Everyone has one or two little eccentricities that they like to keep hidden from the world for fear of judgment and ridicule. However, one person on the internet sought to create a safe, largely anonymous place for people to share in their weirdness. What ensued was a lot of people realizing that their weird little quirks are also shared by lots of others!
Reddit user Edwoodz3 asked, “What is an odd behavior of yours you think only you do?” and the post went viral, receiving thousands of amazingly strange responses. So, here are some of the best and the strangest!
Protecting Yourself From Mind-Readers
“Sometimes I wonder if there’s actually people who can see into your mind, so I start thinking about really interesting things so if there is, they won’t think I’m boring.” — InvaderMeg
I can relate to the irrational fear that people might be reading your mind; however, I can more relate to the worry that if someone were to read your mind then they’d realize you’re not a very interesting person!
Sniffing Out The Room
“I have noticed I often sniff when I enter a room so I don’t scare people by just talking out of nowhere” — erotic_rook
I can understand them not wanting to startle people, but this is just a way to make people think that you’re doing an awful amount of the devil’s dandruff.
Shower Technique: The Rotisserie Chicken
“In the shower, I slowly rotate to keep myself evenly warm. I do it unconsciously now. Like a rotisserie chicken” — FatKidsDontRun
This just makes me imagine the Birdie Song as you’re showering — I also want chicken now, so nice one!
Talking To Benjamin Franklin
“Sometimes when I get bored, I explain modern things to Benjamin Franklin. Music I listen to, or how my phone works, etc. Sometimes I go even further back and explain it to Socrates or a caveman. Sometimes it’s philosophical, sometimes it’s just stupid. I don’t know why I do it, but it’s very entertaining.” — Billionairez
Apparently this is something that a lot of people do. I can’t say I’ve ever partaken, but if I did I’d rather explain my things to Shakespeare — I reckon he’d be all over Reddit.
Scratching Inanimate Objects
“I give objects “itches” aka I scratch it for them because they look itchy” — SecretSilverSerpent
This is quite adorable actually. If anything, I can imagine Dragonfruit looking like it’s in need of a good scratch.
*Talks To Self In Sims*
“Talking to myself in gibberish when I’m doing something as though I were explaining what I’m doing” — moosieq
Half the time I find myself mumbling to myself as though to justify what I’m doing when there’s no one around. My brain is just that distrustful of itself!
The Toilet Paper Conundrum
“I count the toilet paper squares, ensuring there’s exactly four or eight before I tear it off to wipe.” — Edwoodz3
RELATED STORIES
You may need to start sorting out your priorities I think.
Leaving The Volume On Specific Numbers
“I can only have the volume on ANY stereo set to an odd number. If someone else sets it or changes it to an even, I will discretely change it back to an odd. Sometimes I have to invent a situation that requires me to use the remote, or touch the stereo.” — Feed_my_Mogwai
My girlfriend does this but with even numbers. My favorite game is to try and leave them on odd numbers when she’s not looking or out of the room so when she goes to change it again she loses her mind.
The Walk Of Faith
“See how far ahead I can walk with my eyes closed before I get freaked out and have to open them” — Georgeisthecoolest
I’ve done this so many times, it’s amazing I haven’t walked into more lampposts.
Nose Orgasms
“I rub the tip of my nose and after a while, it starts to feel really nice and I get a mild sensation, not unlike an orgasm.” — jpaxonreyes
I can tell you’re already rubbing your nose by now — and if you’re not, I know you’re curious to try it.
Being Over-Dramatic To Try And Mask Simple Errors
“If I accidentally hit my head or something when I was little I’d pretend to be knocked out for at least 10 minutes on the floor and then slowly get up when I’d realize nobody was going to indulge my dramatic ass.” — bencarew
This is a great idea until you actually knock yourself out, did you not read “the boy who cried ouch my head” as a child?
Flappy Chicken
“I have hyperhydrosis (fancy word for sweating a lot) and my T-shirts are constantly sticking to my armpits. To unstick them, I just lift my elbows up and down a time or 3. Basically, I flap my arms like a chicken. Most of the time, I don’t even realize I’m doing it. Imagine having a conversation with someone you have never met and they randomly start flapping like a chicken out of the blue and act like nothing just happened with no explanation.” — saymynamebastien
At least they’re able to see the funny side of this!
Talking To Your Dog
“I throw up gang signs at my dog. Don’t know why it started but I get a laugh out of it and my dog just likes the attention.” — Melgitat_Shujaa
Either that or your dog is way more street than you realize.
Jedi Mind Tricks
“I discreetly wave my right hand when I’m in front of sliding doors like a Jedi Knight to open them.” — all4reddit
I think everyone of a certain generation has done this at one point or another. You are not alone.
Blowing On Ice Cream
“I blow on my ice cream. To… cool it off? I’m not really sure. I wasn’t even aware I was doing something weird until my gf noticed and said, ‘You know that’s not hot right?'” — chipchipO
I often find myself blowing on cereal, I don’t know why. I think it’s because my brain just assumes that it’s soup? I feel stupid for admitting that but what the heck.
Over-Spelling
“Sometimes I spell a word in my head over and over until it seems like nonsense.” — raking-up-leaves
Try spelling the word beguiling over and over again, that word just turns into gibberish almost immediately.
The Midnight Foot Wiggler
“I wiggle my right foot really fast when I’m falling asleep.” — zigazigazah
How long for? I can imagine this would be immensely distressing to sleep next to.
Reliving Conversations To Yourself
“Constantly (realistically I do this hourly) relive specific moments from my past. I can imagine a conversation that I had 8 years ago and react physically in the present by saying the words I would’ve said then or move my body in the same way as I do in the memory.” — PoppinFlesh
I do this but with embarrassing things, I’ve said and then want to curl up into a ball and die.
The Valley Of Blankets
“I make a valley out of pillows and blankets and sleep in the middle so I can koala hug something while laying on either side.” — TristanTwo-Shoes
Never got the making a nest out of your blankets thing. But, according to the internet, I sleep like a sociopath, so whatever.
Revving Up Your Pen
“Just before I’m about to write, sometimes I’ll do this little circle thing in the air above the paper like I’m revving the pen up before I use it” — OmarGuard
I don’t think this person understands how pens work.
The Human Blinker System
“I use hand gestures whenever another person gets in my way to tell them where I will go, like I point to the left and they automatically move to the right without any awkwardness. It works more often than I expected, people tend to follow such unexpected gestures unconsciously.” — confusedmel
I can’t imagine trying this in our city, I just know you’d end up in a fight with some belligerent old man who refused to go where he was told.
Reading Random Lines Of A Book
“When at the library or bookstore, I sometime open a book I know I will read at some point, but not right now and read a random line at a random page.” — hostergaard
This makes me feel quite ill, you’re an animal!
Gui-Car Hero
“I tap every time a dashed line goes past the car. It’s like a perpetual game of guitar hero.” — kumorisky
I’m crap at guitar hero, so this would just lead to crashes all over the motorway.
Bed Wetting Paranoia
“I make sure to make a splash noise when I pee to make sure I’m not sleeping and pissing the bed.” — Matt872000
But, you can also hear noises in your dreams, can’t you? Can everyone else hear sounds in their dreams too? Please let me know as now I’m paranoid about this — this list has broken me.
The Blink Police
“I have to blink an even number of times and most the time that’s not enough, I have to stop what I’m doing to keep on blinking until my mind is pleased with the right amount of even times I’ve blinked.”
I don’t want to think about this too much as then I start thinking about blinking too much and the rest of my day is ruined! Hopefully, this happens to you too! Think about blinking, go on, do it, do it now!
Tapping Your Teeth
“I tap my top and bottom teeth side to side to make rhythms, but both sides have to be evenly tapped. And, when I think of, or hear, a particular word, I’ll rearrange the letters so they go consonant, vowel, consonant, vowel, etc. And add letters in when they don’t fit the pattern. Double letters get scratched.” — campex
I do this so often that I became worried I was wearing my teeth down, so I tried to explain it to my dentist but he just looked so confused and terrified. I just ended up saying I was joking — it was wildly uncomfortable.
Dodging Sniper Bullets
“Every time I bend over to pick something up I pretend I just unknowingly dodged a bullet from some faraway sniper trying to take me out.” — Drewboy810
You’ve watched the Bourne films one too many times I think. Ducks and rolls away from laptop as Moby plays .
Giving Yourself An Earful
“Habit that I’ve had since childhood: I play with my ears, especially when they’re cold: I fold them and scrunch them and can fit them into the ear canal until they unfold and pop back into form.” — InfintexCourtxJester
You can fit your ears into your ear canal? I must have massive, un-flexible ears then because there’s not a chance I’d be able to manage that!
Making Pages Load Faster With Your Finger
“When a page is taking a long time to load on my laptop I rotate my index finger clockwise and it makes me feel like it makes the page load faster” — uninvitedwhitechick
When I was a kid, I used to think that mashing the A button on Pokemon when I was trying to catch something would make it more likely to catch it. Did anyone else born in the 90s do this?
Constantly Planning Robberies
“In my head, I make a plan to rob any business I enter. I make note of security, cameras, employees. I think about what part of town I’m in and try to estimate what the police response time would be and possible escape routes and so on. I’d never do it of course. It’s just a mental exercise.”
Sure, is just a “mental exercise”, I get you. If this is their way to cover their tracks, it is definitely not working.