Thursday, April 16, 2009

mostly regarding brushing your teeth

(This is really boring, you might want to skip it.)

I'm on breakfast three today, and I feel a little like Josh Ballard. (Breakfast two was popcorn.)

This morning brought up some questions. First: how (why?) do some people brush their teeth in the shower? When I start thinking about this I can't stop. Isn't it hard to rinse out your mouth? Do you bring the toothpaste in with you? (Most of my questions about it are logistics.) Isn't it weird with hot water?
I actually only know one person who does this. I think there's more though.
Next, (for those of us who brush our teeth in the sink) I am pretty sure that most people lean over and get a mouthful of water from the faucet, right? I know some people do hand to faucet, then hand to mouth, but that doesn't serve our purpose. Bear with me. I (and maybe you) lean over and drink from the faucet. I found out today that I can only do this to the left. I tried to do it the other way, and it felt so awkward - my body/mouth judgment isn't so good going backward. Try it.
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I wish I remembered more grammar rules, like whether punctuation for a sentence that is entirely inside parenthesis goes inside or outside the parenthesis. I like grammar a lot.

15 comments:

sarah said...

i think to the left is because of being deaf. i really think this. also i think mouth to faucet is strange, like dogs from hoses, which is why i hand to faucet to mouth.

Bangs said...

I think you're wrong about the first part, and you're right, it IS strange, and I'm not sure how I picked up this habit, but I think (some) other people do it. It's kind of icky, but I can't stop.

lady.shiv said...

I sometimes brush my teeth in the shower. It's like killing two irritating hygiene routines with one stone. Or something.
Also, putting your face under the faucet to drink water sucks. I suggest a cup.

elizabethfrances said...

mouth under faucet, not directly contacting faucet like a gerbil or hamster sarah.
i think using my hand is gross?

i went through a phase where i brushed my teeth in the shower, i think it was so i could stay in the water longer ? and i heard people did it so i wanted to try it.

Bangs said...

Yes. I meant mouth under faucet. And the gerbil thing is funny, Beta.
I feel like I couldn't hold enough water in my hand to be effective? And the cup just ends up staying in the bathroom and having toothpaste-mouth-rim all over it. I guess this is avoidable, I just have never felt like avoiding it.
I'm probably going to keeping mouth _under_ faucet.

Alfred Brown said...

Sue. I know what you mean, but now that you bring it up I can't remember the last time I did this. I just use the toothbrush to transfer the water to my mouth.

nicole said...

90% of the time i brush in the shower. I don't know. I think it's just like kinda the same thing... body to teeth. I put the paste on and start the brushing as i turn on the water and wait for it to get warm. Then i just jump right on in and finish up as the shampoo sets in before the rinse. It's like a time saver. Is this weird???

pinchefresco said...

1. Sorry about the blood in your fridge.

2. I had no idea anybody put their head in the sink. I can't even imagine what that would be like (especially in your tiny sink) because my head is so big I don't think I could get my mouth near the water without banging my temples.

3. At Houghton, Abby Hobson was shocked to find out that most of the world used cold water to brush their teeth. She said it didn't make sense because hot water kills bacteria. I get her point, but you just don't get a "minty fresh" feeling with hot water. Woods and Tim brush their teeth and everything else you would do outside of the shower inside of the shower.

4. The parentheses thing is as follows:

For parenthetical clauses at the end of a sentence:

a. If both the parenthetical embedded clause and the higher clause (i.e., the sentence) end in a period, put it on the inside of the parentheses (like this.)b. If the punctuation doesn't match, don't you think you might have to put it on the outside (like this)?If the parenthetical expression is in the middle of the sentence somewhere, the punctuation stays tucked inside.

christophresh said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
christophresh said...

I don't like Andy's "a." at all. Putting punct. on the inside is stupid. The parenthesis is something the sentence can do without- only naughty sentences do without a period or what-have-you at the end.

Also, why do you all have to put so much damn water in your mouth? I get the brush wet: that's it. Works nicely. Never a cavity, not ever. Dentists love me (and the hygienists or assistants HELLO NURSE do too!).

Alfred Brown said...

Sue, I tried your way out and I have something for you to try. You said that it feels weird tilting your head the other way? Try putting the toothbrush in the other hand. If it's like it was with me, your arm will be elevated and off to the side; like parallel to the floor kind of and bent at the elbow. So when the toothbrush is in the other hand, then try tilting you head the opposite way. I think it will feel more normal and tilting your head the original way will feel weird. Let me know.

Bangs said...

Fred Brown - you're probably right, that even sounds like it makes more sense.
And (so you know), I've been using the toothbrush transfer method (TTM), and I've found it suprisingly effective.
This has turned into a real science fair.

pinchefresco said...

More about parentheses:

I am a dumbass and Davidson's right. I had just woken up and I was thinking about quotation marks, not parentheses. Ugh.

Bangs said...

tried it, Fred (the switching hands, leaning opposite way). I didn't do super well. I think I'll stick to leaning left or TTM for now. Thanks everyone. And, it's kind of weird that this is the most popular and also the boringest post.

christophresh said...

yeah, andy, I had just woken up too, which hopefully explains why it sounds like I am YELLING in my comment.
I didn't mean to hurt anybody's stupid feelings.
Sue, this post is so popular that I deliberately checked your blog, *just* to see what else happened in this one.
It's epical.