What Strange Thing Did You Find Out About Someone Else That They Thought Was Perfectly Normal?

1: Looking Through People’s Things.

“This is a story about me, actually.

My mom has been a drug addict my whole life. When I was little, I was attached to her hip. I went everywhere with her. When we’d go to other people’s houses, she’d go through their cabinets, drawers, etc. She’d just say she was “being nosey.” What she was actually doing was looking for medications to steal.

Fast forward a few years; I’m at my best friend’s house. She went out of her room for a few minutes and I got curious, so I started going through one of her drawers. She came back in and asked me what I was doing. I remember saying “Nothing, I’m just being nosey.” She then explained to me that it is not okay to go through other people’s belongings.

I honestly just thought it was something everyone does. I told my dad this story a couple of years ago and he was so angry, he had no idea.” – Twinoferos, Reddit User.

Being nosey isn’t a good habit. It’s possible that Twinoferos remembered what her mom used to do while she was little and wanted to find out if anything was thrilling about it. Or she already inherited this habit from her mom and was always doing that when she was at someone else’s house. It had to take her best friend to tell her that it was a bad habit. Maybe she was looking for medications too…like mother, like daughter, right? We don’t know for sure.

2: Choosing Dreams.

“My sister said to me once, “hey, what dream did you choose last night?” I was so confused. She explained that every night she goes into a dream room and picks what she wants to dream about. I got super jealous.” – Queenofbongobong, Reddit User.

Queen’s sister could be joking with her. If she wasn’t, she could be a lucid dreamer or has a recurring dream of the ‘dream room’. This must have been going on for a while and led to her conclusion that it was normal for everyone. However, if Queen desires to be like her sister, she can have always research on ways to have control of her dreams or become a lucid dreamer.

3: Tigers Are Female Lions.

“Not kidding. My boyfriend of almost 8 years thought lions were boys and tigers were girl lions…kind of like bulls and cows.” – ShanNtrav, Reddit User.

It’s possible that ShanNtrav’s boyfriend grew up thinking that way. He must have thought Lions looked more masculine than tigers and came to that conclusion. Yet, we can’t help but ask if he saw any of the cartoons we saw while growing up like Lion King. Or if his school left out animal science.

4: Trouble Recognizing Faces.

“My friend can’t recognize faces. I only figured it out for sure when he almost got into a stranger’s truck because he thought it was me because she had red hair. I’ve known him for like 6 years. He seemed surprised when I said that wasn’t normal.” – Doctor_StrangeLuv, Reddit User.

StrangeLuv’s friend is probably ‘face blind’ which in medical terms is referred to as ‘Prosopagnosia’. This is caused by damage to the brain and other times…genetics. If that’s not the case then her friend is either an introvert [causing his bad face recognition skills] or is just too anxious most of the time. It could also be that the stranger looked so much like her.

5: Everyone Has Diarrhea Every Day.

“My husband had no idea he was lactose intolerant. He thought everyone had diarrhea every day. He’s 26 and found out last year. How did he find out? His mom told him. She’s known his whole life.” – Do_the_yeto, Reddit User.

It’s possible Yeto’s husband never told her about his diarrhea…he thought it was normal else she would have told him it wasn’t. For his mom to tell him, he probably had a bad reaction or something, who knows? However, his mom should have treated him, told him to steer clear of dairy products or told his wife.

6: Every Family Shares A Towel.

“I had a sleepover with a friend in middle school one weekend. I went to shower and she gave me a towel. It had a weird smell to it, but I couldn’t find any other towels inside the bathroom, so I used it by patting myself barely and just air drying. Turns out her whole family shares a towel to prevent having to use new ones every time. I told her how weird that was and she was shocked to find out that my family has THEIR own towels to use, but we put them in the wash every 2 or so uses.

I didn’t sleep over there again.” – Mrzpldubbz, Reddit User.

Every family has their beliefs and practices. Mrzpldubbz’s friend happens to have a family whose tradition centers around sharing a towel to probably save water and maybe, soap. That’s a lot of ‘family germs’ in one place. She might grow to think this is OK to do with her new family too unless her friend’s reaction got her thinking again.

Let’s hope it did.

7: Enema Is for Cold Relief.

“In college, a bunch of friends and I were sitting around talking about things we did as a kid. One of the guys in the group said “didn’t you hate when you got a cold and your mom would give you an enema?” He soon found out that he was the only one.” – Dammit_MoonMoon, Reddit User.

Enema is for relieving constipation in children. It’s either Dammit’s couldn’t remember exactly why he was given enema or his mom told him it was to get rid of his cold because she didn’t know how to breakdown constipation to him. It could also just be a bid to ‘outshine’ others in the weird things we did as kids, right? Quite possible.

8: Puberty Causes All Boys to Lactate.

“Senior year, study hall. I’m sitting with a dude I knew. I don’t remember the context, but we were talking about growing up and he says “and it was around that time when milk started coming out of my nipples” and I’m like “…what?” and he’s like “you know, when milk starts to come out” and I’m like “dude… that’s not normal.”

The face he made when he realized the reality of the situation was memorable. He goes “That…that didn’t happen to you?” and I’m like “no.” Then he asks the rest of the guys in study hall “did any of y’all have milk come out your nips during puberty?” They said no.” – Nickmcapone, Reddit User.

Nickmcapone’s friend might have experienced the discharge [which he referred to as milk] due to the level of hormonal changes in his body. It’s either he was squeezing his nipple [and he noticed the discharge], he was reacting to a drug or he had an infection. He must have thought it was normal because he was noticing other ‘puberty changes’ and felt this was also one of them.

9: Everyone Has Synesthesia.

“My wife has synesthesia and thought it was the same for everyone until she was about 30, when she saw a book titled “Wednesday is Indigo Blue” and she turned to me and said “but Wednesday is navy blue, right?” and I was like “What are you talking about, woman!?”

I was actually very nice about it and it’s super interesting. She sees different patterns and colors when she hears different types of music, and each number, letter, name etc. has its own unique color that never changes.” – BertUK, Reddit User.

For those who don’t know, synesthesia means having one’s senses crossed. For BertUK’s wife, colors and words have colors. She must have felt everyone has the same experience for her to think someone didn’t get the correct color for Wednesday. Most kids with synesthesia outgrow it when they become adults. It looks like his wife’s synesthesia escaped ‘adult pruning’.

10: Family Members Are Sexual Perverts.

“I had to explain to one of my friends in high school that not everyone’s whole family has sex with them. This girl was 17 and was having sex with both her brothers (in their 20s) her dad, her uncle and her grandfather.

I told the school counselor and she was taken out of that house and basically her entire family was arrested for either sex with a minor, rape, child abuse and a whole heap of other charges, she just thought that’s what families do.” – Kalgor91, Reddit User.

Kalgor91’s friend was either abused as a child by her family members and grew up feeling it was normal. Or she was lied to that it was a normal family practice that helps keep the ‘family bond stronger’. Whatever lie it was, her family members are to blame and you’d agree that they got what they deserved in the end.

11: Donuts Sold at Walmart Are Free.

“So, this was actually me, but growing up my mom would always tell me to grab donuts from the Walmart bakery area and eat it while we walked around the store (we lived in the country so we only went to the store every two weeks).

For a long time, this proceeded until it was common practice and eventually I just did it without even telling her. Around early middle school a girl, who has a crush on me, sees me eating a donut in Walmart and asks me if I just take those. I respond “of course”, she proceeds to take one and eat it with me to prove she’s as cool as me but I just don’t understand.

I then relay to my mom how this silly girl had no idea Walmart had free donuts…. And that’s when she told me she had been paying for them for years. But I had not asked her permission for a long time so there is no telling how many donuts I unknowingly stole from Walmart.

It’s not very often you get to find something strange out about yourself that you thought was perfectly normal.” – ChanelNumberOne, Reddit User.

It’s either ChanelNumberOne was truly oblivious of the fact that he had to pay for the donuts or he never asked. However, there are surveillance cameras at Walmart. So, we can’t help but ask how he got away.

It’s also possible that his mom had paid upfront. Or someone there was already familiar with him and his mom and let him be knowing that his mom would always pay.

12: Hallucinations Are Normal.

“A family member thought that hallucinations were something everyone dealt with. They thought that monsters under the bed and other cultural tales of ghosts were real things which were further confirmed by their experience.

It this led to later diagnosis of schizophrenia once they couldn’t cope well enough to deal with the symptoms and it became evident to family members.” – Mettastorm, Reddit User.

Mettastorm’s family member might have gone through an emotional life event that triggered the experience he had.

This must have been what led to his conclusion that hallucinating was a normal thing plus all the stories he must have heard while growing up or the movies he had seen.

Left to him, he must have thought, “If they’re not real, why are there stories about them? Everyone sees them too.”

13: How Do You Eat Spaghetti?

“A coworker (mid 20’s, Midwest born and raised) sat down with spaghetti one day for lunch.

After twiddling the noodles around with the fork for a while, he looked and me and asked “How do you eat this”?

Thinking it was a joke, I laughed at him and kept eating. He looked at me with a straight face and said, “I’ve never had spaghetti.”

Life is amazing.” – Missedthemarc, Reddit User.

Missedthemarc’s co-worker might have never seen spaghetti in his part of the country, considering he was born and raised there.

Coming to the city and seeing someone eat spaghetti might have been strange and he’d only wonder how it tastes. Being that it looks ‘worm-like’ or he just hasn’t seen it before.

14: Who Needs Towels to Dry When You Can Sleep Wet?

“A randomly paired suite-mate my sophomore year of college. He took the bus from wherever he lives (I never talked to him he was a really weird kid) and I guess on the way from his house, he forgot to grab his bags off one of the buses. In said bags were an assortment of things including his towels.

Now any normal person would simply go get more towels, right? Not this guy. He found it perfectly natural to get out of the shower, while still soaking wet he would put on his boxer briefs, get into his bed and let himself air dry. He did this every day he was there and when he moved out the rest of us walked over to his mattress and sure enough there was a large, green, human sized circle from where he had been laying all year.” – Thedailywumbo16, Reddit User.

People have weird habits or are just lazy about some things. He might have intentionally left his towels behind because he cares less for them or just likes the feeling of air on his wet body which might make him sleep better. Whatever his reasons, he wasn’t bothered about his lack of towels and felt it was normal.

15: Humans Regurgitate Too.

“My ex-husband has reflux really bad. Once I saw him chewing something while we were out shopping and so I asked for a piece of what I thought was gum. NOPE. It was food that we had eaten about an hour earlier. He told me his food would always come back up all the time and he would just rechew it and swallow it back down. I was like WTF. NOOO.” – Sweetsweetdingo, Reddit User.

Sweet’s ex-husband has got acid reflux or a disorder that makes his food come back. His food will always return to the esophagus and then mouth for re-chewing. He probably had it from childhood and felt it was normal till he grew up. Or he probably felt his stomach was rejecting the food because he didn’t chew it well, right?

16: Puke for A Healthier Life.

“I have a friend who has lost an immense amount of weight, yet eats and drinks like crap all the time. It had been revealed to me by him that, “he often feels so full sometimes, that he just makes himself puke to feel better.”

This has been going on for quite a few years now. He’s straight up bulimic and thinks it’s just a neat little way to get rid of all the bad foods and drinks he gorges himself with.

He’s gotten so good at making himself puke, it’s almost silent. No gagging sounds no messy puke splatter. Just a stream of chewed up food and beers. I’m quite sure that even his wife is oblivious to this.” – LeFrizzleFry, Reddit User.

When it comes to what makes one healthy, people can come up with ways that are out of the norm. LeFrizzleFry’s friend knows that his eating habits are bad and decided to have his way of getting rid of the junk…puking it out. Besides, isn’t exercise and all the dieting supposed to get rid of all the junk from your system?

17: Milk Has Different Tastes.

“I had a friend whose parents would buy a gallon of whole milk and pour half the gallon in another jug, then mix water into both to dilute it.

She always just thought that other people got a different brand of milk because drinking milk at a friend’s house always tasted different. Her grandparents did it too. Really weirded me out when I saw her mom just pour milk into an empty jug, and mixing water with it.”- Tibbersbear, Reddit User.

Their parents might be doing this to conserve money spent on milk. Or they find real milk too concentrated. Since her friend’s grandparents did the same thing, it’s probably a ‘family habit’.

18: Suck Up Air and Fart at Will.

“My wife and I went down an internet rabbit hole and ended up listening to recordings of Le Pétomane, the French flautist. I said something like, “It would be cool to be able to suck air up your ass and just fart on command,” and she was like, “You can’t do that?”

Turns out, she can relax everything and, like, “breathe” into and out of her ass. She said when she was a kid and had trouble sleeping, she’d just lay face down/ass up and do it to relax. Anyway, seemed weird to me.” – Throwacrepe, Reddit User.

It might be weird to Throwacrepe that his wife farts at will to make herself relax. But anal breathing is possible. She might have been bloated and couldn’t sleep which was what made her make herself fart at will to relax.

19: Choking/Gagging Is Fun.

“Friend of mine will absentmindedly start putting more and more of her shirt into her mouth until she chokes/gags. She enjoys the feeling and does it while doing things like browsing reddit or sitting on the toilet for a long time.” – AnxietyExit, Reddit User.

Everyone has got habits they enjoy, good or bad. Their friend must have picked this up when she was little and didn’t outgrow it or wasn’t corrected. It’s also possible that she loves to gag on something when she’s having fun or feeling bored.

20: Brushing Isn’t for Everyone.

“My dad’s parents never told him to brush his teeth and he told me that he used to eat a whole can of condensed milk everyday as a kid! He still thinks it’s perfectly normal, I don’t know. And he just wondered why one day his teeth fell out. Only when he was in his 20s someone told him that brushing helps.” – Forthevic, Reddit User.

It’s either their friend doesn’t fancy brushing at all or he was right about his parents. However, he could have heard from school or friends that brushing was good before reaching his 20s. Well, what do we know?

21: Underwear Aren’t Supposed to Touch Clothes.

“I had a college roommate who had two hampers. One for shirts and pants, and another for socks and underwear. If one wrong article made it into either hamper, the entire hamper was then considered contaminated and he would throw the entire thing away; he’d put on cleaning gloves, pick up the hamper, and take it down to the dumpster and in it went. Clothes and all.

We explained this wasn’t normal but he was convinced we were the ones who were abnormal. Remember that interview with the Roy Moore spokesperson where it looks like his brain shuts off for 10 seconds? That was basically his reaction when we pointed out his underwear touch his clothes while on his body. It was bizarre.” – Apocalyptic0n3, Reddit User.

Their friend has got OCD. It’s either that or he feels underwear has got too many germs than his clothes. He also forgot about wearing them with his clothes or feels it’s different when they’re dirty.

22: You Don’t Need to Drink Water Every Day or At All.

“I have a friend that thought it was normal to go 2 weeks + without a sip of water.” – DerpeyBloke, Reddit User.

Their friend could have a lot of reasons. They might feel that water isn’t sweet [lacks taste] and so nothing is fascinating about it. Plus, they must have been doing this for a while and so, concluded that drinking water isn’t much of a big deal.

23: Jews Have Horns.

“Met a mid-western born student at an Ivy League university who thought Jews had horns. I did not even know where to start…” – Edog, Reddit User.

This is either as a result of a childhood story or the fact that someone painting the Jews to be so ‘hellish’. Most of us don’t outgrow our childhood beliefs. Maybe he heard the ‘Jew with horns’ joke by Amy Schumer and took it serious.

24: Zero-tolerance for Stray Hairs.

“When my wife and I started dating, and still now, she collects all her hair that naturally falls out during the day, whether on the hair brush, couch, bed, wherever she finds her hair. She then wraps it around her fingers into a little ball and collects the wads in bags. I asked her what she does with all the Ziplock bags of hair and she told me she eventually burns it… she made this a habit and she still can’t explain to me why she does it.” – t2daking, Reddit User.

His wife must have grown up seeing her mum do it and picked it as a habit. Or she doesn’t feel it’s OK to have her hair strands flying everywhere and the best way to get rid of them is to have them burnt. Another possibility would be that she’s superstitious and doesn’t want her hair falling into the ‘wrong hands’.

25: Cornflakes Goes with Juice Not Milk.

“My neighbors ate their Cornflakes with orange juice instead of milk. Their parents had conditioned them all to think this was normal and acceptable behavior.” – Fruitloops_for_B, Reddit User.

Eating cornflakes with orange juice must have been a habit for the parents. It’s either they tried it out because their parents did it too and stuck to it or their parents made it a norm. Either way, their parents didn’t do a good job. Unless they’re all lactose intolerant and want to stay away from dairy products.

26: Martinis Are Served in Giant Cups.

“My friend didn’t know martinis weren’t normally served in giant water-sized glasses and thought she was getting ripped off when she ordered one at a bar. Her parents were alcoholics.” – Ceecee1791, Reddit User.

Judging from the fact that their friend had alcoholic parents, everything they’d do will be overboard. It seems their friend must have thought it was normal and anything less is ‘robbery’. In bars, alcohol is served in smaller glasses.

27: Dipping Chips Through Sandwiches.

“I had a friend until 2nd grade. I went over to his house once so he could show me his bionicles. Perfectly normal.

Then comes lunch. PB and J with potato chips. Also, normal. Then he and his mom say…

“We dip our chips into the sandwich.”

They proceeded to pierce chips through the bread, then eat them. If you like peanut butter and/or jelly on your chips, you do you. But why would you make it harder to dip into by making it the interior of a sandwich first?!

THEN the mom got MAD when I didn’t want to do it. Eventually FORCED me to try.

She got even more angry at me when my chips kept breaking and not getting through the bread.

Glad that friendship ended soon.” – ShitpostingSalamence, Reddit User.

Their family already made it a habit and wanted to indulge him too. Most people like making others do what they do and anyone who has a problem with it doesn’t respect their tastes. Such people need to learn that you can’t force anyone to do things your way.

28: You Don’t Have to Eat Fruits.

“I knew someone who didn’t eat any kind of fruit… not due to an allergy, but just because.” – Vegeterin, Reddit User.

People don’t need to have allergies to healthy foods before staying away. Some are just not interested in fruits or anything healthy at all. They also feel this is normal and completely fine.

29: Trimming Toenails in Public.

“A lawyer I used to work with would trim his toenails during conference calls in his office. Toenails, not fingernails, meaning he removed his shoes and socks and pawed all over his stinky feet while on the phone. Never got over that.” – ArizonaDirtbag2020, Reddit User.

Like we always say, everyone has got habits they enjoy…bad or good. He must have gotten used to trimming his toes during calls to help him relax or focus better. People always have weird habits that ‘puts them in check’.

30: Potatoes Don’t Need Washing Before They’re Cooked.

“Had a roommate who didn’t know you needed to wash potatoes. She made some potato dish and it was…gritty.” – Nightcrawler616, Reddit User.

She probably felt washing the potatoes will reduce the nutrients. It was either that or she grew up that way and the gritty taste wasn’t new to her. Funny enough, she might have been too lazy to wash the potatoes or just felt it didn’t matter.