People Confess Which Things They're Below Average At Doing
One Redditor asked: 'What are you below average at?'
As much as we might like to be, we can't be good at literally everything.
But when we struggle with something that everyone else seems to naturally "get," that can be a hard thing to accept.
Redditor B**IZDeepInUrMom asked:
"What are you below average at?"
Legible Handwriting
"My handwriting is nuts one person described it as looking like a serial killer's mad scribbles."
- Hopper-1986
"A nurse once told me I sign with doctor scribbles."
- tonytonyrigatony
Carrying a Tune
"Singing. I’m very bad. I only sing in the car and I still fear I may one day be cautioned by police for being so terrible."
- 24-Hour-Hate
"Do you know why I pulled you over? That B was way off-pitch, sir (or ma'am)!! I'm arresting you for murdering that song!"
- Abbadon0666
"One of my biggest fears is pocket-dialing someone while I’m singing in the car."
- hockeybag2
The Quiet Ones
"Words spoken per day."
- CrediblyHandsome
"Why say many word, when few word do trick?"
- TitanBrews
"Yessss, someone who gets it. I use like four words every day at school."
- harryyougoboom
"I go through more, but it's mostly 'Excuse me' and 'Thank you' and other s**t I'm required to say 1,000 times per day to not be thought a sociopath."
- RichardBottom
Listening Skills
"Listening. I'm trying, but it's tough to change a lifetime habit."
- Actual_Green_7433
"I'm sorry?"
- keeeeener
"Did you say something?"
- BigTenBiden
Basic Social Interactions
"Social interactions."
- DxNxWx
"I SUCK at social interactions."
"'Nice weather today.'"
"'Thanks.'"
"A new cringe core memory unlocked."
- antoine-sama
No Flirting Game
"I'm not good at noticing when someone flirts with me. I'm not even very good at knowing the difference between an extrovert being friendly and them hitting on me."
- Not_Jim3
"My current girlfriend and I met at a club. I was crossing the dance floor; she got in my way, and we had an awkward encounter. Happened a couple more times before I got the clue: 'Oooh, I think she wants us to meet...'"
"Other than my girlfriend, I maintain I have never been flirted with or hit on once."
"Not. Once."
- clever_username_eh
Vertically Challenged
"Height. I'm only five feet tall."
- Damseldoll
"Same."
- FlyingFox32
Elusive Math Skills
"I've always been the kind of guy who 'seems smart' because I'm good with English and communication, and I'm good enough at the kind of 'real world' math like percentages, multiplication, addition and subtraction, etc."
"Then it gets to sh*t like algebra word problems, trig, calculus and I'm suddenly the dumbest person alive and the world thinks I deserve to die alone in poverty. Go figure, eh?"
- amadeus2490
Poor Sleeping Habits
"Sleeping. As of writing this, I have been struggling to catch up on sleep for about a month and I have been awake for about 16 hours and it is 7:42 AM. I’m so tired."
- HeatoStrike
In Need of Driver's Ed.
"Driving. Watch out for me in the streets!"
- Jiggy_Turner
"Parallel parking. I’ve been driving for two years now and I’m utter garbage at it. I refuse to parallel park even if there’s no angle parking available."
- n123breaker2
Mind Reading
"My wife claims I’m a pretty lousy mind reader, and I’d have to agree with her."
- imacmadman22
Negative Self-Talk
"Probably the ability to feel good about myself."
"Like, why do I think I'm ugly, or why do I think I'm a good person or why the f**k do I think I am Autistic? Probably because I'm dumb as soup."
- Jerney_to_Nirvana
"Or you just don't trust your capacity to see yourself more. I struggle with that s**t."
- dustinAlt
Investing
"Investing. I have no clue what to do."
- cadcamm99
"No one does. It's either people who were rich from the beginning or some random guy who tries to sell you stuff."
- RichieiRocket
Beauty is in the Eye of...
"Convincing my wife she's beautiful."
"The good fight continues."
- toolatealreadyfapped
Clean and Tidy
"Cleaning. I’m slowly getting better but I’m definitely below average."
- SnooGoats7133
"Bro, same, I don’t try to be a slob but everything ends up a mess because I get distracted."
- N3rdy_Cat
"Yeah! And if you’re like me you will not notice until it’s BAD."
- SnooGoats7133
If this was not one of the most relatable threads we've read to date, then we don't know what would be.
The funny thing is that, many of these struggles are struggles we all have or at least think that we have. Perhaps that means that we're really not doing as badly as we think we are, and really we just need to show ourselves some grace.
Hindsight really is 20/20.
I never fully understood that thought until my thirties.
So many of the things we thought were just an average part of life when were really just a whole hell of a mess.
Some "quirks" and behaviors are not meant to be the normal.
We just decide they are, but they're actually part of bigger issues.
Redditor ComfortableMess3145wanted to compare notes on the certain things that maybe we had the wrong idea about at first. They asked:
"What is something you thought was normal but found out it isn't?"
We need to prepare. Some of our regular daily life activities maybe not the best idea.
Streaks
GIF by Ramin NazerGiphy"I have astigmatism so I see light in streaks. For the longest time I thought that was how everyone saw it."
Onirity
hence the name...
"Visual snow. My whole life, my field of vision has always been covered by shifting multi-colored dots of light. Similar to light snow on an old TV transmission, hence the name. I see it all of the time, I never don't see it, though it is worse in the dark, or if staring at the sky. In the dark or when I close my eyes, it is all I see. I thought everyone had this until my early 20s."
smuffleupagus
"roll over laughing"
"I was joking around with my friends in 8th grade History and we were trying to see how many pencils we could stick into my friend's afro (with his consent) and right as I was trying to lift my arm and put the pencil in his hair one of them cracked a joke that sent us into a fit of laughter. My arms went limp and when my friends started coaxing me to put it in I told them I couldn't."
"They were noticeably confused, so when I regained my composure I explained that everytime I laugh, my muscles go limp and I am not be able to move them. It ranges from droopy head and weak knees, to full body collapse. Because of the term 'roll over laughing' and portrayals of people in media falling over in laughter I thought this happened to everyone, and they were just better at controlling it."
"My friends all agreed that it in fact did not happen to them, and that I should get it checked with a doctor. 1 year later I was diagnosed Type 1 Narcolepsy: a sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness, and Cataplexy. Cataplexy happens when a trigger, such as strong emotions like laughter or fear, trigger a sudden loss of muscle tone, making it difficult to move, stand, or even breathe."
I was lucky to be diagnosed as early and quick as I was, since the condition is widely unknown outside of the context of Narcolepsy patients and specialists. The symptoms of Narcolepsy are so common, in both puberty where it starts to present more heavily, and other diagnoses such and depression and anxiety."
"It's estimated that around 1 in 2,000 people have this disorder, and the lucky few that actually get diagnosed usually only do so later in life after 5-10+ years of multiple tests and misdiagnoses. The takeaway from this is that if you think that other people 'deal with it better' or 'suck it up' or 'control it better' chances are that's not normal, and you should speak up about it."
Savannahisded
The Friend Group
"I thought it was normal for every friend group to have one person that everyone picked on for no reason. I don't mean light roasting, I mean legitimately bullying them and putting them down. My brother's friend group had one, with my brother being a primary instigator."
"I was the punching bag in my middle school friend group. It took until the end of high school/the beginning of college for me to actually be treated like a person and realize that friends aren't supposed to make you feel like crap about yourself."
yeetgodmcnechass
You're gonna hear me...
brain roar GIFGiphy"The ability to make a roaring noise in my ears by tensing a muscle. link"
Jmen4Ever
The human body is a crazy thing. I sure the animal body is a sh**show too.
Once in awhile...
toilet bathroom GIF by South Park Giphy"Pooping once in 3-7 days. Since childhood I always do it in that frequency. However, when I was 21 my doctor told me that it's not normal at all and it should be everyday thing. I always thought that everyone does it once in 3-7 days, not everyday."
2 dippy eggs, please...
"I'm from Pennsylvania. Growing up, when we went to a restaurant and I ordered my favorite eggs, I would say, '2 dippy eggs, please.' It wasn't until I got married and moved out to the western part of the country that I realized most people don't call them that. I can still see the look on the waitress's face when I asked for dippy eggs. Apparently, most people call them 'sunny side up.'"
fourjoys99
For the Pizza
"Asking for permission. I was raised to always ask permission to have water, a snack, turn on the TV, or go to the bathroom any time I am in someone else's home. My best friend's mom thought it was weird that I would ask permission for small things. Like 'May I grab a knife and fork for my pizza?' instead of 'Where can I find a knife and fork?' was super weird to her."
Awkward_Society1
Lip Service
"Not being able to watch Movies/Shows without Close Captions or subtitles. Also never understanding what they are saying on the radio. Turns out, I have an Auditory Processing Disorder. If I don't see peoples lips moving my brain doesn't recognize they are words more than half the time."
SugarLily0420
Normal? Not
Season 10 GIF by FriendsGiphy"Having OCD. The thoughts that come with it I thought were normal for YEARSSS."
foxgirl1318
Well I have a lot to think about how I live my life.
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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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This will be a perfectly average article about perfectly average things.
There will be C-level effort given here.
This will be like the "normal" episode of Spongebob.
Reddit user WinstonChurchillin asked:
"What is neither terrible nor great, but perfectly average?"
I've never written an ode to beige before, and I'm not about to start now ... which is fine because C-level effort, people.
Starting with this moment of clarity.
The Taste Of Mediocrity
coke pouring GIFGiphy"A canned coke slightly colder than room temperature."
- ImDedNgl
"I didn't know how to answer this question but as soon as I saw your answer... it all just... made sense."
- _forum_mod
"Oh my god I can taste it on my tongue as I read this. The taste of mediocrity."
- momoman46
"When you put it in the freezer so it'll get colder faster and you check back like 15 minutes later and it feels cold to the touch; but when you drink it, it's not that cold, but you're like, screw it and drink it anyway."
- MyStationIsAbandoned
A Dinner Downgrade
"Just had a cooking class in high school and we made a potato and leek soup."
"The first words me and my friend used to describe it were 'ok' and 'alright.' "
"It was really the most average thing I've tasted; not that it was bland just that it was neither good nor terrible."
- RavensArePrettyCool
"This is my favorite 'meh, that sounds alright' dinner to make."
"It’s both easy and hard to make right. It’s simple, and yet I have to go out of my way to get leeks from one specific grocer, which makes it hard."
"It’s an ordeal and so very average all at once. Strange."
- deadheadcycle
"Potato and leek soup is just a downgrade from leek soup."
- Alexthegreatbelgian
Ohio
ohio columbus GIFGiphy"The Midwest. Especially Ohio."
- SpyTheLie
"Just moved to Ohio last year. It’s fine."
- Mindbender444
"Came here looking for Ohio. Fitting I should find it in an average response."
- Jayphlat
"Ohio sucks"
"- a Michigander 😂"
- NyaNyx
Historical Math
"If Ivan the Terrible had a baby boy and Alexander the Great had a baby girl and by some miracle, those two babies met throughout history and f***ed, the resulting baby would be the most perfectly average baby ever birthed."
- 0ldPainless
"I like the way your brain works."
- SnooDingos2721
"Average Joe incarnate."
- mynameisnad
They're Not Awful
"A baloney and American cheese sandwich on white bread with Mayo."
"No one would order one in a restaurant, and no one is ever excited to have one, but they’re not awful. A perfectly average sandwich."
- No_Pen_4702
"There's as many terrible sandwiches out there that are much worse than this as there are good sandwiches that are better. This one fits very well."
"My wife loves these sandwiches, mind you, as do several others I know."
- RhettSarlin
Nothing Exciting
"Staying at a Holiday Inn."
"Quality is consistent, but nothing exciting is going on."
"It’s not so nice that you’ll get a hotel bar and restaurant, but it’s not so crappy that you can watch The Neighbor Show with all the crazy folks also staying there."
- felinelawspecialist
The Corolla Choir
Robots What GIF by ToyotaGiphy"A tan 2002 Toyota Corolla."
"That was my last car before the current one. While I had it, I would sometimes think about how this is just 'a car.' "
"There's new cars and old cars. Cool cars and sh*tty cars. Cars that are fun to drive and cars that are scary to drive."
"But a 2002 Corolla... That's none of those things. It's just a car."
- aguycalledkyle
"The Toyota Corolla. Every single one of them."
- Blindog68
"Wife and I's first car together was a Corolla coupe. It had the cool disappearing headlights, which made it slightly nicer than average."
- DesertTripper
1 Snack
"Home brand garlic bread where they skimp on sesame seeds atop the loaf and the butter is slightly too stingy."
"The ultimate in 6.1/10 snacking."
- TheRysingTyde
Better late than never
Season 10 Bbq GIF by The SimpsonsGiphy"Showing up late to a barbecue, and while there's still plenty of food left, it's not exactly warm anymore, but it's not so cold that you don't want it."
-Etterra
"But the beers are still in a cooler filled with water that used to be ice. Not perfectly chilled, but I'll have one!"
-BleuDePrusse
"Yeah but the beer tastes like it was brewed in the 60s."
-Etterra
"Late enough so that everyone is there, but not too late so that anyone hasn’t left"
-spacesheep_000
Little goes a long way
"Accidentally putting a little less toothpaste on the brush than you normally do."
-rcdr_90
"Oddly specific and perfect."
-CringeVader
"I actually nodded and smiled a little when I read this comment, like 'Oh yeah that's it'. And then I laughed at myself"
-iairhh
"The dinosaur said it should be pea sized I stuck with it since."
-Such-List680
Take a seat
French Bulldog Love GIF by The BarkPostGiphy"Public benches"
-maren_voyage
"Nailed it. They are never great, but they’re almost always pretty okay."
-ProbablyaDrugDealer
"Except for the ones with anti-homeless aspects in their design. Those ones are mildly evil."
-UlteriorCulture
"Big facts. Not a single bench I've ever sat on has been comfortable, but they still let me sit for a bit."
-LawMurphy
Wrong flavor
"A piece of chocolate but it’s not in your favorite flavor. For me it’s one of those orange filled ones."
-NoHoliday7040
"the pain i feel whenever i bite into a chocolate, and it's raspberry flavor is too much to bear"
-Caesthoffe
"The orange ones are the best"
-Ruta008
Meh-tatoe chips
chips GIFGiphy"The no name chips from the drugstore."
-sonia72quebec
"Edible, but nothing to write home about."
-ilike7hournaps
"
Perfect date
Miss Congeniality April 25Th GIFGiphy"April 25th. It's not too hot and not too cold. All you need is a light jacket."
-ExtinctFauna
"Its the perfect date!"
-GreenOnionCrusader
"Get outta here Mrs. Rhode Island lol"
-LessMidRange
Above average
"Saltine crackers"
-TyroneSuave
"Ok don’t judge me but my mom would make our birthday cakes by hand and her leftover buttercream icing on saltines is my low key redneck poor kid comfort treat"
-[Reddit]
"By themselves? Yes. In soup? above average."
-jdinklagemargoone
"Nope, they're great. Fresh butter on a saltine is incredible."
-DrInsomnia
Mall 'Za
Stranger Things Indiana GIF by netflixlatGiphy"Mall pizza. It's never great pizza. Never terrible pizza. Just pizza."
-lorinabaninabanana
"Just a little za."
-dovahkiinot
"Mediocre pizza to me is worse than bad pizza. Truly bad pizza at least makes you feel something - anger about having paid for it, disgust over having to eat it, etc."
"But mediocre pizza just makes you sit there, chewing dough and tasting nothing, while you contemplate your mortality and how your life led you to this moment."
-ThriftAllDay
Chill dog
"A hot dog with no toppings"
-NocturnalBatBrain
"On the other hand, a hotdog with the perfect toppings can be a real treat and imo one of the best fast food options!"
-[Reddit]
"On the other hand, a hotdog with the perfect toppings can be a real treat and imo one of the best fast food options!"
-Boomshockalocka007
"Perfectly average"
-ProbablyaDrugDealer
Cover band swag
"A short sleeve shirt over a long sleeve shirt"
-_Mceaky
"If you wore this in 2006, it meant you liked music."
-_reeses_pieces_
"Disagree, this is the most comfortable top configuration. And it looks sweet in a cover band."
-NoItsNotLiterally
This
mood GIFGiphy"This very thread."
"It's amusing, but not laugh-out-loud funny. Lots of thoughtful nodding in agreement, but no urgent need to screenshot or share it."
"A pleasant diversion."
- ISpyStrangers
Well ... that's it. That's the whole average article about average things.
Okay bye.
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Reddit is having a field day talking about things that creep them out - and I'll be honest, I'm totally here for it.
I. Freaking. Hate. Worms. There, I said it. I don't mean earth worms, though. Specifically I have some serious issues with parasitic worms. I didn't even think about them until I briefly worked as a vet tech.
Guys, there is an ungodly number of worms that can work their way into your body and wreak all sorts of havoc and you won't even know it til you start losing weight and feeling them wriggle or maybe you poop out a squirming clump of... *heave*
You get the point. I'm going to stop talking about it because I'll have a gnarly case of the jibblies all day long if I don't.
Reddit user Webtrauma asked:
What everyday thing seriously creeps you out?
Now, I don't know if this question was asked to specifically induce some of that web trauma their username suggests... but that's pretty much exactly what happened. Brace yourselves, folks. It's about to get awful up in here.
Chipped
Plain bare nails don't bother me, painted and manicured nails don't either. But it really repulses and creeps me out when someone has chipped/flaked nail polish, the feeling intensifies when they're preparing food meant for me. There's no real logic behind it, it's just something that has creeped me out since pre-K.
The Screams
GiphyChildren tend to scream a lot when there's nothing wrong, they're just playing and having fun. Absolutely flays my nerves.
There's an elementary school behind me. So whenever I happen to be out back during their recess, I get to listen to the herd of children screaming. Are they playing? Are they fighting? Being slaughtered? We'll never know.
This. A teenage girl ran down my street the other night screaming at the top of her voice "HELP ME! NO! NO!". Ran to the window to see what was going on thinking she's being chased with a knife and her friend was just trying to take a bad photo of her for Snapchat.
- Maxative
Driving
Driving. You're trusting that everyone else is going to follow the rules of the road but any old a-hole can just kill you in an instant.
I'm not even afraid of being a victim of careless driving. I'm afraid of being the perpetrator. I'm terrified that someday, my attention might lapse, and I'll be a killer.
Same here. It blows my mind how casually people can take driving and how they'll distract themselves with texting or talking on the phone.
When I was very young, I heard one of the little kids next door get hit by a car. I heard the drawn-out, incoherently worded shrieks of his mother as she ran towards the road to stop him from wandering out into it, and the squeal of the car tires as the driver tried to brake before hitting him.
He survived and wasn't permanently injured (amazingly), but in the first few minutes after it happened, when the driver sat shaking on our front porch as we waited for the ambulance and police to arrive, little kid me never forgot the driver's eyes. I saw someone who would give anything in the world to take back the last thirty seconds of driving. Anything to make that one moment not happen. It stuck with me as I grew up, and I will never drive carelessly because of that.
Microscopic
The fact that almost every human is covered in microscopic mites living off our hair follicles, eating our bodies' natural oil secretions.
- erst77
So Fragile
Sometimes I stop to think how fragile society is and it scares me. Everyone is collectively deciding to be a normal functioning adult today and one day we could just.... not. And it would be chaos. Same goes for currency. It's so fragile that if we all decided money was worthless, it would be worthless.
Creepily Waiting
Pamphlets left on the seats of public transportation like trains or buses. Sometimes they're religious, sometimes they're medical, but all the time it feels like someone's creepily waiting for me to open it.
Windows
GiphyWindows. But only at night.
Same. My kitchen/dining room has three very large windows that face the equally large backyard. Every time I go down there in the middle of the night I have to tell myself, "focus, don't look out the window, there's gonna be a face if you look."
Yeah, I live in a flat, by myself, but have my own private entrance. It has a large pane of glass in it, but slightly frosted. Every night I go down there to make sure the door is locked and I'm convinced there'll be a face there, or as I turn to go up the stairs I'll hear a knock, or the letterbox will open and I'll hear someone say something like "you'd better hide."
My brain just likes to scare me
Surrounded By Killers
The news around killings, basically. There's always stories of someone murdering someone either out of enjoyment or out of circumstance, but the fact is, anyone around us could be now or in the future a murderer and we could be the victims.
I seriously walk down the street and think of how I interact with someone and whether or not they could become vengeful. What if I say something rude and that's the moment they snap and pull out a knife and stab me? What if I hurt someone's pride and later that night I find them outside my workplace or home, ready to exact their revenge on me?
- Deplete1
Wet Sink Food
Soggy wet food I have to clean up from the sink after washing dishes.
Growing up my family would just leave the sink full of water and add the dirty dishes for like 2 days at a time. I gag even thinking about the gross wet pieces of food I had to touch to drain the sink. 🤢
Thanks for ruining my night.
Pregnancy Woes
Every human grew inside another. That is gross. I have 2 kids and am intimately familiar with the whole process. I'd much rather people grow in like... pods or something.
Yes, this is so creepy and gross to me. I don't want kids ever and I seriously don't know what I would do if it happened to me as I probably wouldn't have access to an abortion. It terrifies me to the point it's hard for me to interact normally with a pregnant woman, I avoid looking at them.
- irytek
The thoughts of an entirely separate living entity growing inside my body. Feeling movement inside myself and it be a living being. Freaks. Me. OUT!! Never had kids. Just can't even fathom it nor having some kind of fluid suddenly shoot out my nipples. WTF?!?! Any other time, I would be rushed to ER!
Wormstink
Worms on the sidewalk after a rainstorm.
No clue why, but every time it really freaks me out!
And they smell!! People think I'm nuts when I say I can smell the worms outside.
Same! I start to feel really pukey if I focus on the smell cause it means I'm smelling my fear, inhaling them into my body. Ewwwwwww
- tazbunny
Yes! I was at the height of my morning sickness in the spring, and the smell of post-rain-sidewalk-worms still turns my stomach four years later.
Curtain Concerns
Closed shower curtains. ANYTHING could be back there...
- Trenz007
The shower curtain touching me without consent.
Baby Teeth
The way real teeth are in a kids jaw developing to push the baby teeth out ...
Disgusting
(Google it there's little holes with teeth in the middle making their way up the jaw so gross)
No Alibi
I have a lot of hair on my head and I shed everywhere I go, worse than a husky. I get paranoid that I may leave some of myself at a future crime scene and the forensic people will collect my DNA. Then I'm involved with some crime I wasn't aware of, and I'll have no alibi.
The Pledge
GiphyThe pledge of allegiance. The fact that kids are forced to swear their undying loyalty to a country, to promise to not even question it, and that it is protected by religion... Its shockingly horrible.
- bigkek42
Reciting the pledge of allegiance everyday in school. I'm getting hella propaganda vibes whenever I have to do it.
- Xylostos