Question of the Day!

[telophase]

What does your family do that you assumed was perfectly normal until you found out otherwise? (Based on this reddit post - don't go in unless you've got a couple of hours to spend reading.)

My answers ... mostly cut-and-pasted from my Reddit comments. :)

-- Salting melons. I remember being at college and sitting across from a German girl in the dining hall, who freaked the hell out when I salted my watermelon. Badly enough that I was mildly concerned I'd traumatized her.

-- My family on my dad's side are all tall, good-looking, red-haired, and musical. They play instruments and sing (in tune, even!) and write songs. Every time the family gets together, eventually the guitars come out and everyone sits around and sings.

I warned myrialux about this. He didn't believe me. Until we went to my cousin's wedding last fall, and the rehearsal dinner was jam packed with tall redheads singing and playing guitars, the wedding had a song that was written by my uncle for his wedding that's been sung at every wedding in the family since, and everyone got up and danced for hours at the reception. He still doesn't quite believe it, and tends to sputter "They're ... they're like the Partridge Family! Only good!"

(Someone said to me, once, "So your dad's family are all elves, then?" And yes, being short, dumpy, non-musical, and brown-haired at family get-togethers is exactly like being a hobbit among elves.)

-- We also tend to play penny-ante poker at every family get-together, which confused a few of my friends whose families thought gambling was a sin.

-- My parents turned me into a skeptic by insisting in the reality of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. I had many, many arguments with my parents where I attempted to point out all the facts that proved these personages couldn't be real, and they continually insisted that no, they were real. Drove me nuts as a kid, because I couldn't believe they would be that stupid.

-- We called the television remote the "flipperdoodle". Only pronounced correctly if you're also miming holding it in your hand and punching buttons with your thumb.

-- myrialux derives endless hours of amusement from "zoot-zoot," which is my family's name for a metal tape measure.

Comments

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

Salting grapefruit or grapefruit juice is very interesting. I think the grapefruit/juice needs to be fresh (as in, don't try with bottled juice), and then the salt makes it a lot sweeter.

I remember on RASFF (I think), someone said they liked eating salted lemons.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Salt is supposed to bring out the sweetness of melons, so I assume it does the same with grapefruit.