thewhitelily | Can I ask a question?

If you have a nasal congestion including runny nose and blocked sinuses to the point where it's very obvious in your voice and aggravating everyone around you with your incessent, disgusting, drawn out sniffing - assuming you have no actual allergies or other reasons for staying away from medication - and assuming that the tablets of nasal decongestent are right in front of you, brought by your frustrated colleague who is forced to remain in the room with you... why would you refuse to take the them and relieve not only your own discomfort, but that of those around you?

Is it a male thing? Some kind of macho "I'm not sick, I just like to drive everyone nuts and complain a lot"? Or is it just that Mummy didn't teach him to blow his nose when he was little and so he sees no problem with snivelling his way through every day until he's better again?

Gaargh. I know I'm probably overreacting, because I have an unusually low tolerance for biological sounds - I get driven into a homicidal rage by the sound of someone eating an apple - corn chips and crunchy pizza reheated in the oven are of the devil, and woe betide anyone who slurps a hot drink nearby me, but...

AAARGH! STOP SNIVELLING AND JUST TAKE THE DARN DRUGS, HUBBY!!@!@$@!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Isn't it obvious? Snot is a fluid. Men are judged on how much sperm they can create, as I'm sure you'll have learnt from spam emails. And the male subconscious has trouble telling the difference between baby-fluid and nose-fluid.

Essentially, you're asking him to become less fertile. And what man would do that?

Either that, or he just really enjoys sniffing.

... okay, I'm with you on that one, it is a silly theory. :P Then again, I'm of this school of thought on the whole masculinity thing.

Although, I must admit, the whole male subconscious being stupid enough to confuse bodily fluids thing actually sounds quite likely to me. Certainly more likely than anyone actually enjoying sniffing. :P

I *hate* blowing my nose. I hold the ~~somewhat~~ irrational belief that it makes your lips incredibly sore. But yeah, I'm the complete opposite: a cold = stay home from school for a week under a blanket and watch crap day-time TV.

Erg. Having a runny nose without blowing it is disgusting. I actually complained about Hubby's tendency not to do that in my speech at my wedding. By the time we have kids, he'd better be blowing his effing nose, or so help me I'll be chasing him around with a tissue and saying "blow!"

Makes your lips sore, though, eh? That's... um... new? You don't mean just your upper lip between your nose and mouth, do you? I could believe that...

Ahhh, crap day-time TV. It was being sick that first hooked me on carpy murder mysteries. And the best thing is the afternoon, when you get to watch all the kids TV and mock all the things that weren't around when you were a kid and feel all nostalgic for the things that were. :P

I personally can't stand taking nasal decongestion medicine, because it never seems to help and it makes me unbelievably tired. So mayhaps it's not a male thing to rather sniffle than take medicine. *shrugs*

Yeah, I can totally understand that. I happen to know nasal decongestants work brilliantly on Hubby, though, as we've run into this particular bit of marital discord before and I don't always lose. :P

Were you using a night-time tablet? They aren't always marked as that, but they make you tired because they've got antihistamine... [/obviousmint]

Then it must be some sort of macho thing. *nodnod* *imagines white blood cells flexing in front of a mirror*

Eh, I don't think it was a night-time tablet, for at least one of the times I've tried to take nasal decongestants. But I can't actually remember, because the last time I was optimistic/congested enough to try them was quite a few years ago. =P

Um. I hate taking any kind of medicine. Partly because I just don't like any chemicals mucking about in my body, partly because I think a lot of the antibacterials are overprescribed (don't want to contribute to the superflu. :P) I don't think (?) I complain much when I am sick, though. :P

*shrug* I don't really have any problem with over-the-counter medication in general: our brains are already full of chemicals, and as far as we're concerned there's nothing more wrong with taking medication (or caffiene, or alcohol) in moderation to alter the balance a little in our favour. Hubby certainly takes paracetamol enough that it's not a consistent conscientious objection, anyway.

Antibiotics are the exception of course: no one wants superflu. Sometimes I go a little bit far in the other direction on that one, and thus a couple of years ago I ended up on the couch with the mother of all chest infections for almost a month. It's amazing to think that if I'd lived a century ago I would most likely have died at the age of twenty-two.

Ooops, sorry for the title - flipped over from

the_zaniak's comment.

So are you the frustrated colleague?
You know wife's comments/actions <= colleague/anyother person on the planet!! Infact, I think its really that anythings wife says or does ... isn't so much ignored, but paid *MORE* attention if its said/done by another person... Oh, and don't say "but I've been telling you that for long... but you listen when so-&-so says it?" as that just escalates the argument!

Ofcourse I'd have no personal experiences of this matter at all :P

E.

p.s.... I'm now wondering if I've ever annoyed you with my eating/drinking... I know my hubby has told me I'm noisy .... *hopes Lily hasn't wanted to kill E for noisy eating/drinking!*

Oh, I can absolutely tell that you have no personal experience in such matters. Sounds like you've definitely never tried this at home.

Unfortunately, yes, I am the frustrated colleague and you're right, that does mean that my opinion ranks rather lower in the scheme of things. Ah well - I guess that's the price we pay for getting to ignore their opinions, too. :P

PS: *grin* Can't remember ever particularly wanting to kill you, so probably no more than any other person on the planet. :P Besides, I'm neurotic, I understand this, so don't worry - I'll leave the knives at home when I come to visit. :)

PPS: I also think that there's probably a correlation between how far apart you and your Hubby usually sit when you're eating and his comparative judgement about the noisiness of your eating as opposed to anyone else. Besides the whole inverse square thing, there's also the fact that he has a lot more chances to notice the way you eat than he has for most people and once one starts noticing and getting irritated by a particular personal quirk it's hard to stop. [/overanalysis]

Incidentally, for the past few days I've had a bad cold, so I can answer this from my own experience.

I don't think it's just a male thing. For me, it's more like this: being sick drains my energy, so I'm too lazy to either reach for the tissue box or get up and take any medicines. I thus sniff a lot. Soon, usually when I'm about to get up and do something about it, my family will protest the snivelling sounds and advise me to take the drugs, or at least blow my nose, for goodness' sake. But being sick also makes me grumpy, which in this case means I feel like being defiant just to tick people off, and so I refuse to do anything about it even though I know that I'm being inconsiderate and that the advice is for my own good.

Eventually, once I'm alone, I'll sneakily blow my nose and take the drugs. ~~*is a Rebel Without A Cause*~~

Can I ask a question?

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