For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for June 03, 2018

There is noise you can disapprove of, and then there is noise you can approve of.

A lot of guest appearance today:

1. Charles Schulz’s Charlie Brown “Aaugh!”

2. Mad Magazine

3. “Ooh Baby (You Know That I Love You)” Song by George Harrison from the album Extra Texture (Read All About It)

Noise annoys.

Eating noises drive me absolutely insane. I can’t explain it, but even this comic strip got me riled up – just reading “slurrrrrp” and “mmf grunch grunch gulp” is so maddening!

How exactly do you teach your kids table manners when you have none.

I can empathize with Mike, here. I absolutely cannot STAND to listen to others eat when there’s no other white noise to block out their chewing, ESPECIALLY if they’ve got terrible table manners. Even my parents have weird quirks that drove me nuts, even as a kid (my dad and his “deep, open-mouthed breath before eating cereal”). Never mind people who never learned how to eat quietly AT ALL (like “lip-smackers” and other barbarians). Misophnia is a pain.

I wonder if some cases of “road rage” are actually caused by Misophnia…..?

I admit I have been guilty of an occasional Aaahhh, when enjoying the first sip pf an exceptionally good cup of coffee. But the rest of the (as mt grandfather called them) “Barn sounds” do not belong at the table.

For the record I also get offended by various fast food commercials where people are talking with their mouths full, chewing with their mouths open, or cramming a bite far too large to manage in their mouths

I remember this one from the first run

I don’t think it’s just kids that can’t cope with a little silence. Most adults can’t stand to be alone and to have to listen to themselves think. Portable entertainment is how many people cope with being alone, and we’ve all seen people remarry as soon as their divorce goes through.

Oooeee wap-wap ah-doooo? Shades of the 50´s.

Lynn’s Comments:

I remember sitting like this and listening to my parents eating breakfast. It drove me crazy. My dad had full dentures and the sounds he made were different from my mom’s.

The worst was the coffee “intake and swallow.” I try not to make those sounds myself, but I’m not out there listening so I’m sure I do!

I just don’t understand slurping soup! My husband does this, and he is a “cultured European”. He says the soup is too hot. Well, how about letting it cool for a couple of minutes!!! AAAAAAUGGGGH!!!!!!

While some eating sounds cannot be avoided (some foods are going to crunch, for example), other sounds can and should be avoided. A great example is slurping. In American culture — and many others — slurping is considered rude and crude. I know that there is at least one country where not slurping is rude. But when in Rome…..

The sounds of someone chewing ice drives me up a wall! Aaaaggghhh!

I approve of his reading materiel.

I agree that many people need to brush up on their table manners. My husband once asked me after our guest for dinner had left the house, if I had noticed that the guest made terrible eating noises! I actually didn’t notice the guest because I was too busy thinking that my husband was making terrible eating noises, and I was getting embarrassed by him in front of the guest! I didn’t mention that little part to DH.

That’s a poor likeness of Alfred E. Newman if you ask me…or even if you don’t.

Well, I checked the almighty google and several articles about burping, slurping, and other offensive noises emanating from a person are considered very rude in all cultures. Even snopes says that attributing impolite eating noises to cultural differences is completely wrong. So no, not even in Japan is slurping considered polite. Yes, there is a “Japanese” way to eat noodles, but slurping on purpose is considered impolite…

You want to hear bad table eating noises? We have a lot of older order Amish nearby, and don’t ever sit next to them when they are doing the rare eating out thing. Ugggh!

I vote for the slurrp gulp Aaaaaaaaahh.

If he thinks this is bad, he should stick around for round two: after eating sounds “Buuurp, Faaart!”

Major bonus points for the MAD Magazine reference!

Oh you people. Just leave them be and enjoy their food. It’s YOU who is making it an issue. You can’t change the designs of the jaws, teeth, the tongue and the throat, of all which contribute to how people eat, and we gotta eat. YOU learn to find a way – such as putting in earplugs! Sheesh.

It is good to know about these little irritations. (mwahahahaha!) Mastication and other eating noises are nothing compared to those sudden expulsions of air coming from upstairs and downstairs simultaneously. ;-)

What Rush song is that?