
> [@onecakenine](#): > > It seems like people nowadays are stuck in a daily routine of school or work. They are so terrified to break the norm and do something crazy. Terrified that if they do something different that the security of their normal life will break down. So I’m challenging each of you that reads this to do something crazy, not stupid, and post about it. Have fun. > ~1C9 What do you define as crazy? I don’t have to look that hard to find crazy, depending on the definition. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969/31 "2010-12-22T03:39:06Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > coupla weekends ago I participated in Pittsburgh Santarchy, giving out porn to bad boys and girls and getting rip roaring drunk. Does that count? > > If not, I failed to capitalize the first word of my post. That count? Ho ho ho! I did that a couple weeks ago as well, in DC - didn’t distribute porn, though. Perhaps next year. My crazy: I’m seriously considering quitting my job and burning through my savings to volunteer at a local nonprofit for a few months, in the hope they’d then put me on payroll. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969/32 "2010-12-22T03:41:40Z")
Yeah, I mean, people murder people and chop them up and store them in a freezer, that’s definitely crazy. I’m pretty sure that’s not the kind of crazy the OP meant though. What’s so great about being pointlessly zany? Personally I’m not above wearing a full Statue of Liberty costume on the subway, and telling people who stare “its not easy being green” --but why is that somehow amazingly inherently better than going to work, hitting an exercise class after, and having some tuna casserole with my husband when I get home? Actually, aside from the brief high of having strangers think I’m clever, the second one is more enjoyable. I’m surprised the OP didn’t use “sheeple” in his post. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969/33 "2010-12-22T03:54:53Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > I once stood on the left on the escalator at Liverpool Street. Small world. Just last week, I took part in the [mass Santa doodad](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11976679) there. Technically, taking part was limited to saying “who the crap is making that Og awful racket” while staring out of my hotel window ---
**Author:** ![Diamonds02](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Diamonds02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diamonds02)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969/34 "2010-12-22T03:57:15Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > What’s so great about being pointlessly zany? Personally I’m not above wearing a full Statue of Liberty costume on the subway, and telling people who stare “its not easy being green” --but why is that somehow amazingly inherently better than going to work, hitting an exercise class after, and having some tuna casserole with my husband when I get home? Actually, aside from the brief high of having strangers think I’m clever, the second one is more enjoyable. Adrenaline rush. The feeling that you’re flirting with a possible arrest, physical altercation, injury, or anything else that can possibly go wrong (BUT DOESN’T) gives some people a great natural high. Most people can’t get that kind of rush from going to work, taking an exercise class, or eating dinner at home. Now, where the OP loses me is that he says people aren’t out there doing these crazy things. Has he not been to a casino, any bar after 1 a.m., done back country camping, done urban exploration, took a walk in the ghetto or trailer park, or been to burning man? ---
**Author:** ![Zulema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/db5fbb/32.png) [@Zulema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zulema)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969/35 "2010-12-22T05:28:17Z")
I took crazy to mean different, or out of the ordinary and I’ll agree. I blame the internet and TV. Before we were all so constantly amused we would be bored once in a while and our brains would think of crazy things to do like the man who grew trees into living furniture, or people who built scrap lumber into the best adult fort ever. No one does anything fun or free spirited anymore. Also no one does anything fun in their houses. Everyone’s house has to look like a showroom at all times. When I was a kid people had things out on their kitchen counters. Projects and food containers, toasters, etc. Now everything is put away at all times. People used to have fun family rooms with old furniture you didn’t have to be careful of, games all over, things to do. Now family rooms are perfectly matched showcases of beigeness and electronics. Everyone’s yard has to be perfectly manicured or the neighbors talk. No one paints their houses fun colors. I’m so tired of skin tone neighborhoods. No one does anything different and if you suggest something they’re shocked. I routinely do crazy things because they make sense to me at the time. Later my friends look at me like I’m wacko until they see the light. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969/36 "2010-12-22T06:13:57Z")
Whenever I’m in a kitchen store/department I make sure I find the manual kitchen timers. I find great delight in setting as many manual timers as I can to start ringing at odd times, generally within their max times. So it’s possible to have a dozen or more timers start ringing within the next 60 minutes. My wife must have contacted the timer manufacturers as I find more and more manual windup timers are shrink-wrapped in that hard plastic crap. I guess I’m not the only one who does this. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969/37 "2010-12-22T11:04:17Z")
Define “crazy but not stupid”. I know many people who consider “moving for work-related reasons more than 10 times in 10 years, including several moves between continents” to be completely crazy, but I had a cousin who considered “working in an office” the epitome of a death-by-drudgery threat. Both apply to me. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969/38 "2010-12-22T11:06:48Z")
I wore a top hat and coat to a Christmas party Saturday night, looking decidedly Dickensian. A woman there described me as “quirky” (although that might have been code for weird.) ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969/39 "2010-12-22T12:42:06Z")
> [@Diamonds02](#): > > Now, where the OP loses me is that he says people aren’t out there doing these crazy things. Has he not been to a casino, any bar after 1 a.m., done back country camping, done urban exploration, took a walk in the ghetto or trailer park, or been to burning man? C’mon man - **everyone** is sheeple – except the OP of course, he’s mad original and unique. I bet he’s even _thought_ about going to Burning Man or walking in a city at night! OMG! I’ve worked in criminal defense - believe me, doing something idiotic and getting arrested for it, doesn’t make you as special as you think. All kinds of morons can do that. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969/40 "2010-12-22T16:40:35Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Today at work I wore my [“Tim the Enchanter” hat](http://www.toyvault.com/montypython/Tim%20Enchanter%20Hat%20-%20Large.jpg) and rang my [musical anoscope](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMjI-cMn_ag). > > Crazy enough for you? > > If not, then know that I work in a maximum security prison. Anybody who called you “Bull” should get time off for good behavior. [QUOTE=Autocylus] I live in the land of strictly-regulated conformity punctuated by head-asploding insanity. I’m good. [/QUOTE] Hail Landru! There that’s my crazy thing for today. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-do-crazy-things/564969.md?page=3)