
Humans are naturally curious.
[rebelmouse-image 18347057 is_animated_gif=But when it comes to controversial topics, humans sometimes don't know that their questions can be offensive. If you identify as LGBTQ, you're familiar with some of these questions (ie, Who's the man/woman in the relationship?) But if you were raised by LGBTQ parents, you get secondhand dose of these.
PopularBeginning asked:
Children of same sex couples, what's the weirdest question you get asked?
Here were some of the cringeworthy answers.
Are You Sure?
[rebelmouse-image 18347060 is_animated_gif="Are you sure they're really gay" is the weirdest question I've been asked more than once. Like, no, maybe my moms have been just been really, really close and loving roommates this whole time. Lemme go ask! Just in case I'm the one who's confused.
What Does This Have To Do With Me?
[rebelmouse-image 18347061 is_animated_gif=A kid I went to high school had 4 mom's. 2 of his mom's were originally married and adopted him. They later divorced and remarried which gave him the other 2 moms. He always hated it when people assumed that having 4 mom's meant he was gay.
Biology Doesn't Change
[rebelmouse-image 18347062 is_animated_gif=Not my parents, but my grandma is gay. For some reason, it makes sense to people that gays can have kids, but not grandkids. "But how are you here if she's gay?".... Well, turns out 50 years ago, being a gay woman wasn't super kosher, and so grandma married grandpa. They eventually divorced and met other women, and now I've got a few bonus grandmas, which is awesome.
We Told You This Was Coming
[rebelmouse-image 18347063 is_animated_gif=Growing up with two moms, people would always ask me 'which one is the dad?"
What?????
[rebelmouse-image 18347064 is_animated_gif=My mom and dad both divorced for same sex partners. Weirdest question I get asked is "but why did your mom have you if she was a lesbian?"
So Rude
[rebelmouse-image 18347065 is_animated_gif=My parents divorced when I was in 2nd grade because my dad accepted that he was gay.
From then until I was about 17 he was dating the same man who I grew to love as a father and still do. The kids I grew up with all knew, and started to pick on me some, though that didn't really happen until middle school.
The questions I remember from when I was in elementary school were, "Which one is the woman?", "You know you have a higher risk of being gay?"
Legitimately nobody has ever asked me questions about it. After I was picked on so much in middle school about it I stopped telling people. Seriously, my best friends to this day do not know and I am nearly 22. I actually have a great friend group now, and I know if I told them then they wouldn't care. But being picked on for it really f-cking sucked and was one of the worst times in my life. The only people I've told are people that I've dated, and even then they've never asked what it's like or what it was like to grow up with an openly gay dad.
I think I'd really like for one of them to. Because it's the one part of my life that I've never really opened up about to anyone. In fact, I think this is the first time I've ever acknowledged it on the internet. Guess I've just never met anyone else that can relate.
Good For You, Kid
[rebelmouse-image 18347066 is_animated_gif=I am a gay mom. My younger son is an athlete and is often asked who taught him how to throw a ball if he has two moms.
He said he usually explains that women can throw as well and he had coaches who did their job.
Incorrect
[rebelmouse-image 18347069 is_animated_gif=I love the "you look so much like your dad(s)", because, yer, that's how adoption works.
Still, So Rude
[rebelmouse-image 18347070 is_animated_gif=When I was in middle school, I had a friend who asked me to pretend that one of my moms was my aunt in front of her family. I also get asked which one is my "real mom," and I understand what's meant by that, but it still makes me mad because both of my parents had an equal part in raising me.
Spider Duty
[rebelmouse-image 18347071 is_animated_gif=My niece is in school with a little girl with two moms. I was there when she met them and figured it out. "I have to ask" and SisinLaw and I both cringed because God what is this five year old going to come up with.... "Who kills the spiders?" Both SIL and I are afraid of spiders so our husbands deal with them, so in a house with no men.... Kid logic.
Blowing Their Minds
[rebelmouse-image 18345581 is_animated_gif="Does that make you a lesbian too?" "Do they sleep in the same bed?" "How do they feel about you dating a guy?" "What does your dad think?"
And my personal favorite "Wait.. Lesbian as in like... Two women?"
Too Much
[rebelmouse-image 18347073 is_animated_gif=One of my childhood friends growing up had two moms. I asked one of her moms if she had two dads too. She said that two dads and two moms would be too much to handle. I accepted that explanation and never thought it was an issue. It wasn't until I was much older that I realized some people had an issue with gay people. I was like ~5 at the time and I really like the way she handled it. Since I'm a member of the LGBTQ community now I hope that I handle things that gracefully myself.
Use Your Brain
[rebelmouse-image 18347074 is_animated_gif="How can they be gay if they have kids?"
Why Does This One Keep Coming Up?
[rebelmouse-image 18347075 is_animated_gif="Are you sure they're really gay" is the weirdest question I've been asked more than once. Like, no, maybe my moms have been just been really, really close and loving roommates this whole time.
How Does WHAT Work....
[rebelmouse-image 18347076 is_animated_gif=Nothing especially weird, what's annoying is the instant rapid-fire barrage of suddenly personal questions about every aspect of my family as soon as it's realised I have 2 mums, no matter what we were talking about before.
I guess a weird common one is just "how does that work?" Which I still don't know how to answer. It's so vague, are they asking about my upbringing? Conception? My parents relationship? All strange things to suddenly ask someone you've just met, but it happens all the time.
A Whole New Topic
[rebelmouse-image 18347077 is_animated_gif=People immediately ask how I was born because I have two moms, and then I have to explain the intricacies of sperm banks and artificial insemination... and then explain that my younger sister was from the same vjy's sperm too.
There's NO Excuse
[rebelmouse-image 18347078 is_animated_gif=My (white) cousin is a lesbian who married a (white) woman who already had a daughter and had adopted 2 African American brothers. THEN, my cousin decided she wanted a child of her own so she was artificially inseminated by some random guy she found online. They often get asked if the kids are showing signs of being gay - which is the DUMBEST question ever. The kids are 13 and under... and I'm sure they'll be berated with questions as they get older - especially the boys.
Still Gay
[rebelmouse-image 18347079 is_animated_gif=My dad's gay. When people find out they usually just say "he seems so straight", which is only true if you only kind of know him. I lived with the guy for many many years, and the signs are everywhere. From his love of Andrew Lloyd Webber to the Judy Garland records, to the male friends he'd bring over to "watch TV" in his bedroom.
Partners
[rebelmouse-image 18347080 is_animated_gif=Haven't ever gotten too many questions about my moms' orientation... But I did once say to someone "My mom and her partner just moved here" and the response was "Oh, I didn't know your mom was a lawyer!"
Have you ever heard of a certain job that people call a career and thought... "PEOPLE PAY YOU FOR THAT?!?!"
All hard, honest work is good work.
And then there is just trash work.
And I don't mean garbage collection, that is honest work.
I don't know how some people live with themselves.
Redditor MrTuxedo1 wanted to discuss the careers they don't believe people should chase. They asked:
"What job do you have no respect for?"
Ticket scalpers. How do you the audacity to say that's a job?
Actual burglars have more empathy.
Disrespectful
"There are debt collectors who call relatives of the deceased to pay off their debts when they are not legally obligated to."
Top_Gun_2021
Shady. Shady.
"Australian Real Estate Agents. Laws don't seem to apply to them. Just as dodgy in sales and rentals alike. Never seen anything like it overseas."
snave_
"I'm in the US, it can vary state by state but my state is pretty strict on realtor laws. Some states require attorney review and there are definitely penalties for being reported for shady sh*t. It does require consumer reporting though."
ilostmytaco
Etransfer
"Where I live, tax info was leaked and now scammers are targeting low income individuals/families (people earning under 30,000 per year) with etransfer scams. I got one the other day that was an etransfer warning that 240$ 'a family member sent me' was about to expire."
SnowyInuk
"That’s disgusting. The scammers know what they’re doing, they know the harm they cause people and yet they don’t care."
surelysandwitch
Should be illegal...
"MLM managers. Not the low level idiots that get suckered into it, they suck too for trying to bring new people into that sh*tshow, but the people who create them know exactly what they are doing and are pretty much the only ones who profit off of it. Should be illegal. Pyramid schemes are illegal. None of them ever get the just desserts except occasionally by vigilantes I assume."
Wereno
I hate debt collectors. Yeah, you calling me one hundred times a week is going to miraculously make money appear.
Animals
"Paparazzi."
VictorBlimpmuscle
"I met Jack Gleeson (King Joffrey from Game of Thrones) at a bus stop in Dublin. Really nice guy but he said he quit acting due to people being nasty online and constant hounding from paparrazi. He's happier now but it sucks that he was pushed away from a career he was quite good at."
goobi94
Scumbags
"The pastors at mega churches whom ask their followers for money for private jets. Absolute scum to abuse others faith for your own greed."
ichancho
"Brian Tamaki is a greedy freaking pig, he takes advantage of so many people who are already struggling. Every time he’s in the local news (which btw is often) I get more and more pissed off at him and his wife. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Tamaki "
surelysandwitch
it’s a thing???
“'Dating Expert.' Sadly it’s a thing. It’s basically a self appointed title that requires no training or qualifications. What’s worse, is that I have a female friend who uses one. It’s very much a blind leading the blind situation."
Mean_Manufacturer_61
"Most of the self proclaimed “dating coaches” I know are women in their late 30s or early 40s who have never been married or had a longer relationship."
ipozgaj
EVIL
"Poachers. Especially big game poachers who purposefully hunt nearly extinct animals from species they know they are on the brink."
"I know there are poachers that come from rural villages who are trying to just put food on the table, which has my sympathy but poachers who come from money and hunt down animals minding their business in most shelters or restricted areas just to put a head on their wall as a trophy are absolutely heinous."
GetterdoneObiwan
I See It All
"Psychic Mediums. Specifically those who prey on the grieving."
JamesDeadite
"I've always found it interesting how many magicians go after people like this. I think it's because they know what it takes to trick people for the art. The slight of hand and mentalism. And they abhor people who use these tactics for such sh*tty purposes."
34HoldOn
I want so bad to believe in psychics and mediums. What say we on that topic?
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
The nose is constantly being attacked by odors of the world.
Going through one day without having to hold my breath during a certain point, is a miracle.
Of course, I'm a New Yorker, so I maybe exaggerating for people in the countryside.
What's funnier is odors that are pleasant, that shouldn't be.
Have you ever looked and something and thought... "yuck."
But then you smelled it and it was like... "oh lovely,"
Redditor HappQueue wanted to know what aromas are arousing to the senses that may come as a surprise to many. They asked:
"What smells good but shouldn't?"
For some odd reason I love the things burning. Anything, food, pots, pans. You name it. Weird.
Blow
"Matches/candles on a birthday cake. I remember lighting matches as a kid purely to blow them out and inhale that sweet match-y smell."
semispooked
"guilty good"
"I work at a Chemical plant. We make a highly acidic product that is dark blue, viscus, highly corrosive, and smells exactly like Fruit Loops. It is incredibly disturbing."
Turin082
"Organic chemistry has many 'guilty good' smells. Thiophosgene (sulfur derivative of a chemical weapon used extensively in WW1) apparently smells like meat. Phosgene is used to make polycarbonate, thiophosgene is used to make some sulfur-containing molecules which eventually end up in therapeutic drugs."
HammerTh_1701
I can't huff it...
"Paint, specifically house paint. I love the smell. But anytime I hear that anyone is painting a room or their house, I volunteer. I just love sitting on the floor in a room that's been freshly painted, closing my eyes and just inhaling that slightly chemically, slightly creamy aroma."
Neowza
A Hint of French...
"A fish and chips shop burnt down as couple blocks from work a few years ago. The whole neighborhood smelled amazing for days. Just the slight hint of French fries. Nothing overpowering. It was so awesome. Until I found out someone was trapped in the fire and died."
stevey_frac
Drag
"Race fuel. Instantly puts me in a good mood as it reminds me of going to the drag races with my dad when I was young."
garfnodie
Fuel and matches get me too. And they sort of go together. Interesting.
Just like the Movie...
"The water from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Mmm, bromine."
Stalkerslovemy
"This is one of my favorite scents of all time, and Disney is very aware that people enjoy it. Evidently it’s a lot harder to recreate than just adding bromine to water."
cash4panties
"black widow".
"There's a chicken wing restaurant near my house that has a challenge sauce called "black widow." The owner claims it to be around 500,000 scovilles. A few years back some buddies and I decided to try them, the sauce was a dark molasses color and smelled almost like a BBQ sauce, no hint of the danger that lurked at all. We each grabbed one wing and it went terribly. I don't know how something so spicy could smell so innocent."
Final-Chapter
Endless Weekend
"Hotel/rented rooms whenever you go on vacation. There's this particular smell that just says 'you are on vacation,' especially on a beach/swimming trips/out-of-the-town vacays."
Yummy_Llama
"Bath and Body Works has a plug-in scent called Endless Weekend that replicates that scent (to my humble nose)."
Exxcentrica
"oh no..."
"Someone you are attracted to's body odors. Anyone else who is slightly unhygienic smells repulsive."
Mini_gunslinger
"I remember back in high school a girl leaned over, sniffed me, told me that I smelled really good, and asked me what cologne I was wearing. I asked if she was joking, and she's like, no, you smell really good. When I told her I had just gotten done with gym class, she gets a small 'oh no...' look on her face and turns away. I think we both had a revelation that day."
user deleted
That Smell
"The smell inflatable things give off. I have no idea how to describe it, but it’s… nostalgic? to me."
crestfxllen
I do love the smell of plastics and inflatables. Ahh....
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
At one point in time, we've misplaced things that we've considered priceless possessions.
It's hard to imagine how to go on without the lost object–whatever it may be–but over time, it becomes a distant memory and we move on.
That is until we magically find ourselves presented with this opportunity proposed by Redditor mikehotel288, who asked:
"You find yourself in a room with everything you’ve ever lost in your life. What do you look for first?"
There are necessities people cannot do without.
No More Dry Lips Ever Again
"Gonna be a lot of chapstick in that room."
– camefromxbox
There are things that bring us comfort and are irreplaceable.
Safety Blanket
"My baby blanket. It became tattered over the years—to the point where I couldn’t reasonably wash it anymore—so I had to throw it away a little while back."
"I have heavily regretted that decision. I was really attached to it (hence it being in tatters), but I really wish that I kept what was left of it instead of throwing it away. Just knowing that I’d still have it would be a huge comfort to me."
– Uearie
Sentimental Heirloom
"The pendant my dad had made for me with my grandmother’s engagement diamond. It was 2 carats. It disappeared from a Las Vegas hotel room 20 years ago. It was hidden deep in a suitcase where it would not have been easy to find. It was just GONE. Cops didn’t do anything. Didn’t even come to take my statement. Cleaning lady said she thought she saw an elderly man enter my room. The guy I was with was not sympathetic in the least. Entire situation was f**ked. I’m still so upset about it."
– MaritimeDisaster
Lone Shark
"My plastic shark toy I lost when I was 10. Ain't no f'king way it just VANISHED."
– Guilty_As_Charged__
Not everything lost is tangible.
Tick Tock
"The time I wasted."
– shinyfennec
It Holds Value
"My private key with 6 BTC in it."
– Significant_Mirror19
"I didn't lose one, but I'll check my room for yours just in case."
– Smodphan
Finding Purpose
"The reason I walked into the room."
– Lloyd_lyle
Lost Opportunity
"That one girl i spoke to on omegle lol"
– h-amishh
If only we get to reunite with those we've lost.
The Loved Family Member
"My grandpa."
– Splatty_boi_420
Grieving Parent
"My daughter. She’ll be in my brother’s arms. So I’ll find both things I care to look for."
– SeeTheFence
Missing Mom
"My mom. She died of cancer in 2017. She never got to meet my daughter. I miss the hell out of her and wish she was still part of my family’s life."
– X-Arkturis-X
The Animals That Come Into Our Lives
"My pets that have passed: especially my horse, Blue. It's been 4 years, but it feels like just yesterday."
– Baciandrio
While many of these scenarios are unlikely, the thread gave people an opportunity to reflect on the things that made a strong impression on their lives.
Sometimes, the memories of the things we've lost–whether they are random objects or sources of love–is all we have.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
What's worse than returning home from a night out or a workday and discovering your home was broken into? Being home when the break-in happens.
Home invasions are a common trope portrayed in horror films like The Strangers and Funny Games, and they're absolutely terrifying because they are based on real-life incidents.
Redditor silentagent47 asked strangers to consider this horrifying hypothetical.
"You have 5 minutes to prepare before a guy breaks into your house with the intention to kill you. You can not exit your house. What is your strategy to survive?"
The hunter becomes the hunted, inspired by TV and movies.
Duplicating A Scene
"There was an episode of Burn Notice where Michael puts aerosol cans in the microwave with kitchen utensils and hits popcorn button. I really want to know if this works or not."
– JohnSterlingSanchez
Epic Burglar Trap
"Speed-watch Home Alone."
– pluribusduim
It's about the choice of weapon.
Jump Scare
"I get the vacuum cleaner ready in a certain room, I turn it on as hes about to enter to create a distraction, then I jump out when he's inspecting the noise and bonk the f'ker on the head with the piece of 2 inch steel tube I keep as a weapon."
– BustedBastard
Beware of Dog
"Unleash the Hounds"
– myassonreddit
Make A Weapon
"Duct tape a bunch of knives to the end of one of those tall lamps to make a spear of blinding and then proceed to go sicko mode."
– DubTheeBustocles
Preparing For A Thwack
"Turn shower on, for some reason I have a shovel behind my wardrobe?? So grab that. Wait for him to check shower, whack with shovel. Boom."
– hypersp00p
It's Just A Game
"Corner camp with a shotgun."
– Arrow3619
A Warm Welcome
"Hairspray and a lighter to his face."
– WorkingClassSheep
The effectiveness of these tactics are questionable, but points for creativity are warranted.
Stand Still
"Put a lamp shade on my head and stand in the corner of the room."
– Cannabis_Sir
Make It Erotic
"I turn on all the lights, take off all my clothes, rub butter all over myself, and start a fake conversation on the phone. As soon as he breaks in I say into the phone: 'I’ve gotta go, my next appointment is finally here…”
– FrankieTheAlchemist
Forget The Stairs
"Go to the LIVING ROOM."
– on-oath-never-again
Removing The Element Of Fun
"Draw an X on my forehead and grab a beer."
– Candycoatedmuffin3
And that's why I would opt for living in a commune or apartment complex.
People who own houses are just asking for forced entry.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.