Jen recently discovered a worrying habit about herself:
I have just discovered something totally neurotic about myself. I have a corporate logo coffee tumbler that I swill my caffeine from daily. I can’t begin drinking, until the mouthpiece is centered over the logo. If the logo isn’t facing me all nice and neat, I can’t start drinking. Bring on the rubber room.
Jen shouldn’t sweat it–we all have these foibles. Off the top of my head:
- I must tap the sun visor twice when I go through a yellow light.
- I feel deeply uncomfortable if I sit down to eat (anywhere) and I don’t have a napkin.
- I’m terribly exacting about my pillow’s position in bed.
- In my childhood, I would always ensure that the books beside my bed were face-down. I’ve gotten over that one.
Reassure Jen and I that we’re not freaks–what [sic] idiosyncrazies do you have?
Incidentally, what is the right term for these things? I feel like there’s a great Yiddish word, but I can’t think of it. That’s probably because I only know, like, 20 Yiddish words.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
As a child I had to be sure that if I stepped up a curb with one foot first then on the next block I had to use the other foot. I think the word your looking for is CRAZY!
Hmm. The yiddish word you want is “meshugana.”
Mine is pretty dorky. I refuse to read a comic book series until I have every last issue of it. For some reason my head feels like it’ll explode if I don’t have the entire run just in case the one issue I might be missing might contain some information vital to the overarching plot. This has lead to many dollars being spent on comic book series I think I’ll like and then after reading the first couple issues deciding it sucks. I then have a buttload of comics I don’t want to read. Stupid anal retentiveness.
‘Nee: Nah, I don’t think that’s it. I know that one, and it’s an adjective meaning ‘crazy, mad, insane’. I’m looking for a noun to describe foible itself.
“quirk”
I do not like sticky foods. This includes jam, cinnamon buns and honey. The reason why I do not like them is because I used to sit with my knees above the table while I was eating. I would wear a night gown, and wipe my sticky hands on my knees. Because I did not like sticky knees, I stopped eating sticky foods. I still don’t like them.
I’m sure there are other things, but that was the first that came to mind.
So many yiddish words perfectly describing human foibles, none of them quite right…
When I buy magazines, I get absolutely ferocious if someone picks it up and starts reading it before I have read it. I tried to get over this – even made an arrangement with my sister-in-law that she could read the magazines if she removed all the stupid perfume ads and subscriber cards so I wouldn’t have to deal with them – but after two months of trying to break down this foible, I realized it was bugging me more than ever.
I developed this foible when living with a roommate in Hull who would buy three magazines at once and leave them around the house for a week before reading them. She would have a hairy fit if I read them before her, so I guess I just assumed this was a natural behaviour, and started doing it myself.
Other than that, I hate sitting in a restaurant with my back to the room. I like to have a solid wall behind me. I don’t think that’s too unusual though.
Sue: I believe that last item isn’t a foible, just standard spy industry standard practice. Are you some sort of assassin?
Shhhhhhh!!
Er, I mean, ha ha ha of course not!
I insist on reading newspapers in order. Don’t hand me section C until I’ve read B. For some reason, this doesn’t apply online.
Absolutely have to read the last page once I’m a third into the book, irregardless of whether it makes sense or not.
Wow, I guess I’m the freak of the lot. I have no random irrational quirks that I can think of. Go figure.
I drink about 15 cups of tea and 10 cups of coffee a day. At the office kitchen sink there is a specific tea-spoon that I like. It is nicely weighted and etched. I just love that spoon. Making a cuppa without it doesn’t feel right, sometimes the result even tastes weird to me.
I am leaving my job soon and contemplating asking them if I can take the spoon with me…
How I wish I were making this up 🙂
If I itch my right arm I have to itch my left. Likewise, if I bite my cheek on the left I’ve got to do the same on the right. It used to be a compulsion as a child, but now it’s just a habit.
I also have a very specific shower routine, and if I don’t follow it I will sometimes forget to soap up or put conditioner in my hair or something.
When my partner and I are hiking, and there are tags nailed to the trees or marking tape put up, I have to touch it as I go by.
Another shower one. When getting my head wet, I feel distinctly uncomfortable unless I to lean into the water with the shower head on my right–even if that means facing the back wall.
I’m totally with you on the napkin thing, but I even prefer to have two. One for my lap, that stays there, and one for wiping my mouth.
One is essential, two vastly preferred.