I'm really sorry for complaining, but what's with people cracking their knuckles all the time? I mean, I've never had to do it in my 38 years of existence! On the train it's incessant. Do people here have some kind of genetic defect in their hands? I find it so aggressive and rude. Today I was in the pharmacy and the saleswoman was cracking away the whole time she was helping me. I would have thought it would be something one does in private, but then again, there no longer seems to be a distinction between public and private. Sometimes I feel like we're all living together in one giant bedroom with the door to the ensuite bathroom wiiiiiide open... Whatever happened to a little mystery?
haha I drives me nuts also but for some it feels good. My gf does it and I really yell at her when she does it.
I'm sure it's some sort of Morse Code, taught only to Swiss children in Kindergarten. They are probably cracking the words 'Mann, this train is full of Auslanders. Let's annoy them with our Knöcheli cracking'.
I cant understand that it might annoy you as it does with many people. However, done in private???
Its not like your farting or something......
I don't think it is a healthy habit at all, but..it's a nervous tick, it's not like these poor people can help themselves and save it for when they are alone.
I also have heard someone really really loud, without realizing it is pretty rude, too. It's pretty much everyday. But what you might consider rude, or the rest of the world, might not occur to peeps here, ya know?
At last a decent thread this morning. I agree with you. That's really annoying. My bf doesn't usually do it but did it last week and I just gently put my hand on his and said "please" with that look in my eye that said "that's very annoying, don't do it, or I shall have to pick my nose in public with you in front of all your friends"
Well, at least that's what I was thinking....
I dont crack my knuckles but used to do that with the fingers.
I used to get told off repeatedly by my piano teacher not to do it because it apparently slowly stiffens the joints - and you get caught up in a vicious cycle - cracking it to relax it, but you are just harming your joints in the end.
Not sure how true her advice is but I listened anyway!
I think they consider it a good stress buster.
Sometimes I have to do it to my fingers to relieve the pain from the arthrose.
Sorry if it does annoyed people but my pain fingers pass first.
Yeah, I wasn't allowed to do that either for the exact reason. Apparently, you don't have much strength and cotrol in your fingers (piano, opening jars, bottles, etc) if you crack the knuckles, I read somewhere. But, who knows.
One of my pet hates.
But apparently not harmful .
I sort of wish it was.
I guess I'm generally of the opinion that bodily functions and anything else that may annoy 'many' others should be done in private.
One of my children does it, it drives me nutZ! I kept telling her not to that it would deform her knuckels, what did Clever Cloggs do? Asked the doctor on a visit apparently there's no harm in it, and she really enjoys doing it, she can't understand why I don't like it. Thankfully, she's growing out of it but I have noticed that she does it when she is nervous or worried about something.
I'm sorry that you're in pain, Nil. I'll try to keep that in mind next time someone cracks.
↲Good points, and I certainly empathise with people who have nervous tics, as I have one of my own...↲Now that I think about it, maybe people spend so much time in public, commuting, working, etc. they're no longer aware of the people around them, as some kind of psychological defense system.
I wonder what it is that gets folks started on it?
I started when I was a kid and did it anyway despite being told that it would make my knuckles swell as I got older, would give me arthritis, etc etc which I've been told by doctors simply isn't true. (My younger sis, who has never cracked hers has larger knuckles than I)
Anyhow, whether it's because I used to do it or if it would have happened naturally anyhow, now I *have* to do it sometimes as my fingers feel so stiff.
Around the same time I started with the fingers, I also would pop my ankles and foot joints a bit. Back when I had problems after standing on my feet all day, it helped tons to make them feel better quickly to flex and move my feet in ways that made those joints pop again.
I think obssessive thoughts are behind it. People feel their joints can't move without them relieving them, you think it so much it becomes the reality for you. Like people playing with their hair believe they are unknotting them in some way..Or people washing their hands believe they really need to wash them so often. It's an outlet from some pressure, anxiety. Or, they simply copy somebody when small, most people have some kind of ticks..
yep ... that sure describes the EF alright.
I think it's a dreadfully vulgar, disgusting habit. And it's bad for your joints.
Having grown up here, I can definitely say that we were discouraged from doing any of the sort of thing you now quite often see in public these days. And I'm not even thirty yet, so there must have been a very swift decline in teaching proper behaviour around other humans if it's a "Swiss thing".
Some people aren't ready for that..