Things you get a bit weird about

[Mark Deeks]

Obviously I realise this question is posed to a room full of Countdowners, so try to limit yourself to only your top 50 or 60 hang-ups.

I get a bit funny about kettles. I distinctly remember when I was young that on one of my Sooty tapes, Matthew Corbett was adamant about the dangers of mixing water and electricity. And now you're telling me we're supposed to put all that water right next to a plug and then zap it. Nah man, I'm good, you can handle that certain death yourself.

[Mark Deeks]

I also get into these cycles of saying the same thing over and over again. Not just in the sense that I only have about three jokes, but I mean, literally repeating things to myself dozens of times, because it feels nice. Just now in the kitchen for example, I got stuck on saying "welcome to the Dallas Buyers Club" in the voice of Matthew McConaughey. Didn't HAVE to do it, it wasn't a compulsion, but it felt nice, so I did it. Yknow? Just me? Yeah. Aight cool.

[Marc Meakin]

I like to make up songs to sing to my dog.
The weird bit is I'm on vacation atm and I'm singing it in her absence.

I remember getting weird about kidney beans if you don't cook them properly they are poisonous ( thanks Esther Rantzen from That's Life)
Also I think I watched on QI that Daddy Long Legs are the most venomous I sect in the UK but as they don't have fangs can't harm you.
But what if you accidentally swallow one so I freak out if one comes in the house for mine and my dogs sake

[Marc Meakin]

Obviously I realise this question is posed to a room full of Countdowners, so try to limit yourself to only your top 50 or 60 hang-ups.

I get a bit funny about kettles. I distinctly remember when I was young that on one of my Sooty tapes, Matthew Corbett was adamant about the dangers of mixing water and electricity. And now you're telling me we're supposed to put all that water right next to a plug and then zap it. Nah man, I'm good, you can handle that certain death yourself.

I'm guessing Electric showers are also on your list

[Marc Meakin]

I can't take a dump , I get stage fright as it were if someone is talking to me whilst I'm in the toilet.
In fact I can only take a dump at work if I use the disabled toilet ( I figured ADHD is a disability ) to minimise risk of conversations during a dump

[Mark James]

I also get into these cycles of saying the same thing over and over again. Not just in the sense that I only have about three jokes, but I mean, literally repeating things to myself dozens of times, because it feels nice. Just now in the kitchen for example, I got stuck on saying "welcome to the Dallas Buyers Club" in the voice of Matthew McConaughey. Didn't HAVE to do it, it wasn't a compulsion, but it felt nice, so I did it. Yknow? Just me? Yeah. Aight cool.

I wouldn't have to repeat it multiple times but I can't select shut down on my computer with singing "shut down" to the tune of Shakedown by Bob Seger.

Every time I shave I think of the scene from Father Ted where Dougal has the shaving cream all over his face and I have to say to myself, sure I didn't even shave this morning.

If I ever, say "Ah yes", in any context, I have to follow it up with "right in the drawer" like Homer Simpson's Mother once said.

[Adam S Latchford]

When there's a cheers, you all clink glasses and then someone immediately puts their drink down without taking a sip. Infuriating and I can't even justify why!

[Marc Meakin]

Most the time that I say silly things repeatedly it's in my head.
I worked with a guy that stammered , some times he would say I, I , I , I (In my head I'm singing mad about the boy )

[Elliott Mellor]

I like to make up songs to sing to my dog.
The weird bit is I'm on vacation atm and I'm singing it in her absence.

I remember getting weird about kidney beans if you don't cook them properly they are poisonous ( thanks Esther Rantzen from That's Life)
Also I think I watched on QI that Daddy Long Legs are the most venomous I sect in the UK but as they don't have fangs can't harm you.
But what if you accidentally swallow one so I freak out if one comes in the house for mine and my dogs sake

There's a difference between venomous and poisonous. Venomous bad if injected, poisonous bad if ingested. You'd be fine if you ate one.

[Gavin Chipper]

I don't think daddy long legses are either. Whatever creature they call daddy long legses in America might be though.

[Fiona T]

I can't take a dump , I get stage fright as it were if someone is talking to me whilst I'm in the toilet.
In fact I can only take a dump at work if I use the disabled toilet ( I figured ADHD is a disability ) to minimise risk of conversations during a dump

I wave to mine when I flush

[Gavin Chipper]

I like to make up songs to sing to my dog.
The weird bit is I'm on vacation atm and I'm singing it in her absence.

I remember getting weird about kidney beans if you don't cook them properly they are poisonous ( thanks Esther Rantzen from That's Life)
Also I think I watched on QI that Daddy Long Legs are the most venomous I sect in the UK but as they don't have fangs can't harm you.
But what if you accidentally swallow one so I freak out if one comes in the house for mine and my dogs sake

There's a difference between venomous and poisonous. Venomous bad if injected, poisonous bad if ingested. You'd be fine if you ate one.

People always give this distinction but I'm not sure it's quite right. I'd say venoms are a subset of poisons. Venoms have to be injected but poisons are more general. Venoms also have to come from biological organisms (generally some animal but maybe a plant or something would be reasonable). If someone kills someone by injecting a synthetic substance into them, you'd get some strange looks if you called it a venom. But it is a poison.

Biological + injected = venom (and poison)
Biological + non-injected = poison
Non-biological + injected or not = poison

[Marc Meakin]

I can't take a dump , I get stage fright as it were if someone is talking to me whilst I'm in the toilet.
In fact I can only take a dump at work if I use the disabled toilet ( I figured ADHD is a disability ) to minimise risk of conversations during a dump

I wave to mine when I flush

Lol so do I

[Marc Meakin]

I like to make up songs to sing to my dog.
The weird bit is I'm on vacation atm and I'm singing it in her absence.

I remember getting weird about kidney beans if you don't cook them properly they are poisonous ( thanks Esther Rantzen from That's Life)
Also I think I watched on QI that Daddy Long Legs are the most venomous I sect in the UK but as they don't have fangs can't harm you.
But what if you accidentally swallow one so I freak out if one comes in the house for mine and my dogs sake

There's a difference between venomous and poisonous. Venomous bad if injected, poisonous bad if ingested. You'd be fine if you ate one.

People always give this distinction but I'm not sure it's quite right. I'd say venoms are a subset of poisons. Venoms have to be injected but poisons are more general. Venoms also have to come from biological organisms (generally some animal but maybe a plant or something would be reasonable). If someone kills someone by injecting a synthetic substance into them, you'd get some strange looks if you called it a venom. But it is a poison.

Biological + injected = venom (and poison)
Biological + non-injected = poison
Non-biological + injected or not = poison

As a foot note to this I think I have mixed up crane fly with daddy long legs .Edit they are the same thing

[Tal Lessner]

I can't take a dump , I get stage fright as it were if someone is talking to me whilst I'm in the toilet.
In fact I can only take a dump at work if I use the disabled toilet ( I figured ADHD is a disability ) to minimise risk of conversations during a dump

I wave to mine when I flush

On the subject, I always feel like I've wasted my time if I go at home on days I work from the office.

[Elliott Mellor]

I like to make up songs to sing to my dog.
The weird bit is I'm on vacation atm and I'm singing it in her absence.

I remember getting weird about kidney beans if you don't cook them properly they are poisonous ( thanks Esther Rantzen from That's Life)
Also I think I watched on QI that Daddy Long Legs are the most venomous I sect in the UK but as they don't have fangs can't harm you.
But what if you accidentally swallow one so I freak out if one comes in the house for mine and my dogs sake

There's a difference between venomous and poisonous. Venomous bad if injected, poisonous bad if ingested. You'd be fine if you ate one.

People always give this distinction but I'm not sure it's quite right. I'd say venoms are a subset of poisons. Venoms have to be injected but poisons are more general. Venoms also have to come from biological organisms (generally some animal but maybe a plant or something would be reasonable). If someone kills someone by injecting a synthetic substance into them, you'd get some strange looks if you called it a venom. But it is a poison.

Biological + injected = venom (and poison)
Biological + non-injected = poison
Non-biological + injected or not = poison

Yeah it's maybe a bit oversimplified but you'd certainly not come to serious harm through eating a crane fly (or at least not from any supposed venom, you might get ill if they'd been in a particularly unhygienic place and were carrying bacteria from it but that's the same with anything).

[Fiona T]

I can't take a dump , I get stage fright as it were if someone is talking to me whilst I'm in the toilet.
In fact I can only take a dump at work if I use the disabled toilet ( I figured ADHD is a disability ) to minimise risk of conversations during a dump

I wave to mine when I flush

On the subject, I always feel like I've wasted my time if I go at home on days I work from the office.

Pretty sure there used to be an app/website specifically to work out how much you were earning whilst taking your dump. Google only returns sensible stuff like freeagent

[Marc Meakin]

More recently, the screw cups on diet coke etc that stay attached I have to take them off properly even if I clumsily end up dropping the lid negating the reason behind it being attached.
The nanny state gone mad

[Gavin Chipper]

I've seen a few people complaining about those lids. Mostly Nigel Farage types. You're obviously the exception! (I think I pulled it back.)

[Mark Deeks]

The daddy long legs thing, while a myth, isn't entirely off base. Daddy long legses are venomous but unable to penetrate human skin.

HOWEVER.

Those are the American daddy longlegses. They use the word for something different over there. The cellar spiders. The British daddy longlegseseses (crane flies) are (a) not venomous and (b) not spiders.

[Marc Meakin]

I've seen a few people complaining about those lids. Mostly Nigel Farage types. You're obviously the exception! (I think I pulled it back.)

I can't do that ,I'm Jewish

[Marc Meakin]

It's amazing how long I can keep a saying going in my vernacular.
In the 80s or 90s there was a politician called Walid Jumblatt. I've referred to my wallet as my Jumblatt ever since
Edit: not only is he still alive he was still in the Lebanese Socialist Party until last year

[Thomas Carey]

It's amazing how long I can keep a saying going in my vernacular.
In the 80s or 90s there was a politician called Walid Jumblatt. I've referred to my wallet as my Jumblatt ever since
Edit: not only is he still alive he was still in the Lebanese Socialist Party until last year

Not quite as long but when we moved in to our current flat in June 2023, we fostered a cat for a few days named Ben. Ben had feline HIV so we had to keep him trapped in the little spare room so there was no chance of him infecting our cats. To this day, we refer to that room as the Ben room

[Marc Meakin]

I've recently got into the habit of using the milk left from my cereal in my coffee.
It started by accident as I forgot the milk in my coffee one day and couldn't be bothered to go back to the fridge.

[Marc Meakin]

When someone does a large sneeze I can't stop myself from saying there she blows (usually quietly if it's a stranger )