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People Break Down Which Strange Things Their Family Did That They Thought Were Totally Normal

The wonderful thing about families is not everyone's is the same. This creates a diversified and interesting world, where the people you meet are products of their background. Depending on what kind of family you had, you might be outgoing, or timid in large groups, or you might not flush the toilet after you pee.

...Let's talk about families.


Reddit user, u/Dnewkirk87, wanted to hear about your family's odd past when they asked:

What was something your family did that you didn't realize wasn't normal until you did it in front of others?

Think Of The Children!

Giphy

Saying "Goddammit" after sneezing.

That was an interesting day in first grade.

Tsionich

Personalized Recipes

I thought all sandwiches went with ketchup

And that hotdogs had mayo and bacon

I know it sound a bit weird now but it taste good I recommend

stevencast67

Really, Just All Mouth Noises Are A Big No.

The pride my family has in a good burp.

Wasn't till I got to high school that I realised the near mastered art of belching I had was frowned upon.

Didn't stop me tho.

And whistling? My dad has always whistled, I've always whistled, I got really good at it to the point where it can hurt people's ears to hear with the volume.

But yeah, don't know, got to school, whistled down the halls when I was happy, friends were in a weird awe that I could whistle so well. Then I noticed when I stayed at their houses the absence of someone whistling every now and then. Always made me homesick.

MinkCrappy

Wait, You Don't Have Crabs Under Your Bed?

I was terrified of crabs being under my bed as a kid, so my mom would put a soup strainer under my bed, telling me it was a "crab catcher" so I would sleep. It worked for a few years until I didn't need it anymore, but any time she was cooking or whatever, we would still always refer to it as the "crab catcher" and nobody ever told me that it was something different.

Flash forward, I'm 16 and at bad kid boarding school. Everyone had to take a turn helping the kitchen, so I was going to make a recipe I knew that required a SOUP STRAINER. I ask the head chef where their crab catcher was, and she was just like, ".....we don't have one of those..." I went on this rant like, "you call yourselves a kitchen and you don't even have a CRAB CATCHER?! PATHETIC."

I wandered around the kitchen for a bit and found one. I brought it up to her and pointed to it like she was a f-cking dumb-ss and said, "see this?? This is a craaaaabb caaattccchheeeeerrr."

I learned a hard lesson that day.

DumbledoresaidCalmly

Not So Openly

..That my mother would scream and yell every single night in her sleep.

I legit thought it was a normal thing "My Mom has nightmares!"

Doesn't yours?

Billie_needs_a_Mop

So Casual About Where You Put Your Cancer

Smoking indoors. I didn't do it, but my gf at the time had a veritable panic attack when we had my mother over for dinner. It was the first and only time my mother came to visit.

frog_without_a_cause

Save Water, Lose Friends?

Flush the toilet after peeing. We tried to save water, so we basically peed until someone went number two.

Then one day I went to a family friends' house and freaked everyone out because I didn't flush.

PumpkinPatch404

So Open

Apparently it's not normal for your parents to openly and graphically discuss their sex life with you. And it's definitely not normal for your parents to have multiple partners younger than you.

Edit: Since so many are asking, my parents didn't start this behavior until I was an adult. When I say the partners are younger, I mean they're sleeping with college kids while I'm in my mid to late 20s.

personalspaceshow

Hilarious To Some. Offensive To Others.

Giphy

My mom and I have had this inside joke where we go "don't talk to me" or "don't even look at me" in response to stupid sh-t. I don't remember how or when it started, but I've been doing it since I was a wee kid. I didn't realize how odd it was until I said "fine, don't talk to me then" in response to my mom telling me I couldn't get a video game I asked for and a woman in the aisle with us got offended.

She pulled my mom aside and told her I don't need to be talking to her like that and she needs to teach me how to respect her lmaooo. My mom explained that it's a joke that we do but she doesn't think the woman believed her.

SlytherinAhri

Some Extra Celebration Thrown On Top

We sang happy birthday twice (once in English then Spanish) and another silly song afterwards

beads-and-things

Nicknames For Everything

As a child, my mom would call Hand Sanitizer "Squirt-Squirt". I asked my classmate for some "Squirt-Squirt", and when she didn't understand, I got very frustrated. I got into an argument with this fellow 2nd grader

mediumgrape

We're Born This Way, We'll Live This Way

I might get some weird internet looks for this, but my parents didn't really care about nudity. Not in the sense that they were naked all the time, but if they showered they wouldn't really try to cover up when walking from the bathroom to their bedroom.

I was the same way until I started to pick up that wasn't really normal.

horseadventure

Yelling? Screaming? That's How You Discuss Things, Right?

Having loud, impassioned (and objectively rude) debates for the hell of it.

I was always very close with my mom, and we would argue and debate and discuss absolutely everything — from the merits of artistic translations in poetry to politics — and constantly interrupt each other the whole time, shout, and change topics. Neither of us got offended, and it was just the way the conversation flowed. We just really like debating and talking that way.

It made me a super good debater — both casually and on official debate teams — but I've only recently began to realize that these habits are actually very rude. I've had to make a conscious effort to be politer and and less quarrelsome, because I was just raised to be loud and argumentative.

k0rnc0b

Post-Dinner Naps

Sleep after the meal during holiday get-togethers. Just the men, the women exchanged gifts. We would all go into the living room and watch football and kinda doze. No big deal.

Did this once at my girlfriend's family Christmas and evidently I embarrassed her or maybe offended someone. Either way I was the only one asleep while everyone else was energetic and conversing lively with family. I was woken up by girlfriend with an angry tone asking why I was asleep during the party. I was comfortable, relaxed, and we just had a lot of food. Made sense to me.

Morolan

Jawohl!

Use assorted German words in casual conversation... which as a child I assumed were English until I got confused stares from friends. My family has been in the US since 1902.

AntebellumEm

Yawning At The Moon, Sneezing At The Sun

My mom is a yawn-yeller. When she yawns, you can hear it from anywhere in the house.

One time my sister had a friend over, and we were in the basement. My mom yawned upstairs, and my sister's friend asked "was that a coyote?"

Veritas3333

My mom yells when she sneezes. In order for her to "stop sneezing" she has to basically sneeze really loud kinda like "ACHHOOO!!" One time my brother had a friend over and he thought something was going on outside.. it was my mom sneezing in her room.

aylgar

Look At All The Love Being Shared? Doesn't It Make You Sick...

everyone in the family, extended family included likes each other and gets along.

one boyfriend commented that my family was weird because everyone got along, no massive fights, screaming and yelling each holiday, bringing up decade old grudges once or twice a year. like he has never met his uncle because his dad and uncle hate each other too much.

itxtalone

WAIT. Hear This One Out...

Giphy

My dad jizzed on my siblings and I a lot.

He was born in Iran, so he had a little bit of a language gap even as an adult. And what he would do to mess with my siblings and I is he would use his finger and thumb to punch the tiniest amount of skin on our wrists. And he would call it "jizz", because I think that's what he thought the sound of that was if you could get close enough to hear it. So the scene occurred plenty of times where my brother, sister, and I would be running away from him in the house, pleading not to get jizzed on.

Years later, someone explained to me that the noise Iranians think bees make is "jizz". So therefore, my dad was "buzzing" us. Not jizzing. Thankfully.

boyvsfood2

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People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.