# You can't make this s\*\*t up **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 8, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-s-t-up/559971 "2010-11-08T23:13:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzero)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-s-t-up/559971/41 "2010-11-11T20:55:54Z")
I can’t believe no one has invoked the [‘just leave Britney alone’](http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/leave-britney-alone) meme. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-s-t-up/559971/42 "2010-11-11T21:10:47Z")
How apropos that [this](http://discovermagazine.com/2010/jun/03-the-insanity-virus) Discover article about the apparent retroviral origins of schizophrenia was posted on the very date of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-s-t-up/559971/43 "2010-11-12T01:42:44Z")
> [@Punoqllads](#): > > How apropos that [this](http://discovermagazine.com/2010/jun/03-the-insanity-virus) Discover article about the apparent retroviral origins of schizophrenia was posted on the very date of the OP. Extremely interesting article. When I read it, I immediately thought about Kurt Vonnegut and his total family. Talk about mental illness running in a family. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-s-t-up/559971/44 "2010-11-12T03:58:49Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Schizophrenics actually tend to be very bright, and very creative in their delusions, while at the same time being very concrete thinkers who don’t handle idiom well. I observed a patient yesterday talking to a nursing student who expressed admiration at his dancing ability and she said, “I can’t dance - I have two left feet!” He said, “REALLY?!” and bent down to examine her feet! It was so hard not to laugh. But he wasn’t dumb at all, just very concrete in his thinking. He was looking for two feet that had big toes on the right! That reminds me of a British comic-book character in the 1970s or 1980s called Mr. Literal. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-s-t-up/559971/45 "2010-11-12T09:28:09Z")
Poor guy. My guess (and it is a guess) would be BPAD with a current manic phase- delusions of grandeur, loud voice, fast speech, talking to complete strangers in public spaces=manic. The delusions don’t seem to be persecutory or unpleasant, the guy was socially outgoing and not withdawn and his speech was rapid (I assume- that’s a lot of stuff in a short conversation) not faltering, and he didn’t seem to have any auditory hallucinations. Schizophrenics tend to live in darker, scarier emotional places, with people out to get them, powerful unseen forces controlling them, voices speaking to them and their thoughts being blocked or broadcast by the same forces. They also tend to be either blunted and flat looking, or have wildly incongruous affect. Hope this guy has someone to take care of him and get him some help. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-s-t-up/559971/46 "2010-11-12T15:10:39Z")
If you see him again, tell him that his brother said to say hi. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-this-s-t-up/559971.md?page=2)