Things People Didn't Realize Were Abnormal About Their Body Until Someone Told Them
Reddit user amistakewasmadehere asked: 'What did you think was normal about your body until someone pointed out that it wasn't?'
One the strangest and most perplexing things about being a human is the fact that we can only experience what's going on inside our own bodies and minds. Sure, we can ask someone questions, we can listen to their accounts, and technology is increasingly closing the gap, but there's still nothing like a fully immersive experience.
For this reason, it can be easy for us to think that we're the only one having trouble with something, like the only adult who can never seem to keep their laundry pile caught up, but on the reverse side, it can also mean missing something that's abnormal.
It's, quite frankly, shocking how many people live with some kind of physical abnormality while assuming that it's normal.
Fascinated, Redditor amistakewasmadehere asked:
"What did you think was normal about your body until someone pointed out that it wasn't?"
A Double Uvula
"I have a double uvula. That little hangy thing in the back of your throat... Mine looks like a ballsack."
"I thought that's just what they looked like, because how often do you look in people's throats? I remember seeing cartoons as a kid where they'd zoom in on a character's mouth when they were screaming or something... And I just thought the artists were lazy, drawing a simple droopy line. But no, that's what most people's look like."
"When I was in my 20s, I went to the doctor for something unrelated, and she checked my throat and just said, 'Huh, you have a double uvula. Neat!'"
" I went home and told my roommates and they all had to look in my mouth. I thought they would think the doctor was the weirdo but they were all shocked..."
"I'll never forget one saying, 'You've got balls in your throat!'"
- xx2983xx
A Popping Jaw
"My jaw pops whenever I open my mouth. I thought it was normal for your jaw to just "unhinge" because how else could you open your mouth wide? Turns out, nope."
- PikaBooSquirrel
The Wrong Number of Organs
"The first year of menstruating, I had intensely painful periods and severe constipation. The periods would last two weeks, with two weeks in between each one."
"Everyone told me things would calm down and even out."
"Then one night, at a friend’s sleepover, I was in so much pain that I was sobbing on the bathroom floor. My parents rushed me to the hospital."
"Everything I was describing, pain-wise, made it sound like I was in labor. But I was 14 and still very much a virgin."
"After a week of tests and painkillers, they finally figured out the issue; I then had surgery to open up my second uterus and cervix, which had been sealed shut by a membrane."
"I had been having periods for a year and had built up like 2 liters worth of old blood in my sealed second uterus. So once that was drained out and I was put on major antibiotics, I got to go home and tell all my friends that I had two uteruses."
"I was also born with one kidney. Not sure if that’s related, but I sure am a mess down there, lol (laughing out loud)."
- SM0KINGS
Heart Flutters and Palpitations
"I used the phrase, 'You know when your heart does that fluttery sensation and it’s like you can feel it beating for a few seconds?'"
"Apparently not everyone does know that; in fact, most don’t and my colleagues looked at me like I’d lost my mind."
- The_Sown_Rose
"Mine does this. I’ve mentioned it to my doctor but it didn’t show up on a heart tracing (I wore one for 24 hours)… Some days, it will happen multiple times, and then nothing for a month or two. It’s really odd."
- Gremingtonspa
Shark-Like Teeth
"That I had eight wisdom teeth grow into the extra space in the back of my jaw (two for each side, top and bottom) that all grew in just fine after 20... Only to find out on my last trip to the dentist that I have eight more growing in sideways..."
"The normal amount of wisdom teeth is four. Not 16."
- Rathewitch
"Some of the women in my family grow a third set of teeth in their 30s. My great aunt had a nearly perfect set, only one came in crooked, but my mum's sister had hers come in next to her adult teeth, so she has two rows in some places, like a shark."
"My mum got a couple extra, but they were pulled, and I haven't gotten any yet, though I got to keep all my wisdom teeth and they didn't."
- foxtongue
Transferable Eyesight
"I’ve got ‘alternating exo,’ the eye doctor called it. I can choose which eye I can see out of and can switch as I please, and whichever eye is not picked 'turns off,' and I don’t see out of it since I chose the other eye."
"Since I've been able to do it all my life, both of my eyes can operate alone, so if I lose one, it won’t be as bad adjusting. Pretty nice actually but the ‘exo’ makes me hate selfies cuz whichever eye isn’t picked drifts outward, which is noticeable to me at least."
- Nez_bit
Precordial Catch Syndrome
"You know when you’re breathing like normal, and suddenly when you inhale you get this sharp pain in one side of your chest, at the ribs behind your pectoral muscle? And every time you try to inhale further it comes back, then goes away entirely after a few minutes?"
"Yeah, that’s called Precordial Catch Syndrome."
"Doctors don’t know exactly what causes it, but the running theory is that a nerve near your ribs occasionally gets pinched when you inhale and it takes a few moments for your body to dampen the signal from that nerve. It’s very common, and does not indicate any underlying or dangerous medical issues."
- ScrembledEggs
Literally a Large Head
"I have a big head. I've never once found a hat that fits. Not even a toque."
- Grant_Ham999
"So, when I joined the army they didn't have a hat big enough for me. I was the only person out of 60 of us without a hat. Drill sergeants I had never met would run from across fields to yell at me for walking outside without my hat."
"When I explained that they didn't have a hat big enough for me... they cracked up and called me Charlie Brown. It took two weeks of that before a hat arrived big enough for me."
- mighty1u2
The Tensor Tympani Muscles
"I can activate my Tensor Tympani Muscles (they make that roaring in your ears when you yawn) at will."
"For some reason, they also activate when I feel a sudden pain, even when there’s no sound or noise involved."
- ShinyIrishNarwhal
"Wait, this isn't normal?"
- Pratius
Secret Asthma
"I thought I was bad at running because my throat would seize up and get painful whenever I ran for more than a minute. I mentioned this to my doctor when I was 30. Turns out I have asthma."
- PachinkoBiloba
Dermatographia
"Dermatographia. I have really sensitive skin with an overactive histamine response. When I’m gently scratched with a blunt object, I get a hive in the shape of the scratch. I can write my name in hives on my forearm."
- BriCMSN
Temperature-Inspired Itchiness
"I get itchy as soon as I get overheated. Like an all-over body itch. There's no rash that pops up, I just get very, very itchy."
- f**kf**k9001
Unexplained Abnormality
"I once took part in a study as a paid participant. The doctors used ultrasound probes to examine the blood vessels on my face."
"They commented on how strange my face's blood vessels were, they struggled and puzzled a little while examining my face."
"Then they handed me more cash and asked whether I would be willing to donate my body after I died to a medical study."
"(They were polite and respectful throughout the whole process, just seemed excited?)"
- breakdancing-edgily
Restless Leg Syndrome
"I constantly have to flex my muscles. Not in the douchey 'check me out, ladies' kind of way, but in a more frustrating, 'I need to move this muscle in the next three seconds or I will feel like I am being tortured' kind of way."
"I'm constantly rotating my shoulders, flexing shoulder blades, neck, arms, wrists, ankles, legs, wherever. It makes it hard to sit still or sleep."
"I only seriously noticed when I slept with my first partner, who was very confused as to why I wouldn't stop twisting and flexing for at least two hours before falling asleep. I just figured everyone got that feeling."
"Being under a weighted blanket or feeling my arm or leg fall asleep, both feel like utter torture and will make me scream and writhe about. I would love to know what the h**l this is and how I deal with it, because so far, I have no clue."
- DeviousFox
"It sounds like restless leg syndrome (which can affect your whole body, and not just your legs). Have your iron levels, specifically your ferritin levels checked. RLS is torture, but there are treatments!"
- SenseiKrystal
In Need of Glasses
"I thought I had great vision until I tried glasses and found that everything was so much sharper and more vivid! Apparently, my left eye has a vision defect, but my right eye learned to compensate so I never realized!"
- LLAA00
It's amazing what we can go decades living with, even when it technically is not the norm. In many of these cases, there are even treatments or tools to improve them!
This just goes to show how important it is to ask questions if you have a concern, and if one doctor is not willing to properly discuss it with you, perhaps try talking to another one.
People Divulge Which Seemingly Normal Things Are Sexualized For No Reason
Sometimes we just can't help ourselves, can we?
We see sex everywhere.
It's astonishing.
Maybe it's because we've just been inundated with it. Sex. Sex. Sex.
Thanks, Madonna.
I think there are some things we need to take a long, hard look at and then question our mindset.
Now get your minds out of the gutter.
RedditorChaseSmith42609asked:
"What completely normal thing is sexualized for literally no reason at all?"
Sponge bath time...
"Nurses. I’ve been a nurse and worked in a hospital for 15+ years. There is nothing sexy happening."
ronsinblush
"But Grey's Anatomy has taught me that all the staff goes to town on each other in supply rooms."
Gregbot3000
sexy nicki minaj GIFGiphyGross
"Step family."
ticklytummy
"That’s because we all lie and act like we aren’t attracted to people we shouldn’t be attracted to."
Humble-Ad-7170
Oh Papa
"Saying ‘daddy’ I said it when I was 12 once to my dad and my friends tormented me over it for the entire month."
TeletubbiesWith*icks
"I hate this so much. I always called my dad 'daddy' and even though he passed away 8 years ago I still refer to him that way. If using daddy in the bedroom is someone’s thing fine I don’t care that’s their business but please stop sexualizing it or saying it’s weird. My mom and her siblings are all in their sixties and still refer to their father as 'Daddy' and he’s been dead for over twenty years... lol."
anotherwinter29
Help Me
"Getting stuck in a dryer."
gazeintoaninferno
"I am amazed by how often it happens. Have seen dozens of documentaries about it happening, thank goodness there is usually a (step) family member around to help out."
Solid-Acanthisitta86
Pop
"Putting a popsicle way in ur mouth. How else am I supposed to do it."
Percentagon
"Cut the popsicle into pieces and eat it with a fork and knife. Show some class."
liam8877
Aww Popsicle GIFGiphyThat popsicle thing, that really can be a bit much. Depends on the flavor though.
Look Away
"Eating bananas and ice cream."
peon8
"Banana to mouth. Not mouth to banana."
Dondorini
Ice Cream Eating GIFGiphyJust a Mention
"Mentioning you have a friend of the opposite sex to your parents."
JerzGelato
"This is why I always lie and say that the guy friend I was talking to earlier is a girl. Every time I mention it's a guy, they always go 'Ooh, do you like him?' or 'He must like you if you talk so much.' Like, bruh, no we don't like each other. For starters, that guy is gay AF, those two have girlfriends, that guy wants to become a priest, and the other guy just straight up hates me."
AceTheNotSoGreat
Get Dressed
"School uniforms. Any uniforms, really, but especially school uniforms."
"EvenSpoonierOnly Japanese or Catholic school uniforms though. My school uniform was khakis and a collared shirt, so unless Jake from state farm gets your rocks off, you probably mean Japanese or Catholic schools."
LordNikoli
"I never understood when women (mainly in TV and movies but irl too) would practically melt when they see a man in a uniform, even if it's a postman or something. Am I the odd one for not seeing the appeal?"
jumpy_dragon7759
Just Ick
"Children’s 'Beauty Pageants'... No, No , No. Not right at all, on ANY level. These should be banned, with NO question !!!! Just... NO !!!"
BadStitch626
"I'm an ex-military, big scary-looking old fart, but the feeling those pageants give me can be best summarised as 'icky'. Looking at the people involved gives me the heebie-jeebies."
Salty_Paroxysm
Title says 'completely normal thing' and I'm gonna be honest I've never seen or heard of a children's beauty pageant that I would describe as 'normal.'"
r40k
The Scandal
"Visible shoulders (???)"
WitheredFlowers
"I can wear normal sleeved shirts and tank tops no problem, but I feel so scandalous when I wear those shirts with holes where the shoulders are."
groundsquid
dance dancing GIF by BuzzFeedGiphyWell that is not a sexy list. Just sayin'...
Do you have anything to add? Let us know in the comments below.
Just because something is considered "normal" doesn't mean we have to do it.
Resisting that normal can be a battle, though, because people love to argue with you when you resist or disagree which is exactly what happened here.
Reddit user fuzziblanket asked:
"What is something considered to be ‘normal’ by society that you refuse to do?"
In my world, the "normal" thing I outright refused to do was straightening my hair. Growing up, my texture was considered "pelo malo" (bad hair) and I was expected to blow dry, flat iron, relax or otherwise straighten it.
I resisted that straightening my whole life, preferring my poofs, my frizz and my fluff.
Adult me ended up vindicated AF when I learned how to take care of my hair. Psh. Pelo malo where? My curls are dope.
Resistance may or may not work out awesomely for these people, but here's the stuff Reddit is passionately protesting and the arguments that ensued in the comments about it.
Wedding Woes
"Sacrifice a down payment on a house for a wedding."
- BlackLotus8888
"My wife and I had a very small wedding on a beach with only our parents there. Then, we drove to a mountain and hiked to the top with our photographer for our first dance."
"It was incredible and people keep telling us they wish they could’ve done something that simple but social pressures made them spend more."
"Now, we’ve just had to spend more than the entire cost of our wedding just to buy the plane tickets to attend my sister’s big wedding."
- Giygas
"I felt this way for a long time, but my partner is the youngest of 5 siblings and the family has never had a wedding or proper family function (outside of casual holidays). Even his parents eloped!"
"Our initial plan for a small backyard wedding kept growing and growing as logistics got more difficult: renting a tent, tables, chairs, tablecloths, place settings, port-o-potties, building a viable dance floor for the backyard."
"With 2 big families, our minimum headcount was higher than we'd like. Annnnd with a bigger headcount, you either pay for a venue or save a mere grand for the stress of building your own venue and dealing with thrice as many vendors 😅"
"We've still had a ton of reservations about the cost (wedding is in June), but recently learned that some family members on his side are in very poor health and not long for this world."
"Soon as we learned that, the cost didn't seem as important as having the first formal family reunion in 75 years."
"We've joked straight through that a wedding is not about the couple getting married, and it seems truer than ever. Humbled to provide the opportunity to celebrate with everyone and to get real family portraits."
"It definitely isn't the choice for everyone."
- dropsofzeus
GiphyCeleb Drama
"Give a shit about celebs."
"Sometimes they're fun to talk about for like 5 minutes but other than that? Aren't they just people? I don't get it."
- CoffeeAndPizzaRolls
"Before last weekend, I had no idea Will Smith and Will Smith’s wife had an open marriage.”
- good_god_lemon1
"Thank you for keeping his wife's name out your f*cking mouth."
- sneakywalrus69
"Yes. People are flabbergasted when I’m not informed on the latest celebrity news and honestly I just don’t see a reason to keep up with it."
- Appropriate_Lecture7
Forbidden Friendships
"Forbidding my (straight male) partner to spend time with female friends."
"He's a grown-ass man; he should know how to hold healthy boundaries. It shouldn't be on me to keep him from cheating. If he's really gonna fall into the pants of the first girl I leave him alone with, she can have him."
"Similarly, blaming someone else for my partner's failings, and/or trying to 'win back' someone who doesn't want me."
"He's a big boy who can make his own choices (even bad ones), and I want a partner who wants to be with me, not someone I had to talk into staying."
"For the record, my dudeman of 20 years is awesome, so this is working out pretty good for me so far."
- sasstoreth
Calm Down, Rihanna
"Work myself to death."
"Use your vacation days. Your sick days. Take your dog out. Hang out with the family."
"Even if you're alone like me - Go do something you like."
- Onautopilotsendhelp
"I've had more than one boss say, 'All yall want to do is come to work for a paycheck,' isn't that the point?"
- OutsidePrior2020
"My dad just scolded me because I was unwilling to put in 60+ hrs/week at a new salaried job by saying 'I've worked 70/hr since I was out of college!' "
"Yeah dad, that's probably why you missed every important life event and smoke a juul at age 57."
- AscendingAgain
"Two months ago, my dad died. He had cancer and had had it for like a year."
"I told my work over and over again that he was really sick. I work in an office and am on a computer all day. I have a company-supplied laptop. I have the ability to work from home, but I was not allowed to do so because I was an hourly employee.”
"I told them that his condition was worsening. I live five hours from my parents. They refused to accommodate me, even when I offered to work every day from my parents house, just so I could be with him."
"They said 'well maybe when the situation gets more dire.' ”
"I tried to apply for FMLA (I think that’s the right acronym) and I wasn’t eligible because I was hourly and hadn’t been there for a year yet, despite the circumstances. A week before he died I told my boss that it was almost time and I might have to take off work."
"They were not concerned and told me as long as I got my work done and didn’t miss deadlines. I took the day he died off work—I just had a bad feeling, and was packing to go see him when he passed."
"I told my work and they don’t have bereavement leave. So I offered to work remotely during this period and again they refused. Again, I have a 'good job' working at a huge corporation, in an office; my job requires a degree."
"I was forced to use all of my sick time and some of my PTO so I could attend his funeral and help my mother with arrangements."
"And I'm stuck here because I can't afford to quit without something else lined up. I've been looking. They obviously don't see us as humans."
"You don’t owe your company anything. I would give anything to go back and time and quit, just to spend the last few weeks with my dad."
"Whatever company you work for doesn’t care about you, only about how much you make them. Don’t worry about screwing them over or anything because at the end of the day, you could die and they would consider it a small inconvenience."
- fathleen
GiphyToxic
"Talk to toxic family members."
- cellcube0618
"I seriously can't grasp this."
"Why do I need to keep someone who is toxic in my life? Because they're family? F*ck no."
- melindypants
"Been four years since I talked to anyone in my birth family except my older sister (who I talk to almost everything day). It’s been amazing."
- RTheD77
"This. So much this."
"I recently cut all toxic family members out of my life and I don't think my life's ever been this peaceful."
- ThatMuslimGamer
Charity(?)
"Recording yourself doing an act of charity or a good deed in general. Completely devalues it the second you hit post."
- yzmasmomi
"My main counter point to this is that it at least allows some form of positive news within a negatively saturated medium."
"It's a bit of a virtue signal, but it still has a positive impact on the individual and supports a trend of doing good, even if there's a bit of narcissism mixed in."
- Toiletchan
" 'A good deed bragged about is a selfish deed.' "
- SekMemoria
"I’m conflicted about this."
"It definitely feels gross when someone is just doing something charitable for likes on TikTok."
"But when you look at people like Bill and Melinda Gates, they do all of their charity work VERY publicly (and transparently.) I don’t think that devalues the act of saving hundreds of thousands of lives."
- thepixelpaint
"It doesn’t defeat the purpose to the person receiving the kindness."
- cleanyourkitchen
"They also don't consider how their public act of 'charity' might be humiliating for the recipient. Maybe the recipient doesn't want the whole world to know how poor they are."
- beatissima
"Actually studies show people are more likely to do good deeds after seeing others do them, so recording it and posting it actually adds value because it encourages more people to do good things."
"I don't see how it would devalue it in any case because whoever was helped by the charity isn't somehow less helped just because the helper got some kind of attention for it. The value is in the deed itself, not the inner motivations of whoever did it."
- DeseretRain
24/7
"The need to be available 24/7, i.e. always having your phone on you."
"I like going for long walks and leaving my phone at home. I don't feel guilty for missing texts or calls, it's just stressful being expected to be available all hours of the day."
- The_Fireblasted
"Oath. It's like some people think owning a phone means you signed a contract stating you will always answer or reply."
"B*tch please, this is just a tool, I will use it as I see fit."
- Shaboogan
"I feel that. But I also can’t shake the fear of getting injured or stranded somewhere with no way to get help."
"I guess that’s a holdover from the dim dark past (2005ish) when I would have a car break down and have to knock on a stranger’s door to ask to use the phone."
- twcsata
"I keep my phone on me wherever I go in case I drop dead suddenly anywhere other than my apartment."
"I turn off all notifications routinely for social media anyway. (I'll see your post/comments when I feel like it, dammit) Also, since I'm old, I'd need the phone to call for help if I fell & broke a hip or something 😅"
- Altruisticpoet3
"I'm puzzled that people aren't aware that you can silence the phone, or even turn it off if you're so inclined."
"Hell, put it into Airplane Mode!"
"Never know if you're going to need to call 911, or get that one in a million opportunity to snap a photo of that thing you like, or any other numbers of things phones can do that don't involve calls."
- Brew78_18
GiphyKids
"I don't understand why anyone gives people crap for not wanting kids."
"Some people already raised their siblings, or some people already know they won't be good parents."
"It takes a lot of self-reflection and inner work to be a good parent; especially if you didn't have a great upbringing yourself. And those who just want to live their lives 'selfishly' who cares?"
"They wouldn't be good parents either.. making the kid always feel like a burden because they held them back. So if you don't want kids.. you're better off not having them anyway."
"I'm a mom and I'm all for letting people do whatever they want with their lives. And it's none of our business why they choose it."
- TraumaQueen37
"Thank you for understanding. Telling someone(especially a parent) that I dont want to have kids is like asking to get shot at."
"I just never understood why people want to be respected for their choice to have kids but these are the same people who cant give the same amount of respect to someone who doesn't want kids."
"People like you are so rare who actually are respectful of people's choices of not wanting kids."
- Objective_Magazine_3
"My thought has always been that it shouldn't be that having kids is the default and choosing not to is the lesser option."
"You should have reasons TO want kids. People should have to defend their reasoning for wanting to bring more people into the world, to put that responsibility on themselves for the rest of their lives."
"It shouldn't be an easier decision than what kind of car you buy. If it was 'don't have kids unless you really want them' vs 'everybody should have kids unless you really don't want to and even then you probably should' we'd have a lot fewer kids in foster care, in abusive homes, on the streets, in jail, etc. etc."
- nobleland_mermaid
Mundane Moments
"Bore other people with photos of everyday stuff they see all the time anyway. For example, the meal I am going to eat, the shoes I bought, the place I am at."
- Stendhal-Syndrome
" 'I must remember to tell everyone about this banana.' *snap "
- Shanda_Lear
"Yup, this is the kinda stuff that makes social media largely a meaningless void."
- Available_Job1288
The Big City
"Live in a city."
"I was born in a large city, lived there until I was 11. Then moved to the woods. I’ve lived in the woods since then and although I have visited cities since, I could never live there."
"Too many people, too much noise and I just don’t feel comfortable. I feel more comfortable taking walks at night in the woods than I would in a city."
- BuffaloInCahoots
"Funnily enough, I'm the opposite."
"I grew up in the woods and now live adjacent to a city (suburbs. housing prices...). I can't imagine moving back to the middle of nowhere after living in a place where things actually exist and I don't need to drive 30 minutes to get to the grocery store."
- bassguy129
"I grew up in the suburbs and I will never live there."
"Endless stretch of soulless subdivisions. Cookie cutter houses. Parking lots twice as big as the building they serve. Every time I visit my parents, I swear I die inside."
"I live in the city now. I can walk nearly everywhere. The reason most cities are so loud is the cars suburbanites drive around in the city. Where I live, it's peaceful at night."
- AscendingAgain
"I was born and raised in LA. Then at 16, my parents moved us to Tahoe."
"It took me five years to escape and I still have nightmares about mountain people, and being snowed in away from society."
"I feel safest in a city full of people that come from all walks of life as opposed to a few who live in isolation their entire lives."
- Bitingtoys
"I'll never understand why people want to sit in traffic or live in cramped housings that is stupidly expensive."
"I live an hour and a half from the city it's close enough to visit for events and hospitals and the like, but it's also completely unappealing to live there."
"Bless the people that do like. It keeps where I live empty."
- Relevant_Poet_7670
GiphyRather be anonymous
"Upload pictures of yourself online"
- DCJustSomeone
"I never understood that level of exposure to strangers on the internet becoming a norm."
"It's okay to just be a name or username on the internet, you don't owe it to anyone to use a selfie as a profile picture etc. Anonymity is one of the perks of being online."
"Not to mention in the case of minors for example, being allowed to post pictures of themselves on social media invites a whole different kind of trouble."
"Nah. I'm happy being a little crazy avatar or a picture of my favourite game/anime character anywhere I go online."
- Shi-Rokku
Shush
"Hang out in a social setting where the music is so gawdam loud that you have to scream at the person next to you to communicate."
- Capnreid
"I've now reached the age where if I'm going out in the evening, one of my first criteria for selecting the venue is how much drapery, napery and carpeting they have to absorb ambient noise so I can actually hear what my goddamned friends are saying."
- purrcthrowa
"I hate loud music and I honestly don't understand how people can tolerate it and enjoy it. It is like the soundwaves are assaulting your ears."
- Cute_little_person
"There is a bar in Manhattan called Burp Castle. It’s styled after Trappist monks. If you talk too loud the staff and everyone else shushes you. It’s amazing!"
- isocor
Be Quiet Tim And Eric GIFGiphyAvoid a car payment
"Going in debt $30k-$70k for a vehicle."
- So_Gnaar
"I completely agree. I make nearly $200k a year and drive a jeep that I bought for $9k 4 years ago."
"Car payments have a huge opportunity cost and can really hold you back on the path to wealth."
- narutard6
"I got my 02 rav4 for $2500 tax tag title right before pandemic. My previous car was a 04 Scion XA I paid 8.5k for and drove for 10 years."
"A car is just a way to get from A to B. I never understood concept of having to drive to a work so you could pay off your car..."
- TheRatsMeow
Being sober
"I don’t drink or do illicit drugs. Alcohol messes with my medication, and pot gives me anxiety. I am a sober person and people often give me shit about it and call me boring."
- TheShining02
"The fact that getting shi*tfaced is more accepted than choosing to be sober is really disturbing."
-rslashdepressedteen
"You’ll find as you get older that’ll disappear. I used to get shit in my early 20s about this constantly."
"Hit 30 and when the topic comes up all I get is surprised murmurs followed by obligatory respect (fake or not, it’s better than the shit people would say when I was younger). Plus EVERYONE loves a sober driver after a long night"
- victory-or-death
"The fact that not putting drugs and alcohol in your system is seen as boring legit scares me."
- krylten
This Is Me Sober Tyra Banks GIF by America's Next Top ModelGiphySo many dishes
"Buy copious amounts of dishes, Why the fuck do you need 27 plates for the two people in your household. Im looking at you mom."
- Pine-Space
"I always thought the same, until someone explained the dish-to-dishwasher capacity ratio to me."
- sebiimaxx
"27 plates means 27 plates you can use before you have to wash plates again. No use wasting a dishwasher load if it isn't full."
- PizzaPapaPepperon
"I have one 4 piece dish set and I’ve been debating buying a fun/fancy one from a thrift store. This comment put me right in my place so thank you."
- liisathorir
"We have like 800 plates some of them came from 14 years ago and we only use the same 4 plates every day"
- YeetusFoeTeaToes
No boss status over here
"Climb up the ladder and be the boss. I could but why."
- WinnieVinegarBottle
"Completely agree. I've moved up in companies and taken supervisor type positions. It always comes with a lot more fuckin headache with not near enough pay or benefit."
"I work for a small company now and the owner/boss is married to the job and I'm just like, no thank you. I'm cool just maintaining my role as just another spoke in the wheel."
- Matdav4bama
"Last month I had this epiphany. I can have an amazing career right where I am at. I don’t have to go to management just because I’m good at what I do. I can be happy as an IC."
- kpidhayny
Excited Season 9 GIF by The OfficeGiphyAvoiding debt
"Credit card debt… like… why?!?!"
"Nah, just kidding, I’m American, I have cc debt"
- NameIsJohn
"I worked really hard to eliminate my credit card debt but the sad fact is I’m one emergency away from going back into debt."
- hairballcouture
"I am 34 and have never owned a credit card. I know that I would immediately go into unmanageable debt and for what, a couple of months of spending without thinking"
- SerMickeyoftheVale
Ahh yes sportsball
"Don't follow sports"
- Natural-Compote477
"My sport loving friends can't understand how I know so little about sports. 'You retain so much knowledge about d&d! How can't you just pick a team?'."
"Because then I'll forget my hard studied lore lmao"
- robotred12
"I am excluded from about 97% of manly man small talk for this reason. But tbh, the older I get, the more I realize idc anyways and I'm glad I'm not talking about it haha"
- waterlogged_ballet
"Man fkn samee"
- Solidsnekdangernodle
"What’s funny about this to me is that I play sports but don’t watch them. While most men I know watch sports but don’t play them. Still get left out of the small talk tho…"
- spirit_noodles
Sarcastic It Crowd GIFGiphyLike literally this
"Use literally when I mean figuratively."
- dgl6y7
"This metaphorically spoke to me on a spiritual level."
- Aegis_et_Vanir
"Or use Ironic when I mean Coincidence"
- Newone1255
Okay, now you've gotten to watch Reddit argue over all the normal things they will and won't be doing. It's your turn to get in the ring.
Is there something considered "normal" that is a hard no for you? Or something that's a no for someone on this list but is absolutely a thing in your world?
Let's keep the argument going in the comments!
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We're not all the Waltons.
Or the Bradys.
Some of us are the Simpsons, the Griffins or even the Munsters or Addams.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
Families don't need to fit cookie cutter stereotypes to work and some families that do fit stereotypes don't work at all.
Redditor Existing_Peach957 asked:
"When did you realize your family wasn’t like other families?"
SAHD
"My dad was a stay at home dad and my mom was the breadwinner."
"At school whenever I was sick/needed to be picked up/any other issue, they would tell me they would 'call Mom' but I would insist they not bother her at work and call my dad who was at home and available to get me."
"Stay at home dads are rare I guess."
- babyiguana3
"I work from home. My wife works in a classified building. They have to check their phones in when they enter."
"My daughter always says the same thing, 'Call my dad'. Her school insisted on calling her mom first. They would try, wait 10 min, try again, wait 10 minutes, and try a third time."
"After the third time they would try me. I almost always answer in the first ring, unless I'm speaking on a conference call and come right over."
"But the school still insists on calling her first."
- Smurf_Cherries
Gratitude
"Left with my stoner friend from high school during lunch and went to his house (he'd forgotten homework). His mom was drunk passed out on the couch.
"We heard a truck pull into the driveway and my friend went into a panic - shit my dad's home, we gotta go now! Too, late. His dad came through the door looking like a stereotypical redneck and starts yelling obscenities at my friend and threatening to 'beat his lazy @ss'."
"We both tore out of there. I said to my friend 'now I understand why you always ask if you can come to my house after school. Damn, I'm sorry, I had no idea'."
"'Yeah, you're the first person I felt like I could trust that wouldn't judge me for my home life situation. It'll be okay. My dad will drink and pass out so I will be safe to return tonight'."
"I talked to my parents about this and they had him stay nearly every night for a 'sleep over', made sure he was fed, and became surrogate parents to him."
"This lasted about a year until his oldest sister (who ran away from home a few years ago) returned and invited him to come live with her and her husband."
"This was in the 80's. I lost touch with him when he moved with his sister, but think about him often, and am thankful for giving me insight that not everyone is as fortunate as I with the family I grew up with."
‐ RyanNerd
Open Affection
"When my friends wouldn't hide when their parents came home - in fact they'd go greet them."
"To say I was shocked after years of isolation without being in any house but my own is an understatement."
- Relevant-Spot2096
"My boss had his son working in our dept. One morning boss came in and just hugged his son for no reason."
"I went outside and cried. I was 45 at the time."
- bigghimself
Parentification
"I remember me and my little sister would have been about 6 and 8. We sat at the top of the stairs, listening to our parents argue, made ourselves dinner and put ourselves to bed."
"And she said ‘it’s like we’re their mummy and daddy’ and that memory breaks my heart a bit."
- Lauzzzzzza
Conspiracy Theorists
"When I realized other dads don't mentally prepare their 6 year olds to go to their deaths peacefully 'when the government comes for us with guillotines'."
"Not a nationally organized church. Dad just listened to too much Pat Robertson and David Icke and built a few 'Non Denominational' churches in a small town in the middle of nowhere."
"Went absolutely off the deep end and still to this day believes a literal dragon will rise from the ocean and devour all the nonbelievers."
"I deprogrammed in college, moved across the country, transitioned, got married, and live an awesome life with a family of my choosing."
- RozRae
Love Language
"My family shows each other love through playful mockery, sarcasm, and arguing loudly about things that don't matter."
"Try doing that as your default when you meet new people."
- openletter8
"My family is like that."
"One time my husband left his Discord channel open when he got up to get something and however our conversation started when I walked into the living room, it turned into us calling each other a bitch and an a**hole (affectionately) in a mock argument."
"When he put his headset back on his friend was like 'Uh...are you and Maiden okay??' And completely baffled, husband was like 'Yeah, why?'."
- TheRedMaiden
"Same! One of the things I miss the most after moving out of my parents house is 'arguing' with my dad and then hug each other or change topics between laughs."
"Our love language was mocking each other and then being there when the other needed to be listened to or helped."
- 2_Steps_From_hell_
Just The Two Of Us
"I was born to a strong, independent single mom. My father died of ALS when I was infant. My mom never remarried. I realized from a pretty young age my family situation was not like most."
"Like my mom treated me more like a friend than a son. She gave serious credence to my opinions and let me do basically whatever I wanted so long as it wasn't illegal or cruel."
- User Deleted
One Big Happy Family
"When a guest or whoever it is joins us for an evening and at some point through the night you look over to them and they're sitting in their seat just staring around the room, a look of confusion and shock on their face while trying to figure out wtf is going on and attempting to make sense of things."
"For context when I say my family I'm including aunties, uncles and cousins. We get together once a week at my grandmother's house and it can get pretty overwhelming if you're not used to it."
"There's about 30 of us in total. The youngest person is 2 years-old and the eldest is 82."
- Sycou
"Yes this is us and our cousins/aunts etc...
"When my brother brought his now wife home years ago for the first time, I can remember her sitting politely as we all kept repeating a certain catchphrase in hysterics and she looked so sweet yet confused."
- niamhweking
Neighborhood Hangout
"When all of my friends wanted to hangout at my house. It was something that I came to appreciate too late in life and with my family I am killing myself to replicate.
"I may have grown up poor in a wealthy area, but my home was always filled with love and attention from my parents who were good parents. All of my friends spent their teenage years as latch key kids, and always wanted to hangout at my place."
"I never understood it, and always wanted to get out of the house, but sure enough I was always hanging out with people at my place."
"It really struck home for me in my mid twenties when I ran into someone from high school I would hang out with. They almost immediately checked on how my family was, made sure my parents were doing good, and stuff like that."
"I asked about his family and he gave me a brief update and kind of explained how his family was more like friends and my family was more like family. Many of my high school friends found my parents of Facebook and still keep in touch with them."
"My parents have helped save multiple marriages, give a lot of parenting advice to my old friends, and are godparents to basically a small army."
- Civil_Massacre
Families are as individual as the people in them.
What works for one doesn't for another.
But as the examples showed, the important features are love, communication, mutual respect and understanding.
Everything else is just window dressing.
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People Describe Which Things They Thought Were Totally Normal Until Someone Pointed Out They Weren't
Our minor quirks and mindless tendencies are as old as us.
It may be how we eat, a strange morning routine, or a social tick we rely on for comfort as we navigate the world of people. These quirks anchor us in self-determined normalcy. They offer a predictable sliver in an otherwise hectic daily existence.
And these little, private behaviors are so woven into the fabric of how we behave as to be nearly unnoticeable.
Until some nincompoop points our little habit out, highlights how abnormal it is, and destroys everything.
Once we become aware of the strange tendency, learn how abnormal it is, it loses all that anchoring power. The silent magic is gone and we're left to act like everybody else--at least in that corner of our life.
SenorSpicyPants asked, "What's something you do or used to do that you thought was totally normal until someone pointed it out?"
Hereditary Happy Hands
"My hands shake uncontrollably whenever I get excited about something and I thought it was normal since it happened to my dad too."
"Turns out that isn't the case, but my friends call it my 'happy hands' so it's all good."
-- paperguy20
Second Nature
"Walk and read a book. When I was growing up I lived in a canyon and took the school bus. Long walk with no flat parts. It sucked. So I started reading as I walked to take my mind off of it."
"As an adult, I would always take my breaks at work (a hospital) the same way. People were always impressed that I could do it and not walk into anything."
"Oh, and I can hold a paperback in one hand and turn the page with the same hand while keeping the book open."
This One Needs a Poll
"Pee in the shower."
"I know a lot of people do it but SEVERAL of my girlfriends have been absolutely grossed out by it. I just assumed everyone did it. You're not wasting water either flushing the toilet or washing your hands."
"Water is running so it's not like it marinates in the tub. All the drains go to the same place."
"First girlfriend who told me it was gross I thought was the oddball but by the third I started to wonder if maybe I was the minority. But it hasn't really come up where I want to start taking a poll of my friends to see which ones do it."
A Life of Luxury Comes to an End
"My mom always taught me to put folded up pieces of toilet paper between my butt cheeks, to absorb moisture and make it comfortable. Like 12-16 squares folded up, and just sort of tucked in there. It seemed logical."
"I made the JV football team in my sophomore year, and after the first practice, I was immediately ridiculed in the locker room when I took out my a**-paper. Obviously, I was the only person to do it."
"The razzing continued for the year, but I never f***ing did it again."
Clean Slate
"Do my laundry while naked so I can actually say all my clothes are clean. I'd assumed everyone did this until I moved in with my ex" -- rawr_nickie_rawr
"This is brilliant." -- daggerxdarling
"I don't think my neighbors would appreciate if I used the laundry room naked..." -- hereforthemystery
Dangerous Tingles
"So when I eat raw mango, my mouth tingles, and I'd heard that there were enzymes in mango so I figured it was just because of that, some kind of reaction in my mouth."
"Work used to have ice cream Wednesdays every week during the summer. I grabbed a mango pop, which was like, the 'healthy' option, because it was just frozen blended fruit mostly, and I recommended my friend get one too 'because you can tell it's real mango, I'm getting the mouth tingles'"
"record scratch"
"Yeah, turns out, I'm allergic to mangoes? And I shouldn't really eat them because the next reaction could turn anaphylactic. (I still occasionally eat mangoes, they're so good...)"
-- JoanOfArctic
Hands Free
"Eating peanuts. I didn't know you were supposed to take them out of the shell until I was well into my twenties and went to a baseball game with some friends." -- TheLesserWombat
"Do the shells digest properly or is it like pushing a debranched stick later?" -- Koshindan
"No. They stay in you until you're 70 and then you poop all them out at once." -- paperpenises
Letting Go
"Not me but a friend used to go poop when he wanted to not when he needed to. Like a work break or finishing a movie or game when hanging out. He'd just be like ok I'm bored I'm going to go sh**.
"I didn't know this for years until he was telling me about his hemorrhoids. He would just push out whatever he had on deck."
"After laughing at him for a while I told him he has to wait till it's at the gates then just go sit and let it come out on its own. It changed his life."
-- IrishRage42
More Shower Quirks
"I shake each limb individually like a cat to shake off excess water after I shower before I towel myself dry."
"I learned most people swipe the excess water off with their hand when an ex gf asked me wtf I was doing when I did it in front of her the first time we showered together."
A Dynamic Approach
"Instead of cutting the core out of a head of lettuce my dad taught me to punch it out. Just one well placed punch and the core just pops right out. He said something about how it helps it stay fresher longer, though I have no idea if there's any truth to that."
"I recently was making a salad and had a friend over and she absolutely lost her sh** when she saw me punching the iceberg lettuce."
Stretching Across the Day
"Only eating two meals a day. Growing up my dad and I had next to nothing so food was scarce."
"As I got older and moved in with my husband he started noticing I barely ate and worried it was an eating disorder until I told him about what life was like growing up and how the only time I had more than 2 meals a day is when I was staying with him or our gran growing up."
-- Mother-Of-5
Closure
"Wipe standing up." -- spiralmadness
"That is how you get dingleberries. You wipe standing up and you don't get all the poop particles." -- artsy_fartboi
"I found this out about my husband after 10 years of being together. I was like ?!!?!" -- fermenttodothat
100% Chance of Victory
"Conversation rehearsals for conversations that can't possibly ever happen."
"My interview on the Colbert show went really well & I won that argument about scalectrix with my nan (she dead)."
-- Main-Mammoth
Uh Huh
"Nodding my head a lot while listening to someone. I figured it meant I was following along and understanding. But some people would get confused since I did it the whole time they talked."
"Especially noticed it when I saw videos of myself, and toned it down a lot."
-- JDLinDallas
Greasing the Wheels
"According to my wife, putting water on my toothbrush after I put the toothpaste on is very strange." -- Daddywags42
"It is the only way." -- TheJalele
"One time when I was in my early teens I had a friend over. I went to brush my teeth for whatever reason and when I watered the toothpaste my friend uttered, 'I hate people that do that!' and I was like, 'do you wanna go home?'" -- paperpenises
Suburban Explorer
"Walking through landscaping in shopping areas. Rocks, bushes, grass."
"It was pointed out to me years ago, but I still have an issue remembering to use the sidewalks."
-- humanhomie
Chomping on Cylinders
"I use to eat a lot of things that weren't corn on the cob like corn on the cob. Cheetoh puffs, sausages, burritos, if it was in the relative shape of corn I ate it like it was."
"My brother finally told me that it was unsettling so I stopped. Sometimes I'll do it though, just for old times sake."
-- Chromagic
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