Last week the team from Monster Talk interviewed parasitologist Barry O’Connor for an upcoming episode of our podcast.
We wanted to speak with him about chupacabra claims involving animals suffering from mange. Our delightful conversation treated mange, mites, lice, scabies and other itchy subjects…and itch I did, throughout the interview. Psychosomatically.
Barry retold the story of the time he and his colleagues talked shop over dinner in public. At one point, they looked around them and discovered they’d cleared out the full restaurant with their talk of bug bites and rashes.
Barry asked, “You must all be itching right now!” Blake and Ben seemed fine. But not me.
In fact, I’m itching now just thinking about it all…
What topics disgust or repulse you at the mere thought of them?
In the medical field one gets to see almost everything ( a hanger stuck inside a boy’s penis because of overzealous masturbating; blood and guts due to knives, gunshots, and lawn mowers, various creatures found in various hard to reach orifices ), but the only thing that disgusts and repulses me each and every time is foul, dredged from the depths of hell itself, inflamed and infected lungs, SPUTEM. Not spit. But thick, discolored, malodorous sputem. And, as Forest Gump would say, that’s enough about that.
@halincoh your comment did it for me.
Ticks.
That’s all. Just… ticks.
Oprah.
Spu… what? Oh, you mean sputum. ;)
The mere thought of a topic is unlikely to disgust or repulse me. It’ll certainly not put me off my lunch.
Some opinions on various topics may disgust or repulse me, but I’d still finish my sandwich.
External or internal parasites, as one example.
Anything to do with er…nose emissions. I can’t even say the word without gagging. Blood and gore and even vomit I can handle, but a kid with a cold gives me the heebie-jeebies. Other than that I’m good. Once a friend and I were discussing case studies in child abuse over dinner, and our other friend couldn’t understand how we could go on talking about it so calmly.
same as madfishmonger,plus saliva,and vomit.
blood doesn’t even slightly affect me,any other bodily fluid though and well my reaction is unpleasant in and of it’s self.
As a biologist it takes a LOT to put me off my feed. I have to be careful when talking about my day at the dinner table, especially on necropsy days.
So what does bother me? Eyes. Not normal healthy eyes but infected, inflamed or damaged eyes. Especially surgeries on eyes. Shudder.
When I used to live in Philly I would come across some pretty nasty things down in the concourse on a regular basis. Some of those memories make me shudder when I think of them, but still, seeing where a dude took a shit against a concrete wall doesn’t disgust me as much as it would have ten years ago. The internet has hardened me, I suppose.
Baby poop.
I’m with The Edge here – eyes, anything about eyes. I’ve watched surgeries on a variety of body parts, I’ve worked the ER, I’ve wrapped and tagged bodies [hell, when I was five, I got to see our cook’s wife blown to smithereens by a grenade; I have a scar from flying debris], but eyes – [shudder].
And, yeah, our family dinner talk can be squicky for some. We do try to tone it down for guests; not everyone wants to talk about gutting Bambi.
Not much disgusts me but certain topics sure make me feel squeamish. I grew up (debateable according to my wife) in a house full of brothers. Any mention of “female problems” and/or products makes me feel uncomfortable.
I now have 2 teenage daughters.
Teeth. Teeth in everyday life, no problem, but even a quick glimpse of dental work on TV gives me the heebie-jeebies in a big way. A shot on TV of teeth whitening is bad, but even worse is baby teeth coming out. I hated it when my own teeth were loose, but seeing little kids wiggle their loose teeth freaks the hell out of me. My son is 3 year old, so I have 2 years or so until he starts losing his teeth.
Strangely enough, I don’t fear the dentist and don’t need to be put under to have work done. As long as I close my eyes (and don’t look at the tool tray as I’m sitting in the chair) I’m fine.
Oh, and the segment on Mythbusters where they tried to make a human ear wax candle was truly terrible to me.
Vomit, animals well into putrification on a hot summer day, psychics pretending they are talking to your dead relatives so they can take your money, that blond bitch telling parents not to vaccinate their children and then babies dying of whooping cough. The return of 19th century diseases. Measles, fucking measles, no one should be getting measles. Fuck, fuck. Mumps? Are you joking, next thing you know someone is going to tell me about an outbreak of polio. What? there are outbreaks of polio? Dammit, fine just shoot me and buttfuck my corpse, that would be less disgusting.
Definitely cockroaches. Ugghh…just writing the word makes me shudder.
Whenever a conversation veers in their direction I just feel the little buggers are all over me and can’t even take a sip of water without first making sure there aren’t any in the glass. *mumble*Evil bastards trying to take over the world*mumble*…
Syringes. Yes, I’m completely for vaccines but I hate thinking of needles or looking at them and getting a jab (or worse: a blood test) makes me instantly nauseated. Which is kind of a problem since my travel preferences mean that I tend to get more shots than anyone else I know. I’m presently immunized against just about every disease for which there’s a vaccination available.
Well, except rabies, but I’m going to Peru in a few months and I understand they’ve been having a problem with vampire bats attacking people there, so that may well be next.
I also have an uncanny ability to get hurt and require tetanus boosters every so often.
(And in this case, I’ve found confrontation does nothing. It’s equally horrible each time I go to get a shot or a blood test.)
Any harm coming to a child or an animal.
I hate it when people tell bestiality jokes or even reference it because it disgusts me to no end. My husband and I went to the Erotic Heritage Museum which was generally pretty awesome but they were showing this old silent film of a young man looking at some women through a hole in a wooden fence. When they discovered what he was doing they put a goat up to the fence and the man mistook it for one of the girls.
I can’t get over that — it’s not funny or cute — it’s just disturbing.
I also have a problem with strangers body fluids. Blood is ok but anything else gives me the heebies. I’m ok with my daughter and husband, but if I see someone puke, have a runny nose, flem, saliva WHATEVER and I can’t eat anything for a while *gag*
@Rei Malebario
You know what is the worst part of blood tests, though? When they miss your freaking vein and have to move the needle around in your skin.
Torture. It makes me physically sick.
@dahduh: Yeah, and it hurts like heck!