YES, BiblioCat! I have been saying for a while that I want to create a gum-free state. I don’t have anything against gum itself, and in fact am chewing some right now. However, no one around me would possibly know that I was chewing it, since I’m adhering to the manners taught to me when I was FOUR (namely, that food objects should not bee seen or heard in your mouth).
I actually have such a serious problem with mouth noises in general, and gum chewing/snapping in particular that I have recently sought psychiatric help. (Mainly to prevent me from stabbing someone in the eyeball with a fork when she is chewing gum.)
It seems that with recent social & cultural changes (thanks, fucking Britney Spears, for helping to make this disgusting habit popular), chewing gum is much more acceptable. Just 10 years ago, when I got my first few teenage jobs, it was a strict rule that NO GUM chewing was allowed while working. Now, everywhere I go I see people chewing gum, from the salesmen at Best Buy to the girl taking my order at the local coffee shop. I’ve become so sensitized to it that I can hear someone popping their gum from blocks away, and I absolutely cannot tune it out. I’ve begun carrying earplugs with me, and while taking mass transit home, have gotten off the bus several times when trapped with a snapper or popper.
Here is a good read – a bunch of messages from people with similar feelings about gum chewing and other mouth noises in general.
Does anyone know if there’s been any research about the recent popularity of gum chewing (and snapping in particular)?
Right now my receptionist is popping her gum. I have my Morcheeba cranked up and my zen thoughts trying to flow.
I didn’t know about that other way to do it, The Lady. I bet that makes a much more loud, obnoxious sound than my way.
Jujitsuka - I haven’t had to see a shrink yet, but the thing that really undoes me is people cracking their knuckles. The only thing that keeps me back from the brink of insanity is that they can only do it 10 times (20 if they crack both joints in each finger). I find myself watching these people as they obsessively try each finger over and over, and praying that they will soon run out of knuckles to crack. I wonder if there’s some genetic reason that people like me have an aversion to popping noises?
What I’m fascinated/sickened by is the ChewPoppers… the people who can make a snap with every single chew. We’re not talking blowing mini-bubbles, then crushing … this is a totally different breed of snap. Does anyone know how this is accomplished? I’ve noticed that usually the offending person does this while chewing the entire wad on one side, towards the back of the mouth.
I’m considering printing up cards similar to the Urban Asshole Notification Cards and distributing those the the nastyasses who share my bus ride home… maybe a good project for this weekend…
Honestly. A stick of gum in my mouth at work is the only thing preventing me from telling the morons I work under exactly what I think of them. It’s also the only thing that keeps me from beating someone over the head with a test tube rack some days.
I don’t usually chew gum, gut since I’ve quit smoking I find that, in addition to my nicotiene patch, a minty gum will take the edge off my cravings when it gets bad. Self Righteous dickheads like yourself deserve the heavy sack beating. Preferably by smokers who are chewing gum at the same time.
I don’t snap my gum (I’m not sure I could even if I tried), but I do blow bubbles sometimes. I only chew gum at work.
I don’t feel bad about this at all because:
(1) Nobody can hear my gum over the machines.
(2) Nobody can smell my gum over the general odor of the machines, ink, cardboard, etc. If they could, they would probably appreciate it.
(3) At least a half-dozen coworkers, including a couple of supervisors, use chewing tobacco while working. (They spit into the grates on the floor.) I figure chewing gum is allowed.
But I can certainly understand how annoying it would be in a cubicle setting.
Bibliocat for President!
So I’m not the only one driven to near-homicidal rage by obnoxious gum chewing? Thank goodness. Because it really. really. really. pisses me the ever lovin’ FUCK OFF!!!
OK. You have a piece of gum. Congratu-fucking-lations. WHY, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, DO YOU FEEL THE NEED TO LET EVERYONE IN THE FREE WORLD KNOW ABOUT IT??? I do NOT want to hear you sloshing that shit around in your mouth, snapping it, popping it, cracking it, or whatever the fuck you do, and I especially do not want to see your mouth moving up and down like a goddamn motherfucking cow chewing it’s cud! That is fucking disgusting!! FUCK YOU!!!
I feel better now. See, it’s not really gum that makes me so angry. It’s the hearing it that I have a problem with. I can’t stand that sound along with any kind of mouth noise. Shudder.
[sub]Not directed towards anyone in this thread, general “you”[/sub]
Mouth noises are my single biggest pet peeve. Even I can’t help but admit that the level to which I am sensitive is irrational. Guy got on the elevator yesterday eating an ice cream cone. The sound of him licking the friggin cone for 10 floors almost drove me insane. There used to be a commercial for peaches on tv, I don’t know if anyone remembers it as it was a few years ago. It showed a man and woman having this romance-novel-cover style dinner, candles, flowing garments, etc etc and they started eating peaches. Slurps, suckling, licking, nibbling, oh my god I am not exaggerating when I say that I couldn’t even look at a peach without shuddering after that.
So really, the problem is NOT gum CHEWING, but gum POPPING/snapping/sloshing(???) etc.
As with any other action in this life, not EVERYONE who participates is the type that abuses and does the activity/action “wrong”.
Sheesh, as someone else said, get OVER yourselves.
Yes, I chew gum, always the whitening/breathfreshening kind, and always after meal to stimulte enzymes to reduce cavities etc. Also, it prevents me from weakening and having the chocolate cake.
I don’t snap it, or slosh it, or pop it, or make huge cud chewing motions. When the flavor is gone, I carefully remove it by DISCRETELY spitting it into a bit of tissue and then dispose of it.
Sometimes, in the middle of a workday afternoon, my mouth feels yucky and stale, and I’ll pop a few pieces of trident in and freshen it up. Again, no popping or other noises, and unless one is standing RIGHT in front of my monitor, a few inches from my face (where they shouldn’t be ANYWAY), no one is going to see it.
Sheesh, did your mommies have something against wire hangers too?
I crack both joints in all fingers, the outsides of my hands, my elbows, 8-14 vertebrae in my back, and, if I have no shoes on, my toes. Fortunately I’m fairly quick.
Well…yes. I’m not against gum chewing, necessarily, but if I can hear it(this is where the popping and stuff comes in), it drives me insane. I think the reason this has become a somewhat common pet peeve is because the majority of people don’t know how to chew it without letting the world know about it.
Beautiful. This is how it should be done. If everyone did it this way I’d have one less pet peeve to deal with.
I’m not sure if this was directed at me or the thread in general, but just in case- I never said anything of the sort, nor do I believe it. I don’t think any more or less of people that chew gum than of people that don’t. It’s not a factor in how I see people. I just sincerely cannot stand when people chew gum noisily. Note that I did not say “I cannot stand the people that chew gum noisily”. Hell, I’ve got close friends that do it- but they’re learning.
OK, I just reviewed this thread again and I realized I totally misread your post, CanvasShoes. I read this:
…as a question, but now I see the question was of my use of the word “sloshing”(which, FTR, is a made up word I use to describe the wet/squishy chewing noise some people make when chewing gum). So now I see my last post in this thread doesn’t make a lot of sense.
:smack: :smack: :smack: I’m a moron, you can now continue with our regularly scheduled thread already in progress…
A cow-orker of mine is a gum snapper and it drives me insane. She also talks to herself, hums tunelessly along to light rock, shouts across the office to people when she needs to communicate with them and clips and files her fingernails at her desk.
I hate having to close my office door – it seems so unfriendly – but stabbing this woman with a pen would probably be considered even less friendly…
