# Why I hate the Nigerian students next door. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 25, 2005, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-the-nigerian-students-next-door/296172 "2005-03-25T06:59:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![hapaXL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/94ad74/32.png) [@hapaXL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hapaXL)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-the-nigerian-students-next-door/296172/21 "2005-03-25T17:33:46Z")
Once I lived in an apartment that was next door to an Korean barbeque. I’d come home from work and the grilled meat smell would immediately start my stomach grumbling. It was torture. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-the-nigerian-students-next-door/296172/22 "2005-03-25T18:27:37Z")
> [@Oy!](#): > > **Oy!**'s law: > > All food cooked by neighbors smells infinitely better than if you were cooking it yourself. > > I don’t know why this is true, but it is. I’ve nearly killed myself over simple grilled chicken or burgers cooked by a neighbor… Absolutely true, especially when the torturers are barbecuing. No matter how wonderful _my_ just-cooked lovely dinner smells, and will taste, when someone is barbecuing in the neighbourhood, I want to toss out my dinner, and go eat with them. Must buy barbecue. Must cook outdoors. Must torture neighbours too! ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-the-nigerian-students-next-door/296172/23 "2005-03-26T04:53:02Z")
OK, so you think of something quintessentially Austrailian, like roast chicken. . . Awww, you know. Tris ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-the-nigerian-students-next-door/296172/24 "2005-03-26T04:57:16Z")
> [@Celyn](#): > > Quntessentially American? Go on - think of something different, I dare you. How about deep-fried candy bars? ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-the-nigerian-students-next-door/296172/25 "2005-03-26T05:29:02Z")
I thought deep fried candy bars was a Scottish thing. ---
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-the-nigerian-students-next-door/296172/26 "2005-03-26T11:18:46Z")
‘Deep fried Mars bar’ was invented in Scotland, at The Haven (now Carron) Fish & Chip Shop in Stonehaven. > [@](#): > > Originally posted by _**The Times (UK)**_ > Dr Morrison, Consultant in Public Health Medicine at NHS Greater Glasgow, said: “We can now confirm that there is no doubt — the deep-fried Mars bar is not just an urban myth.” The birth of the battered delight has been traced to The Haven, a chip shop in Stonehaven which has since closed. It is thought that it originated in a bet struck between the shop’s then-owner and his portly best friend. > > Today the shop is the Carron Fish and Chip Bar and is run by Calum Richardson. “It doesn’t surprise me they have become so popular. They are not my cup of tea but some weeks we sell as many as 300. At first it was a novelty but not any more,” he said. > > The tasty treat will set you back 70p at the Carron or £1.70 if served as a “supper”, that is, with chips. ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-the-nigerian-students-next-door/296172/27 "2005-03-26T13:05:41Z")
All this talk of food is making me hungry. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MissGypsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@MissGypsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissGypsy)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-the-nigerian-students-next-door/296172/28 "2005-03-26T13:44:52Z")
A Mexican family rented the apartment upstairs from an office where I worked, and they started making dinner every day about 4:00, a full hour before the office closed. Everyone would sit there at their desks, salivating at the wondrous smells wafting down to us. It was torture. Fortunately, it also inspired me to learn to cook decent Mexican food. A few years ago, I lived upstairs from two guys from Afghanistan. Boy, did they cook. I have no idea what it was, but it made the whole building smell good. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-the-nigerian-students-next-door/296172/29 "2005-03-26T14:29:53Z")
> [@Triskadecamus](#): > > … I don’t know why they won’t eat corn, but that’s fairly common too. > > … I’ve heard that in many parts of the world that grain that Americans call corn (maize) is not considered food fit for humans but is instead considered animal fodder. Anyone know if this is at all true? (Laughing Lagomorph, who has not travelled widely) ---
**Author:** ![MissGypsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@MissGypsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissGypsy)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-the-nigerian-students-next-door/296172/30 "2005-03-26T15:02:11Z")
> [@Laughing Lagomorph](#): > > I’ve heard that in many parts of the world that grain that Americans call corn (maize) is not considered food fit for humans but is instead considered animal fodder. Anyone know if this is at all true? > > (Laughing Lagomorph, who has not travelled widely) Secondhand, anecdotal info here, but my best friend had two German exchange students living at her house for several months. When her mom served corn with dinner, they recoiled, and explained that corn is food for pigs, not people. ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-the-nigerian-students-next-door/296172/31 "2005-03-26T15:26:40Z")
> [@MissGypsy](#): > > Secondhand, anecdotal info here, but my best friend had two German exchange students living at her house for several months. When her mom served corn with dinner, they recoiled, and explained that corn is food for pigs, not people. That’s a bit odd. Most Germans I know (family and friends) have no objection to corn, and at least half of them come from traditional country stock. In fact, I will never forget the one time I had pizza in Germany - the toppings included individual corn kernels, which I’ve never seen here in the US despite the slew of things normally available here. ---
**Author:** ![MissGypsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@MissGypsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissGypsy)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-the-nigerian-students-next-door/296172/32 "2005-03-26T15:51:54Z")
> [@sunfish](#): > > That’s a bit odd. Most Germans I know (family and friends) have no objection to corn, and at least half of them come from traditional country stock. In fact, I will never forget the one time I had pizza in Germany - the toppings included individual corn kernels, which I’ve never seen here in the US despite the slew of things normally available here. Now that I think about it, I wonder if it was corn-on-the-cob, or canned corn. I never thought to ask. Do you think on-the-cob might be perceived differently? I distinctly remember her telling me about this incident, because it surprised her at the time. I know that one of the students was from a filthy rich family, apparently one of the richest in Germany. Maybe she was just a food snob, accustomed to better fare than one gets in a middle class American home. ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-the-nigerian-students-next-door/296172/33 "2005-03-26T16:05:57Z")
**MissGypsy** , to be honest, I don’t know what Germans in Germany right now would think of corn on the cob. I can only say for the folks I know here, they either never had any objection or have gotten used to eating it that way. The only complaints I’ve heard about eating off the cob had more to do with dentures slipping. 😉 Could be that one of the students was in fact a food snob, and decided to show it. I’ve had my share of dealings with folks like that, particularly when they feel that they are somehow scoring points against “American yokels.” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![zippyh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/839c29/32.png) [@zippyh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zippyh)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-the-nigerian-students-next-door/296172/34 "2005-03-26T16:29:06Z")
> [@MissGypsy](#): > > Now that I think about it, I wonder if it was corn-on-the-cob, or canned corn. I never thought to ask. Do you think on-the-cob might be perceived differently? > > I distinctly remember her telling me about this incident, because it surprised her at the time. I know that one of the students was from a filthy rich family, apparently one of the richest in Germany. Maybe she was just a food snob, accustomed to better fare than one gets in a middle class American home. My wife has told me that her German grandparents were semi freaked out by corn on the cob when they first visited the USA back in the 60’s. It was considered animal food. I think grampa eventually grew to like it. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-the-nigerian-students-next-door/296172/35 "2005-03-26T16:31:53Z")
Don’t even come near my grandmother’s house when she’s baking, **don’t ask** , you’ll _really_ start hating her… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-the-nigerian-students-next-door/296172/36 "2005-03-26T16:37:34Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > The old trick I heard of for home inspections was to have something nice cooking on the stove to give your house a welcoming feel when prospective buyers walked through - the thing recommended was to have some tomato and basil sauce reducing in a saucepan on a low heat. The version of this I know is scraps of pie crust with cinnamon and sugar on a baking sheet in the oven. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-the-nigerian-students-next-door/296172/37 "2005-03-26T22:10:56Z")
> [@sunfish](#): > > That’s a bit odd. Most Germans I know (family and friends) have no objection to corn, … That’s correct. Corn is a frequent ingredient in salads, on pizza, with chicken etc. nowadays. Some older Germans (and some of their families) have an irrational dislike of corn, however; my speculation is that it derives from the corn bread introduced in the immediate postwar years - corn as a foodstuff being associated in these people’s minds with malnourishment. A related effect applies to rutabaga, which have yet to live down their popular association with the winter of 1916/1917 when they often were the only food available. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-the-nigerian-students-next-door/296172.md?page=1)