Wednesday
Feb102010
Neuroses.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 7:21PM
On a scale of 1-10, how neurotic are you? Assuming that 1 is: not neurotic in the slightest, nothing makes me anxious or distressed and a 10 is: neuroses have taken over my life.
For most things in my life, I would say I'm a three. I do not live my life ruled by anxiety and neuroses, but I have a normal amount of motherly concern for my children's safety.
For a few things, I am a twelve. There are some things that absolutely drive me crazy, and I can't explain why. I think that's what makes it a neurosis, right? It's not logical or rational. It just is.
This is one of those things:
It's twisted wrong, just all wrong. Wrong wrong wrongwrongwrong.
This is a Z twist. That's ZEE, not ZED. Which is another one of my neuroses, which I'll explain later.
There are two ways to twist up a skein of yarn: one results in a Z twist, and one in an S twist. It's all based on which direction you rotate your arm in, clockwise or counter-clockwise. Clockwise is correct.
This is the wrong way. According to me. For no other reason than it just feels wrong in my hands.
This is the correct way. If you've ever received a skein of yarn from me, I can pretty much guarantee it looks like the picture below.
Ah.
See the difference?
One is correct and one is not, that's the main difference.
According to me.
Another of my neuroses -- maybe a six on the scale -- is the word zed instead of zee.
I do not feel zee is fundamentally more correct, historically speaking. Of course, zed existed first and is used in almost every other English speaking country.
Zed just sounds wrong. According to me.
My friend likes to tease me that she's going to open a store called Zed's just to grate on my nerves. If she really wanted to annoy me, she would open a yarn shop called Zed's and use the Zed twist on all of her skeins. I would be sure not to visit.
Here are a few other neuroses of mine:
1. AM Sports Radio. I can't explain why, but it sounds like static. Loud static. Hate it.
2. Top sheets. I dislike them. I use my flat sheets as bed skirts.
3. Tucked in blankets. I like my covers to move with me, and when they're tucked in, they can't.
4. Warm feet, cold ankles. I have to wear socks in my slippers, because I can't stand for my ankles to feel naked all by themselves. I am perfectly happy barefoot in the summer, though. My ankles just want my feet to be naked too.
OK, your turn to weigh in on S vs. Z twisting of the yarn. And don't leave my ankles all naked-y -- what are some of your neuroses?
Shudder.
For most things in my life, I would say I'm a three. I do not live my life ruled by anxiety and neuroses, but I have a normal amount of motherly concern for my children's safety.
For a few things, I am a twelve. There are some things that absolutely drive me crazy, and I can't explain why. I think that's what makes it a neurosis, right? It's not logical or rational. It just is.
This is one of those things:
It's twisted wrong, just all wrong. Wrong wrong wrongwrongwrong.
This is a Z twist. That's ZEE, not ZED. Which is another one of my neuroses, which I'll explain later.
There are two ways to twist up a skein of yarn: one results in a Z twist, and one in an S twist. It's all based on which direction you rotate your arm in, clockwise or counter-clockwise. Clockwise is correct.
This is the wrong way. According to me. For no other reason than it just feels wrong in my hands.
This is the correct way. If you've ever received a skein of yarn from me, I can pretty much guarantee it looks like the picture below.
Ah.
See the difference?
One is correct and one is not, that's the main difference.
According to me.
Another of my neuroses -- maybe a six on the scale -- is the word zed instead of zee.
I do not feel zee is fundamentally more correct, historically speaking. Of course, zed existed first and is used in almost every other English speaking country.
Zed just sounds wrong. According to me.
My friend likes to tease me that she's going to open a store called Zed's just to grate on my nerves. If she really wanted to annoy me, she would open a yarn shop called Zed's and use the Zed twist on all of her skeins. I would be sure not to visit.
Here are a few other neuroses of mine:
1. AM Sports Radio. I can't explain why, but it sounds like static. Loud static. Hate it.
2. Top sheets. I dislike them. I use my flat sheets as bed skirts.
3. Tucked in blankets. I like my covers to move with me, and when they're tucked in, they can't.
4. Warm feet, cold ankles. I have to wear socks in my slippers, because I can't stand for my ankles to feel naked all by themselves. I am perfectly happy barefoot in the summer, though. My ankles just want my feet to be naked too.
OK, your turn to weigh in on S vs. Z twisting of the yarn. And don't leave my ankles all naked-y -- what are some of your neuroses?
Shudder.
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Reader Comments (35)
I'm all kinds of OCD. I've toned way down since I met my husband in 2003. I kind of had to, or I ran the risk of a permanent eye twitch.
I have a thing about Zed vs. Zee as well, and the S curve just looks more... natural.
It seems my biggest issue this last week is a cabinet door that is slightly open. It must be closed. Must. be. closed. My husband leaves them slightly open just to irk me. This is why I will put things in the sink that do not belong there, or "forget" to refill the ice cube tray.
I'm Canadian, so zed over zee is okay with me!
Just curious: does the direction of the skein's twist have to relate to the direction of the yarn's ply (an S twist yarn must be twisted into an S twist skein) or should all skeins be twisted "S" whether the yarn in plied "S" or "Z"? ;)
As for my neuroses, glad you asked! I despise getting prune fingers/toes and getting the bottoms of my pants or socks or shoes wet.
uh-oh - have you re-twisted every skein of handspun I've ever sent to you? Because I apparently twist it wrong. ;)
The S twist does sound better. I think in Canada we say either Zee or Zed. I don't know. I think we say Zed, so there you go.
I am pro-Zed, but that is because I am Canadian and Zed is kind of our thing. I am also neurotic about cupboards doors being left open. My fiance cannot touch a cupboard door without leaving it open. IT MAKES ME SO CRAZY.
Mine is people who say AT at the end of a sentence. "Where's it at?" Seriously? Why make more work for yourself. You don't need that extra word. It means nothing - is redundant and sounds HORRIBLY uneducated to me. What really gets me is that is has become not only acceptable, but THE NORM! UGH!
That and people who load the dishwasher wrong. Just don't do it. Let me. I will re-do it anyway...
The Chantix commercial. Chantix is a prescription that helps people quit smoking. Great! My issue is not with the drug, but rather their commercial. They say over and over again that "in studies, 44% of CHANTIX users WERE QUIT." What the heck does were quit mean? Do they just mean that they quit? WERE quit- don't know what the heck that its.
Also, there is a right way to hang the toilet paper, and that way would be the "over" position.
Luckily, there is someone more neurotic than I am on this topic, and I found the person's analysis on this topic hilarious! http://currentconfig.com/2005/02/22/essential-life-lesson-1-over-is-right-under-is-wrong/
Oh my goodness...where to begin?? I'm right there with the closet/drawers-must-be-closed people, and the dishwasher must be loaded the right (my) way, and the "over" toilet paper thing.
Additionally...when I set my alarm, it must be set at some five minute interval. If I happen to accidentally pass up 8:15 and land on 8:17 instead, I WILL go the whole way through until it stops on the 15, even though I know those two extra minutes won't matter.
Also, my bed has to be made before I climb in to go to sleep. Even if, for some reason, the bed was left unmade all day, I will make it right before I go to bed. The covers are neater that way, and it feels more restful to me. Drives my hubby crazy, though, because like you, he doesn't like blankets tucked in, where as I love them that way...makes me feel all snug and cozy!
I am totally with you on the thing with the sheets and the blankets! Top sheets are overrated. I also agree with the toilet paper thing, although i'm much more likely to simply not put it on the holder at all, and just leave it on the counter! And it used to bug me to death in high school when my grandmother would refer to my quarter exams as midterms or finals. It was not college, it was high school, and they were exams. Now that I am in college, I don't let anyone say exams when they really mean finals or midterms!
First of all, drawers HAVE to be closed all the way, and closet doors. Don't do it halfway, just shut the darn thing (which of course the cats have to open again).
I also like to have things symmetrical, of even numbers, or square (like the corners of the paper match the corners on the desk). And to me, three is an acceptable even number because they can be symmetrical too.
I also like to do things in the same order every time. Throws me off completely. Plus I get anxious about all sorts of things; needles driving places I've never been, strangers, wierd noises, thunderstorms. And acne. I could go on and on. I'm told it's a genetic ailment. At least in my family it is.
I fold my towels correctly and my boyfriend, well, doesn't. Correctly for me is in half widthwise twice, and then in thirds; the towel makes a lovely little bundle and is all snug. He folds it awkardly and although it is more flat, it is bigger and looks ugly. Same with tea towels.
I also hate for inanimate objects to be "left out"; that is, if I am getting bulk buns, and one is attached to the last bun I need, I'll just buy the extra bun rather than leave it behind. It wouldn't be fair.
I'm an English teacher and there are certainly grammatical errors that bother me: people misusing "good", "got", less vs. fewer. I correct my family and bite my tongue in public...
"Deja vu all over again" makes me inordinately upset.
I looked at many of my skeins and they are indeed S's.
"Where you at" annoys me horribly. Probably because it's something my father corrected me on all the time when I was learning proper grammar when I was young. He's say "You aren't AT anywhere."
I also cannot stand when people say "I seen that..."
You seen that? Really?
I also have to close the lid on the juice container a certain way before putting it in the fridge.
My #12 level would probably be my pillows at bedtime. They have to be tilted a very, very specific way. They cannot be too flat on the mattress but not to tilted either. I also think if you video taped me falling asleep I'd probably toss and turn the exact same way every night (on my back, left side, right side, stomach, right side...) until I fall asleep. I have serious neuroses about my sleep.
Toilet paper must hang to the front, not from the back. If I'm in your house and it's hung wrong, I'll re-hang it.
Beyond that, I'm pretty laid back. I don't care how the groceries are stacked in the cart or on the conveyer belt (unlike my OCD daughter). I don't care about drawers and cupboards. Open or shut -- whatever. I don't spray down the equipment at the gym before I use it, but I do afterwards as a courtesy. I'm not a rabid hand washer or sanitizer.
I have to put my socks and shoes on the right foot first, though. That's essential.
These posts were fun to read. I don't like it when people use apostrophes for plural words that end in S and aren't possessive. We have a night club in our town that has several signs outside advertising what is served there, and one of them says, "Martini's". I hate that!
Julianna, that's a good question. If the twist is properly set, you can twist any skein in the "S" direction. Even if a handspun yarn is Z-plied, which doesn't bother me, you can still S-twist the skein for the finished look.
1. I really dislike improper grammar in advertisements. Adjectives and adverbs are not the same thing. There is a commercial running on Food Network right now where they use the phrase “real fast.” Gaaaah! Nooo! It drives me nuts.
2. I can’t stand closet doors to be open. They must be shut and in the case of bedroom closet doors I have to place pillows or something else in front of the door or I cannot get to sleep. Rationally, I know that there are no monsters in the closet. But who can be rational 100% of the time?
NEVER, end a sentence with a preposition.
My feet are always cold, so I always wear socks with my slippers. My husband tries to freeze me out of the house, even in the summer.
I never use a top sheet, it must be a fear of strangulation. I love my down covered comforter.
I am constantly rearranging the dishwasher.
My husband and step-daughter leave crumbs in potato chip bags, leave the ends of the bread, less than a handful of shredded cheese..... tiny amounts that I can't do anything with but throw away. They think they are doing me a favor by "not using it all", but don't leave me enough to do anything with! I don't understand the thought process? It unnerves me. Either use it all or throw the crumbs away! Maddening!
On the dishwasher: I never load other people's dishwashers, for exactly that reason.
On grammar: one that gets me is the phrase "Can I help who's next please?". Unfortunately this seems quite common lately, at least where I live. You just can't say that. You can say "Who's next, please?", or "Can I help the next person?", or even "May I help whomever is next?". But you just can't say "Can I help who's next?". It's just... wrong.
I'm an English buff so lots of my peeves have to do with language or spelling: prepositions at sentence end; irregardless is not a word; would of instead of would have; peoples' instead of people's and also apostrophe's used in place or plural's (obviously I know those are wrong, but I'm illustrating but it's hard even now not to fix them). See what I'm saying?
I am also anti sports-radio on the AM. I don't get how my husband can tell the difference between quality of speakers in a surround sound system that only a classically trained concert pianist could discern but he can overlook that scratchy as hell sound on the radio.
There's also a song I cannot stand: Jump Around by House of Pain, a fact with which my husband loves to torture me until I threaten divorce. It's the squealling noise in the background. Sets my teeth on edge.
I also cannot stand the sound of crunching, particularly ice.
Toilet paper must be hung so the free end comes off the back. It's easier to grab in tight quarters. I will concede that if the holder is almost an arm's length away from the toilet then the free end in front makes more sense and I will leave that alone, but if it's mere inches from the perch, it must come from underneath the roll. I will change it at other people's houses.
I have no strong opinion on the S vs Z twist issue, or on Zee vs Zed, so I will bow to The Yarnista's wisdom about what is good and right.
Neurosis, though? I have them in spades. Probably the biggest is that the closet door must be fully closed before bed. There are monsters in there.
It also really bugs me when books on a shelf are not organized in order of height. My shelves are currently making me NUTS because they're grouped by author (and I want them to be), which means that they are all willy nilly instead of lined up neatly in decreasing height.
I am sure that my husband would be a better person to speak on my neuroses. I don't think they are neuroses, just common sense! For example: Everything in my kitchen has its place. When I am cooking, I am much more efficient when I know where to find everything. Is that a neurosis? He (and my stepdaughter) think it is. I am sure there are more. That is just one that has caused significant debate in our household. (the towels, t-shirts and tp are neuroses of his, not mine.)
I think the S skein just looks prettier than the Z skein. And the warm feet, cold ankles thing gets me too. I love the look of the French Press Slippers that are going around the knitting community, but I'd have to wear them with socks, which would wear out the slippers faster. My own neurosis is the toilet paper. The paper must come over the roll, not under. I have a hard time not changing it at friends' houses.
Odd numbers that aren't sevens or multiples of 5, but really only on a digital display live volume controls are something. Bugs me. That's my big neurosis.
No mirrors in the bedroom. If there is a mirror in the bedroom, it needs to face the wall. I've been known to sleep walk and turn the mirror to face the wall.
Anyssa and I agree about ending a sentence with a preposition. But we disagree about the toilet paper.
Relatively recent pet peeve / neurosis: Servers who come by your table to ask, "How's your food tasting?" How is it tasting???? With its taste buds, of course. Duh. But how does it taste? Just fine, thanks for asking.
Seriously, 3 squares of toilet paper aren't going to do me any good.... Under, over? no opinion, as it isn't in my realm of neurosis. I just want the paper there so I can use it.
I think my husband would say that the amount of yarn that I stash is my neurosis. 8)