I've always had an odd fear of that. Not limited indecent exposure, but showing a cop my boobs.

I also walk around certain types of grates, but I see this as a rational fear. When I was at school, myself and Emily were rushing to our next class after PE. That was our first lesson on Friday morning - lousy scheduling - but for some reason we were the last getting changed afterwards and we didn't want to be late.

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

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

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

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

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

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

but can you eat wet bread on purpose? Eggy bread or bread pudding?

Re: wet bread. lol...I can see that. It's a texture thing.

Wet yarn is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

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


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


In America there were some people on the radio discussing a fairly common problem with women who physically cringe or want to vomit when they hear the word "moist". I wonder if this is related to the moist bread thing.

maybe stop asking for them well done and see what turns up? I never get underdone fries, and I never ask for them to be well done. some chefs/cooks get a little peeved when you make the presumption that they can't cook stuff properly before you've even tried it.

He might be talking about fast food places like MacDonald's or Burger King. I only order fries if I am going to eat them right away and as long as they were made to order. Cold fries just suck.

that's why I included the word "cooks" as well as "chefs". I could have added "numbnuts" too, but I didn't want to seem to wordy ;)

I don't think the people who put the basket of fries into the fryer at a fast food restaurant could give a rats ass what anyone thinks about their cooking ability. Usually, though, the fries you get are the ones that have been sitting in the warmer for a while and aren't fresh or really warm anymore. If you ask for them well-done, they will just reheat those fries, which will make them hotter and crispier, but really greasy too.

obviously not happening for radar though. :rolleyes:

LOL...it must be in the way he asks. They probably just say 'who does this guy think he is?' and just give him regular fries like everyone else gets.

What the hell is french about fries, anyway? I am not afraid of french fries at all. Be careful with that ketchup.

Bugs. I do not consider this fear odd or irrational, however.

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

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

And falling, generally. Doesn't have to be from a high place. A tall curb is enough to give me the willies. Turns out I actually enjoy heights once I'm convinced I won't accidentally plummet off them.

Bread on my plate is fine, mostly. Although if my Dad cooks me burger, chips and beans I have to make sure the burger bun isn't in the bean juice.
Mostly... They're not really fries though - at least I don't think so. Fries are very thin. We have chips as fat as my thumb - far easier to find a raw one y'see?
I dunk bread in soup quite happily and I'm up for a freshly made gooey sandwich. But I do get funny about prepackaged ones sometimes. Where the salad has soaked the bread inside. Urgh. I have no problem with the word moist though!I'm the opposite!
I get twitchy going up, imagining the whole escalator collapsing underneath me and all of us falling into the abyss. This was especially the case on the old wooden London Underground escalators - which I think I pretty much all replaced now. They used to hitch sometimes, like a little shrug. Urgh. I'm still a little cringey on the very high ones - the Piccadilly Line is the worst, it's so deep. But even the Central Line has some doozies - Holborn for example.

We have fat ones too, but they're usually considered more "gourmet" and only found at nicer hamburger restaurants rather than fast food places like McDonald's. They might sometimes be called "home fries" instead.