Your oddest fears

morethanpretty • Jan 21, 2009 10:11 pm
So what are they? Are you scared of paint drying? Parrots that talk? Hmm?

I'll start:
I'm scared of storm drains. I hate walking on or near them. Even driving by them I'm a bit freaked out. I'm thinking of two possibilities: somehow I'll deny all laws of physics and fall into them, then not beable to fit back out. Or I'm afraid a monster will reach out of it, grab me, and drag me in to the drain, again denying all laws of physics.
Aliantha • Jan 21, 2009 10:12 pm
I hate getting stuck in traffic on bridges. I'm always scared they're going to collapse.
monster • Jan 21, 2009 10:15 pm
Swimming pool drains, although I'm mostly over that now.

I'm always afraid that I'll miss the ramps when I take the car to the car wash. Which is stupid because I'm a very accurate driver/parker and have never missed them yet, but still, I was putting off going longer each time... It got so ridiculous that now I just ask beest to take it in.
Nirvana • Jan 21, 2009 10:16 pm
I am afraid when I dream that the big eyed alien bug people will mess up my bed sheets..:eyebrow:
wood*nymph • Jan 21, 2009 10:20 pm
My oddest fear is a variation of pyrophobia. I love bonfires, campfires, etc. but even a tiny flame (such as a match or candle) anywhere near my face makes me freak out.
Elspode • Jan 21, 2009 10:39 pm
I have an irrational fear of thermonuclear warfare.
Stress Puppy • Jan 21, 2009 10:42 pm
I am paranoid about the chances that if I enter a bathroom and lock the door, I will be unable to unlock the door.

No idea why this happens, but it's happened since I was a teenager.
lumberjim • Jan 21, 2009 11:03 pm
i would be most chagrined if i was pooping at work..... and forgot to lock the door....and someone walked in on me. this would scar me, i fear.
Bullitt • Jan 21, 2009 11:05 pm
My most terrifying imagined experience would definitely be trapped in a coffin underground. No room to really move, completely conscious, no one to hear you and no way to get out. I don't get scared easily, but I would flip the hell out if that ever happened to me.
Clodfobble • Jan 21, 2009 11:20 pm
Well Bullit, the good news is according to Mythbusters you'd run out of air in a very short time, long before you had a chance to die painfully of starvation. You'd black out even faster if you were busy screaming. :)

I'm terrified of my car plunging off a bridge with the kids in the back seat. I've obsessed countless times over the best way to get them out of their carseats and out the car windows.
Sundae • Jan 22, 2009 7:29 am
- Breaking my cheekbone. I picture myself falling to the floor or into a wall and being unable to protect my face. SMASH! It seems the worst thing in the world to me. Except being impaled by a railing in the same spot. I will cross the road to avoid railings, even if they are higher than my head.

- Mirrors and relective glass. More specifically seeing something in one which isn't there in real life, or seeing my reflection change.

- Fear itself. I worry that my mind will snap. I know it doesn't really happen like that, but from when I was a child I have been scared that one day I will be so scared by something that I will no longer be able to function as a rational human being. This is why even hokey haunted houses scare the bejesus out of me. And rollercoasters (although I love them too). And the dark insde houses. And clowns.
dmg1969 • Jan 22, 2009 7:42 am
Croutons. I can't even walk near a salad bar. <<Shudders>>.

Seriously, my oddest fear is oversleeping and being late for work. I have never overslept, well...maybe once. It is to the point that my body clock wakes me up at least 45 minutes before my alarm goes off. I really don't even need the alarm clock.
sweetwater • Jan 22, 2009 7:49 am
I'm afraid to post my fears here because ECHELON might glean it and then "they" would use it against me later. Also paralyzing illness/trauma that would leave me unable to exercise my right to death if that is what I chose.
capnhowdy • Jan 22, 2009 7:59 am
I am very afraid that I may develop some dumbass phobia that makes me scared of stupid, harmless shit.
sweetwater • Jan 22, 2009 8:12 am
I'm also afraid that some day I will forget to put a smiley on a post and it will be misinterpreted. Oh wait, I just did that! :(
Shawnee123 • Jan 22, 2009 8:36 am
I wouldn't say "afraid" but holes give me the willies. Like some ugly suspended ceilings...with that uneven pattern of holes. Things like that. shudder.

I don't know why.

Spiders. Very irrational.

Other than that, I'm pretty fearless. I don't have enough sense to be afraid of much in the physical world...the powers of the human mind can give me pause, though.
glatt • Jan 22, 2009 8:38 am
Those metal grates in the sidewalk. Actually, I'm not afraid of them, but my wife hates them and will detour around them. She's subconsciously trained me over the years to avoid them when walking with her, and now when I'm by myself, I avoid them too, out of habit.

Once, a couple years ago, I was walking down the sidewalk alone and changed my path to avoid a grate. This guy walking in the other direction saw me do it and started laughing at me. Said real in a real loud mocking tone "Oh no! A metal grate!" I hadn't even noticed that I did it, and had to laugh at myself. I mean, wtf? What else do I do without realizing it?
Shawnee123 • Jan 22, 2009 8:39 am
Pick your nose.

Quit it glatt!

:lol:
TheMercenary • Jan 22, 2009 8:50 am
dmg1969;525212 wrote:
Croutons. I can't even walk near a salad bar. <<Shudders>>.

Seriously, my oddest fear is oversleeping and being late for work. I have never overslept, well...maybe once. It is to the point that my body clock wakes me up at least 45 minutes before my alarm goes off. I really don't even need the alarm clock.


:D
HungLikeJesus • Jan 22, 2009 9:31 am
I fear the hard hot center of the Earth - and that nothing stands between it and us but this thin shell, this fine flaky crust, this fragile, shattered plate whose bits float and bump on a sea of molten rock.
Pie • Jan 22, 2009 10:42 am
I fear being alone. I am always only one person away from disaster.

I also fear "the dark" -- not what may be hiding in the dark, the dark itself, like the Nothing in The Neverending Story. This formless, black shifting mass will smother me to death.

Apparently, the 90% of the universe that is dark matter has been hiding in my closet all this time! :haha:
lookout123 • Jan 22, 2009 11:32 am
glatt;525236 wrote:
Those metal grates in the sidewalk. Actually, I'm not afraid of them, but my wife hates them and will detour around them. She's subconsciously trained me over the years to avoid them when walking with her, and now when I'm by myself, I avoid them too, out of habit.

Once, a couple years ago, I was walking down the sidewalk alone and changed my path to avoid a grate. This guy walking in the other direction saw me do it and started laughing at me. Said real in a real loud mocking tone "Oh no! A metal grate!" I hadn't even noticed that I did it, and had to laugh at myself. I mean, wtf? What else do I do without realizing it?
funny. my wife is the same way. She will not under any circumstances walk over grates, manhole covers, or the like. Both of my kids love to jump up and down on them. it's pretty funny watching her go into seizures.
Chocolatl • Jan 22, 2009 12:07 pm
I'm another one of those people with an inexplicable aversion to metal grates in the ground.

I wouldn't say I am afraid of ants, but I am definitely disgusted by them. I try my best to rescue most creatures that end up in our apartment, but ants trigger a "Destroyer of Worlds" mode that I have yet to find reason for.

My oddest fear is that someone will break in and murder me while I am showering. I imagine myself defenseless with nowhere to escape, and completely surprised since the sound of the shower would have masked the robber's entry. A few weeks ago, I thought I heard someone trying to break in. Dripping wet, I grabbed a towel and sidled up to the front door, then flung it open ready to kill whatever was on the other side. All I found was a flyer for the new Chinese place down the street. The racket had been the poor advertiser fighting our weather stripping to get the flyer tucked into the door.
Shawnee123 • Jan 22, 2009 12:11 pm
Wow, there are a lot of you afraid of grates?

Do many of you also fear heights? Just wondering if there is a relation?
Chocolatl • Jan 22, 2009 12:17 pm
I'm not afraid of heights -- I'm afraid of falling.

ETA: which I guess does relate back to the fear of metal grates
glatt • Jan 22, 2009 12:20 pm
To be fair, grates can be a little slippery when it's been raining, and they often ice up first when there is freezing rain. So I don't like them when it's wet out. You are liable to wipe out. Otherwise, they are actually pretty cool. You can imagine you are walking on air.
lookout123 • Jan 22, 2009 12:29 pm
walking on the large grates always takes me back to my childhood when my cousins and i would pretend the large series of grates near the house were the deck of a star wars spaceship.

my super-awesome nerd rays are blinding you aren't they?
glatt • Jan 22, 2009 12:46 pm
My father in law was a chemical engineer before he retired, and once when we were visiting him, he took us on a tour of his plant. It was pretty impressive. Halfway through it, when we were up on this second floor catwalk thing, I looked over at my wife, and she was making a strange face and pointing down. I couldn't figure out what she was pointing at. I looked through the grate we were standing on at the concrete floor about 60 feet below, but there was nothing there. "What?" I asked, and she hissed "the grate!" and it wasn't until then that I realized we had been walking all over on the grates and remembered how much she hated grates. She earned big points with me that day for putting her fear aside so she wouldn't disappoint her dad as he showed off his plant. Plus, it was kind of funny after that as we kept climbing higher up around these enormous vats.
SteveDallas • Jan 22, 2009 12:49 pm
A spaceship? That would work, but I'd think of the Bespin carbon-freezing facility first for grates.

I fear personal contact with other people.
Pie • Jan 22, 2009 12:55 pm
Aha! An IT type! :lol:
footfootfoot • Jan 22, 2009 1:00 pm
I'm afraid you're going to have to leave.
Clodfobble • Jan 22, 2009 1:45 pm
Your grate and manhole-cover fears are not entirely unjustified. When she was younger, my mother stepped on a manhole cover that was not properly secured, and she slipped down halfway into it, breaking her leg. True story.
footfootfoot • Jan 22, 2009 1:48 pm
Did she say "That's just *****?"
glatt • Jan 22, 2009 1:53 pm
We had a rash of exploding manhole covers not too long ago in this area. Never did hear the official explanation. But the covers would shoot up into the air like an anvil shoot and come crashing down randomly on cars and stuff. Weird. They use slotted ones more and more now so the pressure won't build up.
HungLikeJesus • Jan 22, 2009 2:29 pm
In some cities there have been problems with the grates becoming electrified and shocking people and animals that have touched them.

And when you walk on a grate, just remember that that's the only thing between you and the hot hard center of the Earth.
Aliantha • Jan 22, 2009 4:24 pm
lookout123;525288 wrote:
funny. my wife is the same way. She will not under any circumstances walk over grates, manhole covers, or the like. Both of my kids love to jump up and down on them. it's pretty funny watching her go into seizures.


Maybe your wife and glatts are secretly afraid of doing a 'Marylin'?
kerosene • Jan 22, 2009 4:45 pm
I am irrationally afraid of being in the shower or worse, a bathtub full of water and falling through the floor with it. I am worried that the floor/subfloor underneath has been so rotted from water, that it will eventually give way with my weight and the weight of water and I will go with it through the floor. This fear is so great that I refuse to take showers with my husband, because I don't want to add to the odds of it happening by being too heavy with both he and I.

When I was a kid I was afraid I would get killed in the shower. I took baths until I was at least 12 or so, so I could always see and hear what was going on. I think I watched Psycho at too young an age.

Oh, and I am also afraid of mold...if I find it on a piece of bread I freak out and drop it. I can't stand to get near it at all. Gross! Ew!
Aliantha • Jan 22, 2009 4:46 pm
There's an add on telly here at the moment about home insurance that has exactly that scenario case. It's ok though. The guy survives and gets a nice new bathroom too if he's properly insured. ;)
kerosene • Jan 22, 2009 4:48 pm
Nooooo! Don't tell me that actually happens. My husband tries to tell me "Don't worry, floors are reinforced and they are designed to withstand the weight, etc. blah blah" but it doesn't really help.
Aliantha • Jan 22, 2009 4:51 pm
Well if it's any consolation, I think you'd have to be hella unlucky for anything like that to happen, and I reckon you're a pretty lucky person case. :) And besides, if your husband says that's how it is, then he must be right. ;)
kerosene • Jan 22, 2009 5:04 pm
It seems that I am fairly lucky, but if I am so lucky in so many other ways, that could be my one unlucky moment. Or something. Yeah, I better just believe hubby.
limey • Jan 22, 2009 5:05 pm
I have an irrational fear of slipping on ice and falling over. I don't want to look a twat, and I don't like pain but these are not sufficient for the magnitude of my fear ... Anyway, I end up looking like a twat taking teeny-tiny pigeon steps on any icy surface ...
Aliantha • Jan 22, 2009 5:07 pm
You should move here limey. Then you wouldn't have to worry about icey footpaths and stuff. ;)

On the other hand, you would have to worry about snakes and sharks and other nasty stuff. lol
sweetwater • Jan 22, 2009 5:41 pm
::raising hand:: I also walk around the grates. They disturb me deeply for some reason (ha! I doubt reason has much to do with it) and I walk around them. The idea that terra firma is shot full of holes freaks me out. My brother once sent me a story about a physicist who spent his life studying atomic structures, and became so concerned about all the space between the components of atoms that make up matter, and particularly floors, that he'd wear oversized shoes so to not fall through to the level below. It makes sense to me. Unfortunately. :o
wood*nymph • Jan 22, 2009 5:47 pm
I also have a fear of accidentally eating maggots or bugs. I've had this fear since I was a kid...I think I found some sort of worms in my breakfast cereal once when I was really little.

This past summer my house got infested with flour moths and it took me nearly three months to eradicate them as they had eventually infested about $250 worth of food in my pantry. I am far from wealthy and have been indoctrinated from childhood not to throw out perfectly good food, so I would only throw food out once I knew it was infested. Finally one day I went through the entire pantry and threw just about everything out. It was disgusting. There were moths and maggots everywhere.

About a week or so ago my friend made rice for dinner. I looked down in my bowl and one grain of rice had a semi-segmented look to it. I had to throw out my dinner and could hardly force myself to eat ANYTHING the next day.
capnhowdy • Jan 22, 2009 5:47 pm
I kinda have the grate thing too. I think mine stems from the movie "Hunchback of the Notre Dame" , (Ithink it was) where the monster was held captive in an underground grate covered thingy. Kinda like the movie with the doll cutting ankle straps from under the bed. And then there was that ad in the old comics about smallpox right next to the xray glasses and disapearing ink.:eek:
Aliantha • Jan 22, 2009 5:49 pm
I can't believe how many people are afraid of grates. It's really quite amazing.

I'm wondering if it's the falling in, or something coming out that's worse.
footfootfoot • Jan 22, 2009 10:49 pm
case;525365 wrote:
... it will eventually give way with my weight ...


Your weight? Your weight? What could you possibly weigh? A hundred pounds? You could have a fat chick under each arm and not weigh enough to take out a full bathtub.

You skinny.

:headshake
Razzmatazz13 • Jan 23, 2009 12:57 am
Actually...one day I was walking off the bus to get into my dad's van (bus stop was a mile from the house and parents figured that I'd get kidnapped or something) and as I walked over and reached out to open the door...all of a sudden I was eye level with the front tire. The grate that the township had installed had been clogging heavily due to massive amounts of rain washing leaves out of the woods, and flooding the road...so they just decided to cut bigger holes into it...and one of my legs was stuck inside all the way up to my thigh. I wasn't afraid of grates, but now I double check them...just to be sure nobody decided that they weren't draining properly.

PS my mom BITCHED at them..because my dad had to pull me out of the grate...and they turned it around the other way...so the road still floods
Aliantha • Jan 23, 2009 12:58 am
I'm sure that story will help some of the posters in this thread Razz. lol
Beestie • Jan 23, 2009 4:19 am
Clodfobble;525171 wrote:
I'm terrified of my car plunging off a bridge with the kids in the back seat. I've obsessed countless times over the best way to get them out of their carseats and out the car windows.
You too, huh? I've gone over that in my head more times than I care to remember.

But the one thing that really makes adrenaline squirt out of my eye sockets is being attacked by wasps.

Its really not as bad as some other things I've dealt with but for some reason, just the thought of those murderous nano-bots from HELL collectively focused on simultaneously injecting their toxic, super-concentrated venom directly into every available vein....

[COLOR=DimGray][breathe... breathe...][/COLOR]

I have no idea why that bothers me so much.
morethanpretty • Jan 23, 2009 11:24 am
Storm-drains=grates in the road/lot (in my original post)

I too am afraid of bridges or overpasses collapsin, especially after what happened last year in Minnesota. Whenever I'm behind a semi truck and they drive under a bridge, I'm afraid they misjudged the height and the top of their trailer will hit the bridge, causing big chunks of concrete to come off and hit them/me/other drivers.
I'm scared of semis.
glatt • Jan 23, 2009 11:26 am
morethanpretty;525635 wrote:
I too am afraid of bridges or overpasses collapsin, especially after what happened last year in Minnesota. Whenever I'm behind a semi truck and they drive under a bridge, I'm afraid they misjudged the height and the top of their trailer will hit the bridge, causing big chunks of concrete to come off and hit them/me/other drivers.
I'm scared of semis.


Many of these fears so far are rational. This shit does happen. It's just not that likely.
morethanpretty • Jan 23, 2009 11:54 am
Yeppers glatt. Almost same incident happened here in Dallas not too long ago (as in I still remember it). I didn't look up the story though.
LabRat • Jan 23, 2009 1:01 pm
When I am the only one in the basement I must have the lights on if it is dark outside. If I have to turn out the light before going up, I run up the steps. Yes, even in my own house. I just get the creeps. [/big ninny]

I also have this fear when I am driving on the highway or interstate next to a semi truck on one side that it will blow a tire and cause me to somehow get into an accident. I don't mind it if I am passing them, I just can't stand being forced by other traffic to be driving alongside one. I'll go just slow enough that I am behind it without leaving enough room for other vehicles to squeeze through until the car ahead of me is far enough ahead of the truck that I can zoom up passed it.

I don't mind driving over bridges as long as traffic is moving. It's when all those cars are stopped on one for some reason that I get nervous.

When my daughter was an infant, I had this terrible fear that I would drive to work and forget her in the car like those stories you'd hear on the news. I almost did do it once, too. I was so focused on a presentation that I had to give at work, and she was being so quiet that I totally blew by the exit I needed to take. It wasn't until several minutes later as I hit the edge of town that I realized what I had done.
LabRat • Jan 23, 2009 1:06 pm
morethanpretty;525635 wrote:
I'm scared of semis.



Scared that they won't make it the rest of the way up, or what'll happen once they make it there? :eyebrow:
glatt • Jan 23, 2009 1:39 pm
LabRat;525680 wrote:
When I am the only one in the basement I must have the lights on if it is dark outside. If I have to turn out the light before going up, I run up the steps. Yes, even in my own house. I just get the creeps.


That's because you are even closer to the boiling magma of the Earth's core. [/HungLikeJesus]
Cicero • Jan 23, 2009 2:04 pm
Greatest fear? That they will all one day, be realized. :)
Radar • Jan 23, 2009 3:29 pm
I fear ventriloquist dummies....but my greatest fear is that something bad will happen to my daughter.
LabRat • Jan 23, 2009 3:39 pm
I just thought of another one....

When I am at a home I have never been at before and have to use the bathroom, I am totally paranoid the toilet will clog.
Cicero • Jan 23, 2009 6:15 pm
......and then it happens....
Beestie • Jan 23, 2009 6:45 pm
Radar;525712 wrote:
...but my greatest fear is that something bad will happen to my daughter.
Oh, that will go away soon. In about... 28 or so years. ;)

Speaking of ventriliquist dummies and the like, that reminded me that I had a friend who, back in the Big 80s when McDonald's was running their Mac The Night ads - the big moon-shaped character, was scared to death of that thing.

Now that I mention it, that Burger King dude with the big plastic head kind of had me looking over my shoulder for a bit.
DanaC • Jan 23, 2009 7:02 pm
I have a wierd thing about fire. I'm not scared by its presence, but the idea of it terrifies me beyond reason. It's like there's a part of me always on the alert. I have this notion, dug in somewhere deep in my mind, that I'm going to die in a fire.
binky • Jan 23, 2009 7:47 pm
lumberjim;525157 wrote:
i would be most chagrined if i was pooping at work..... and forgot to lock the door....and someone walked in on me. this would scar me, i fear.


Not to mention the emotional scarring to the other person :eek:
Pico and ME • Jan 23, 2009 8:15 pm
I used to get creeped out by what I couldn't see out of the windows at night, so I would always close the drapes. The idea of putting my face up to a window and cupping my hands around my temples so I could see better, freaked me out.
Chocolatl • Jan 23, 2009 8:19 pm
Isn't it worse to wonder what might be there if you pull the drapes back?
Pico and ME • Jan 23, 2009 8:30 pm
I dont think so....its more the things a darkened window are hiding....the things you cant see because the light is on. Im not so bad now, but it still bugs me a little. I once house-sat for a friend who didnt have any coverings on her windows. It was a bit hard to relax. I dealt with it by keeping the light off in the livingroom at night.
morethanpretty • Jan 23, 2009 9:01 pm
Pico and ME;525771 wrote:
I dont think so....its more the things a darkened window are hiding....the things you cant see because the light is on. Im not so bad now, but it still bugs me a little. I once house-sat for a friend who didnt have any coverings on her windows. It was a bit hard to relax. I dealt with it by keeping the light off in the livingroom at night.



I have that fear too Pico. I also house-sat for a friend, and slept on the couch, but the backdoor had no cover over it. I was so freaked out someone would come up, look in see me alone, break the door, and then kill/rape me. I left the back porch light on so hopefully they wouldn't be able to see me so easy, but if I woke up I would see them. My windows in my bedroom have heavy coverings.

Labbers: I'm just scared of semis in general. Scared they won't make it under the bridge, scared they're gonna change lanes into me, scared they're gonna have a blowout, scared they're gonna jackknife, scared the driver is gonna look at me and wave...
get my point?
Pico and ME • Jan 23, 2009 9:06 pm
I had a guy driving a semi put a sign in the window for me to read. It said 'show me your boobs'. He freaked me out so much I ended up getting a speeding ticket because I had to keep up a steady speed of 85 to get away from him.
lumberjim • Jan 23, 2009 10:00 pm
Pico and ME;525780 wrote:
I had a guy driving a semi put a sign in the window for me to read. It said 'show me your boobs'. He freaked me out so much I ended up getting a speeding ticket because I had to keep up a steady speed of 85 to get away from him.


did the cop not buy that story?
Pico and ME • Jan 23, 2009 10:05 pm
I didnt tell the cop, I was pretty sure he wouldnt buy it or it wouldnt matter. Anyway, I have bad luck with cops and tickets, they never ever want to give me a break.

Afterward I kept thinking I should have, but oh well.
Pico and ME • Jan 23, 2009 10:10 pm
Hey BTW, this was when I was driving through Pennsylvania to get to Philadelphia to visit my brother. I ended up getting two tickets on this trip. On the way back home, I got caught taking an illegal left turn in Ohio. I was coming out of a gas station at three in the morning and didn't think anyone would see me. I really have lousy luck.
ZenGum • Jan 23, 2009 11:39 pm
Maybe you could have shown the cop your boobs?
wood*nymph • Jan 23, 2009 11:46 pm
DanaC;525755 wrote:
I have a wierd thing about fire. I'm not scared by its presence, but the idea of it terrifies me beyond reason. It's like there's a part of me always on the alert. I have this notion, dug in somewhere deep in my mind, that I'm going to die in a fire.


yep, me too. When I was a kid, my evening prayer always ended with "and please don't let the house catch fire, AMEN"
Pico and ME • Jan 23, 2009 11:50 pm
ZenGum;525825 wrote:
Maybe you could have shown the cop your boobs?


Yeah, but then he would have cited me for 'limited indecent exposure'. :rolleyes:
capnhowdy • Jan 24, 2009 12:06 am
I've always had an odd fear of that. Not limited indecent exposure, but showing a cop my boobs.
Sundae • Jan 24, 2009 6:34 am
I also walk around certain types of grates, but I see this as a rational fear. When I was at school, myself and Emily were rushing to our next class after PE. That was our first lesson on Friday morning - lousy scheduling - but for some reason we were the last getting changed afterwards and we didn't want to be late.

We ran up the corridor and out to the front of the school to cross the foyer. It was a damned cold morning, frosty, and the grates in front of the school doors were wet.

Emily just disappeared sideways and down as she was reaching for the door. She made this terrible squawking noise and as she tried to get up I could see her arm was horribly wrong somehow. There seemed to be too much of it, one too many bones to fit into the skin covering. I picked her up, and her bag and helped her to Matron's.

Matron immediately sat me down, put a bowl on my lap and asked Emily what was wrong with me. Apparently, of the two of us I looked by far the worst and she thought I was about to faint or be sick or perhaps both. She said I looked positively green, and I was gutted not to have seen myself - I've always assumed that only happened in books.

Once we had sorted out that in fact it wasn't me who was poorly, Emily went off to A&E to get a cast and I got the rest of the period on the bed in Matron's office, with a cup of hot chocolate, and lots of fuss. It was great - I missed Geography and I hadn't done my homework.

I thought of something else that I'm afraid of yesterday. Well, not afraid, but something that disgusts me out of all proportion. Undercooked chips. If I eat a chip and it's hard in the middle, I have to push away the whole plate. It makes my whole mouth contract in disgust. This is more common in oven chips, which I am now always suspicious of. They give me the shivers.

Wet bread also. On the ground. Most common where people have been feeding ducks or birds but sometimes kids throw sandwiches on the ground outside schools. I can't even look at it without retching. The idea of picking it up (to clean the pavement I mean, not to eat!) is filling my mouth with bad spit even as I type. I don't know why it should be so revolting to me, but it is.
wood*nymph • Jan 24, 2009 7:56 am
Sundae Girl;525890 wrote:

Wet bread also. On the ground. Most common where people have been feeding ducks or birds but sometimes kids throw sandwiches on the ground outside schools. I can't even look at it without retching. The idea of picking it up (to clean the pavement I mean, not to eat!) is filling my mouth with bad spit even as I type. I don't know why it should be so revolting to me, but it is.



but can you eat wet bread on purpose? Eggy bread or bread pudding?
Shawnee123 • Jan 24, 2009 10:17 am
Re: wet bread. lol...I can see that. It's a texture thing.

Wet yarn is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.
Radar • Jan 24, 2009 1:56 pm
Sundae Girl;525890 wrote:
I also walk around certain types of grates, but I see this as a rational fear. When I was at school, myself and Emily were rushing to our next class after PE. That was our first lesson on Friday morning - lousy scheduling - but for some reason we were the last getting changed afterwards and we didn't want to be late.

We ran up the corridor and out to the front of the school to cross the foyer. It was a damned cold morning, frosty, and the grates in front of the school doors were wet.

Emily just disappeared sideways and down as she was reaching for the door. She made this terrible squawking noise and as she tried to get up I could see her arm was horribly wrong somehow. There seemed to be too much of it, one too many bones to fit into the skin covering. I picked her up, and her bag and helped her to Matron's.

Matron immediately sat me down, put a bowl on my lap and asked Emily what was wrong with me. Apparently, of the two of us I looked by far the worst and she thought I was about to faint or be sick or perhaps both. She said I looked positively green, and I was gutted not to have seen myself - I've always assumed that only happened in books.

Once we had sorted out that in fact it wasn't me who was poorly, Emily went off to A&E to get a cast and I got the rest of the period on the bed in Matron's office, with a cup of hot chocolate, and lots of fuss. It was great - I missed Geography and I hadn't done my homework.

I thought of something else that I'm afraid of yesterday. Well, not afraid, but something that disgusts me out of all proportion. Undercooked chips. If I eat a chip and it's hard in the middle, I have to push away the whole plate. It makes my whole mouth contract in disgust. This is more common in oven chips, which I am now always suspicious of. They give me the shivers.

Wet bread also. On the ground. Most common where people have been feeding ducks or birds but sometimes kids throw sandwiches on the ground outside schools. I can't even look at it without retching. The idea of picking it up (to clean the pavement I mean, not to eat!) is filling my mouth with bad spit even as I type. I don't know why it should be so revolting to me, but it is.



I assume chips = fries. I have a pet peeve about fries. If I buy fries, they better be hot and crisp on the outside. I ask for them well done, but they give me cold soggy fries so many times. I'd rather have them overcooked than undercooked.


As far as the wet bread thing goes, I'm guessing you're not much for a french dip sandwich, or dunking a donut in your coffee.


In America there were some people on the radio discussing a fairly common problem with women who physically cringe or want to vomit when they hear the word "moist". I wonder if this is related to the moist bread thing.
monster • Jan 24, 2009 2:09 pm
Radar;525983 wrote:
I assume chips = fries. I have a pet peeve about fries. If I buy fries, they better be hot and crisp on the outside. I ask for them well done, but they give me cold soggy fries so many times. I'd rather have them overcooked than undercooked.


maybe stop asking for them well done and see what turns up? I never get underdone fries, and I never ask for them to be well done. some chefs/cooks get a little peeved when you make the presumption that they can't cook stuff properly before you've even tried it.
Pico and ME • Jan 24, 2009 2:12 pm
monster;525986 wrote:
maybe stop asking for them well done and see what turns up? I never get underdone fries, and I never ask for them to be well done. some chefs/cooks get a little peeved when you make the presumption that they can't cook stuff properly before you've even tried it.


He might be talking about fast food places like MacDonald's or Burger King. I only order fries if I am going to eat them right away and as long as they were made to order. Cold fries just suck.
monster • Jan 24, 2009 2:19 pm
that's why I included the word "cooks" as well as "chefs". I could have added "numbnuts" too, but I didn't want to seem to wordy ;)
Pico and ME • Jan 24, 2009 2:25 pm
I don't think the people who put the basket of fries into the fryer at a fast food restaurant could give a rats ass what anyone thinks about their cooking ability. Usually, though, the fries you get are the ones that have been sitting in the warmer for a while and aren't fresh or really warm anymore. If you ask for them well-done, they will just reheat those fries, which will make them hotter and crispier, but really greasy too.
monster • Jan 24, 2009 2:31 pm
obviously not happening for radar though. :rolleyes:
Pico and ME • Jan 24, 2009 2:33 pm
LOL...it must be in the way he asks. They probably just say 'who does this guy think he is?' and just give him regular fries like everyone else gets.
capnhowdy • Jan 24, 2009 3:23 pm
What the hell is french about fries, anyway? I am not afraid of french fries at all. Be careful with that ketchup.
wolf • Jan 24, 2009 3:40 pm
Bugs. I do not consider this fear odd or irrational, however.

Escalators, but only going down. I have an expectation, every time I step onto one, that I'm going to misjudge the pace, and it's going to fling me in an undignified manner to the bottom, and then mash me in it's gearing system. Since childhood I have experienced a moment of vertigo at the top. I've never had a problem on an escalator, but still I feel them lurking in wait for me at nearly every mall or two-story retail space (thankfully fewer than they used to be, I think it was the Sears & Roebuck in Abington that did this to me) in the country.

Oh, and those things they have in cities, the hatches in the sidewalk with the diamond-plate doors that look like they're 100 years old, that either just cover stairs or one of those elevator thingies to put deliveries in the basements? I'm always sure that they'll collapse if I walk over them.

And falling, generally. Doesn't have to be from a high place. A tall curb is enough to give me the willies. Turns out I actually enjoy heights once I'm convinced I won't accidentally plummet off them.
Sundae • Jan 25, 2009 5:51 am
wood*nymph;525898 wrote:
but can you eat wet bread on purpose? Eggy bread or bread pudding?

Bread on my plate is fine, mostly. Although if my Dad cooks me burger, chips and beans I have to make sure the burger bun isn't in the bean juice.
Radar;525983 wrote:
I assume chips = fries.

Mostly... They're not really fries though - at least I don't think so. Fries are very thin. We have chips as fat as my thumb - far easier to find a raw one y'see?
As far as the wet bread thing goes, I'm guessing you're not much for a french dip sandwich, or dunking a donut in your coffee.

I dunk bread in soup quite happily and I'm up for a freshly made gooey sandwich. But I do get funny about prepackaged ones sometimes. Where the salad has soaked the bread inside. Urgh. I have no problem with the word moist though!
wolf;526008 wrote:
Escalators, but only going down.

I'm the opposite!
I get twitchy going up, imagining the whole escalator collapsing underneath me and all of us falling into the abyss. This was especially the case on the old wooden London Underground escalators - which I think I pretty much all replaced now. They used to hitch sometimes, like a little shrug. Urgh. I'm still a little cringey on the very high ones - the Piccadilly Line is the worst, it's so deep. But even the Central Line has some doozies - Holborn for example.
Clodfobble • Jan 25, 2009 10:27 am
Sundae Girl wrote:
Mostly... They're not really fries though - at least I don't think so. Fries are very thin. We have chips as fat as my thumb - far easier to find a raw one y'see?


We have fat ones too, but they're usually considered more "gourmet" and only found at nicer hamburger restaurants rather than fast food places like McDonald's. They might sometimes be called "home fries" instead.
wolf • Jan 25, 2009 10:33 am
Clodfobble;526233 wrote:
We have fat ones too, but they're usually considered more "gourmet" and only found at nicer hamburger restaurants rather than fast food places like McDonald's. They might sometimes be called "home fries" instead.


On this side of the country, home fries are a breakfast item ... chunkier than hash browns, and may have peppers and onions fried along with the potatoes. The big fries are called Steak Fries.
capnhowdy • Jan 25, 2009 12:46 pm
Or here in the southeast they may be called "Tater Logs".
DucksNuts • Jan 27, 2009 9:25 pm
Mice. They just freak me out.

Years ago there was a bit of a mouse plague and I pulled back my sheets to find mouse poop in my bed....partner at the time set traps and I changed the sheets....but I couldnt sleep, I would doze and wake up screaming thinking a mouse was scurrying in the bed with me.
Aliantha • Jan 27, 2009 9:27 pm
I found out recently that my dad is scared of cockroaches! I have to say, I pissed myself laughing watching him try to splat one but not get touched by it. lol

I would never have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself.
BigV • Jan 28, 2009 1:15 am
I fear being misunderstood.
BigV • Jan 28, 2009 1:15 am
I fear unintentionally giving offense.
Aliantha • Jan 28, 2009 1:25 am
BigV;527381 wrote:
I fear unintentionally giving offense.



You shouldn't fear that. Apparently I do it all the time around here and I'm oblivious to it. I'd never post anything if I had to stop and think about who I'm offending all the time (and I'm sure there are a number who'd be quite pleased if I stopped posting), but ultimately you can't please everyone all the time...so as long as you've represented yourself honestly, that's all you can do.
wolf • Jan 28, 2009 1:37 am
Aliantha;527308 wrote:
I found out recently that my dad is scared of cockroaches!


But you've got, like, huge, poisonous ones that carry small children away if you aren't vigilant, though, right? It's reasonable to be scared of something like that.

Now, if you're talking the normal tiny miserable sonofabitch German cockroaches, they're merely loathsome, and your father is clearly a wuss. (I lived in an apartment that had roaches in the same way that last segment in Creepshow had roaches).
Aliantha • Jan 28, 2009 1:40 am
lol...we have several different varieties, some of them large-ish. We have the german ones too. This was a flying one he was trying to squish. It was pretty funny. I think he's a wuss regardless of what size the cocky was. lol
Radar • Jan 28, 2009 2:58 pm
Aliantha;527387 wrote:
You shouldn't fear that. Apparently I do it all the time around here and I'm oblivious to it. I'd never post anything if I had to stop and think about who I'm offending all the time (and I'm sure there are a number who'd be quite pleased if I stopped posting), but ultimately you can't please everyone all the time...so as long as you've represented yourself honestly, that's all you can do.



I am with you there.
classicman • Jan 28, 2009 10:40 pm
Aliantha;527392 wrote:
I think he's a wuss regardless of what size the cocky was. lol


Hmmm... lets not go there - mmmkay?
Aliantha • Jan 28, 2009 11:16 pm
cockroach. lol
cowhead • Feb 11, 2009 12:16 pm
I for some reason am deathly afraid of horses. which is weird to me, I like them.. I think they look cool.. I like the Idea of horses...hell! I like horses! but ever since I was a kid I haev had nightmares about them (I think it may come from my mother reading me greek mythology and the flesh eating horses form herucles's trials..) then again... who knows?
Clodfobble • Feb 11, 2009 2:16 pm
Ever seen the play Equus?