The world we live in is a weird one. When you stop and think about it, we’re nothing more than talking primates, on an organic spaceship, hurtling at incomprehensible speed across the universe .
Keeping that in mind, there are plenty of strange occurrences that happen every day that we simply take for granted. Get a better idea about what I’m talking about and check out these 15 things that are kind of weird — even though they’re everyday things.
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Who came up language in the first place?
“The fact that we’ve given meaning to a bunch of random sounds made by our vocal chords[sic] is bizarre when you think about it. Like, how did this even start? How were we able to decide what should be called what?” – Reddit u/Vinny_Lam
What’s the deal with balloons, anyway; does anybody really know?
What’s with our society’s obsession with balloons? That’s the question that Reddit user TheOther_OtherGuy wants answered. Since when did a rubber ball full of hot air become the status quo for celebrations?
Crying.
Reddit user ldm_12 wants to know why our body’s natural response whenever we get sad, hurt, or overly happy — is to start crying? And more to that point, why do we cry liquid tears from our eyes? What biological purpose does that serve?
The fact that some mold is OK to eat while others are not.
Don’t forget that at the end of the day, cheese is really nothing more than just mold. Delicious mold, mind you, but there’s not much that separates it from what you may find growing under your sink or the deep recesses of your refrigerator.
Our ability to read a book.
“Like, there are these random squiggles and we can instantly interpret them into complex thoughts, concepts, feelings, emotions – from people we’ve never met or sometimes even heard of before. It’s weird.” – Reddit u/Wishyouamerry
Being born/being alive.
You’ve probably heard the old adage about the miracle of birth. Well, it turns out that statement may bear more weight than was once previously thought. According to scientists, human beings have a 1 in 400 trillion chance of being born.
The wide variety of allergies.
Why is it that I can start my morning with a bit of peanut butter on an English Muffin and walk away totally unscathed? Yet if another person were to attempt this, they’d go into anaphylactic shock and possibly die?
Paparazzi.
Reddit user MotherAgnes doesn’t understand the difference between a stalker and being a paparazzo. Both follow people around without their permission, both have been known to photograph their targets — yet one gets paid to do so, while the other is incarcerated.
The cult of celebrity.
Celebrities are idolized all over the world, but in North America, that obsession is taken to new heights. Reddit user Avidion18 doesn’t understand at which point did we start valuing the opinions and the lives of others more than our own?
How do our brains know how to distinguish between what is funny and what is not?
“Why does our face contort and our diaphragm spasm when certain things happen? and how do our brains decide what things are funny and what things aren’t?” – Reddit u/TechnicallyNotRon_
Keeping animals as pets.
Think of all we do for our dogs. We take them for walks, let them live rent-free in our homes — we even clean up their poop for goodness sake! Heck, I do more for my dog than I do for most other humans.
Dreaming.
To borrow a thought from Morpheus in The Matrix , have you ever had a dream that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream, how would you tell the difference between the dream world and the real world?
The internet.
There was once a time where people had to wake up and read about what happened yesterday in today’s newspaper. The significance of that statement cannot be overstated. Now, we can connect instantaneously with people all over the world.
Outer space.
“There’s a limitless, boundless void not that far above our heads we have no control or understanding of, and people don’t seem that concerned about it…Ppl will be like see that star? It’s hundreds of millions of light years[sic] away. Maybe it’s already dead. Cool, huh?” – Reddit u/liberty285code6
Spawning salmon.
Fish aren’t the most intelligent animals on the planet, not by a long shot. Yet somehow, salmon still know to return to the exact same stream that they were born, in order to lay their eggs. And after they do this — they die.
h/t: Reddit
