A lot of people kiss their pets or non-human animals in general. I find that very weird. I understand that it is a sign of affection but it seems so off. One reason is that I doubt whether animals really understand this. Also it seems to be on a level of intimacy to me that I find weird sharing with a pet. Not necessarily romantically or sexually (that would be even more weird and wrong and probably illegal). But it is still “more”. I am not sure whether I can really explain why exactly I find that weird.

Anyway, what is something that is weird to you but not to most other people?

  • atomicorange@lemmy.world
    80·
    7 days ago

    I kiss my parrot because it is a cultural ritual we have built together. I make smoochy noises at him and he mimics them back to me because he wants to communicate. I kiss his little beak and he supposes this is a thing I must like doing so he starts doing it back. It makes me smile and make happy noises, which he recognizes. Now we have a fun thing we do that means we’re buddies. He trains me to offer up my nose for him to smooch if he makes a specific little whispery sound. His only reward is the opportunity to boop me on the nose with his beak but he evidently finds this incredibly amusing and will occasionally whisper at me relentlessly until I give in. He will let me smooch the back of his head at nighttime because it means he gets to stay up later. His feathers are soft and he smells nice so I like it too.

    • newtraditionalists@kbin.melroy.org
      7·
      6 days ago

      I want to echo what Velma said…I recently received an incredibly painful text from my older brother, but your example of how animals love other animals, really grounds me. Im tearing up, but in relief, in awe, and in utter joy. This little anecdote is a great gift. Thanks for sharing!

    • Janx@piefed.socialEnglish
      3·
      4 days ago

      Beautiful. I hope you post a video of your parrot doing the smoochie noises because that’s just perfect…

    • unitedwithme@lemmy.today
      5·
      7 days ago

      Oo what kind of parrot? And what country do you guys love birds that much? I want to visit 😁 we have 2, ourselves.

      • atomicorange@lemmy.world
        4·
        7 days ago

        He’s a green cheeked conure. I also have an African Grey who doesn’t like to be smooched. What kind do you have?

        • unitedwithme@lemmy.today
          2·
          6 days ago

          Aww I love Greys!! They’re so smart and have such a wide vocabulary.

          We sort of happened upon them from a couple who needed to surrender, but a Blue Fronted Amazon and more recently, a Goffin’s Cockatoo.

          • atomicorange@lemmy.world
            2·
            6 days ago

            My Grey is kind of a dummy (or maybe just too smart to perform for my approval) but I love her anyway. She’s the sweetest and loves just hanging out on my shoulder.

            I had a Blue Fronted years ago, he was the best boy ever. He was an amazing singer and mimic and loved to cuddle. Thanks for taking in birds that need homes!!

  • NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world
    16·
    6 days ago

    Religion just in general.

    Not being an edgelord or hating, I really just don’t get it, it makes no sense to me at all and never has. When I was a kid I thought it was just like a thing people did for whatever reason, I was a kid and I didn’t know fucking anything and my family didn’t do religion, once I realized people take it super seriously and think it’s all real it really weirded me out, I thought it was just some kind of fandom thing like how I was into Power Rangers.

  • Hemingways_Shotgun@lemmy.caEnglish
    40·
    7 days ago

    One reason is that I doubt whether animals really understand this

    You would be objectively wrong on that. It’s been shown that affection to animals fires off the same parts of the brain in them as it does in humans, and delivers the same chemicals.

    https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6826447/

    Just because animals can’t communicate like you or me (though I firmly believe pets have a language that you can understand if you own one long enough), it doesn’t mean they don’t have the same feelings of bonding and closeness. Biologically we’re all very similar, so the Oxytocin that we get from being loved is identical to the oxytocin that THEY get when being loved.

    • RebekahWSD@lemmy.world
      13·
      6 days ago

      Every cat I’ve ever met has a nice little language. It was always possible to tell when they were happy or annoyed at the very least. I love them. I always hope they know I love them.

    • Zacryon@feddit.orgOP
      5·
      7 days ago

      Thank you for the link. Does the paper reveal anything about kissing specifically? Haven’t had the time to read it yet.
      I know that humans and other animals can feel affection for each other and that physical contact, e.g., by stroking, induces a sensation of ‘affective touch’ facilitated by C-tactile fibers. So while kissing itself might induce similar effects by similar pressure force and temperature, I wonder whether it really makes a difference to ‘poking’ your pet with your finger in a similar way. In other words: if the physical sensation is similar, does another animal understand a kiss versus another form of affective touch?

      • Hemingways_Shotgun@lemmy.caEnglish
        15·
        7 days ago

        Dogs have the ability to read body language. So a gentle behaviour like kissing or cuddling would definitely be perceived differently than an abrupt gesture like poking them.

  • Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip
    262·
    6 days ago

    Caring about sports. Like they devote what amounts to a part time job watching grown men compete in children’s games. Watching Competitive exercise while they melt into a couch pounding junk food. Watching other people talk about how well they exercised. Discussing daily with their friends and family and coworkers… All about one group of people in a colored shirt moving a ball slightly better than people with a different colored shirt.

    • blady_blah@lemmy.world
      101·
      6 days ago

      When I realized that guys typically need an activity to bond together, sports start to make a lot more sense. Sports are just a catalyst to male friendship. Yeah guys take the sports way too far, but it makes it more fun if there’s an emotional high or low when they watch it.

  • Dicska@lemmy.world
    18·
    6 days ago

    Killing each other because their imaginary friends are not friends with each other. Looking at you, religion wars.

    • blady_blah@lemmy.world
      6·
      6 days ago

      Religious wars are usually about power, not actually because they believe in different imaginary beings. Religion gets control of our population or the people in power youth religion to control the population and then they bump heads with another group doing the same thing… and you get war.

      • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
        7·
        6 days ago

        The power games are for the people at the top, the ones with money. For the rest of the sheep its [religion, racism, nationalism, patriotism, whatever bogeymen that can be made up]. Just like in the US today. There’s no shortage of complete fundy nutcases wishfully cheering trump’s war in the Middle East as a path to Armageddon when in reality it’s nothing more than trump desperately trying to control the petro energy market as a power and money grab. Except he’s an idiot.

      • Dicska@lemmy.world
        3·
        6 days ago

        Which is indeed true, however, the people who buy into it often do it for religious reasons. You can’t start religious wars when the people aren’t religious or have a religion that doesn’t motivate them to crush others who think differently.

  • reksas@sopuli.xyz
    13·
    6 days ago

    Being interested in sports. Not weird in itself but weird that they find it interesting. I just dont get it.

  • Bruncvik@lemmy.world
    15·
    6 days ago

    Here’s something that will probably mark me as weird: I find it strange, even creepy, when people talk, sing, hum, or make any noises to themselves. Some people tell me it helps their concentration, but I can’t even envision making any kind of sound when I concentrate.

    • Ryanmiller70@lemmy.zip
      4·
      6 days ago

      This has always been me. People keep telling me I like my job no matter how many times I tell them I can’t stand the job, I just like the paycheck. If I could do less work for the same or better pay I’d take it, but I didn’t win the birth lottery.

    • knotRyder@lemmy.ca
      4·
      6 days ago

      Me and a few my co-workers have discovered the secret to this it’s called drink not a lot sometimes even just like the neck of a beer while on break is amazing

      • blady_blah@lemmy.world
        5·
        2 days ago

        I think that’s the ticket for a lot of things like a rave, a party, or even a concert. I’ve been to 5 or 10 concerts in my life, and every single one I’m bored silly after 30 minutes. I don’t drink or do drugs and I figure that’s the missing ingredient.

        • Owl@mander.xyz
          1·
          6 days ago

          Oh yeah me neither. That must be it then, but I will not drink or do drugs just because of social pressure.

    • NotAnonymousAtAll@feddit.org
      1·
      6 days ago

      If you don’t like partying, either you just don’t like people and music (which is fine, no shaming intended), or you have only ever been to bad parties.

      A good party has:

      • people who like each other and are all there to enjoy each others company (and they don’t need an excuse like watching sports to do that)
      • good music
      • a space where you can dance if you feel like it
      • a space where the music is silent enough to have interesting conversations
      • maybe a motto and costumes, some made with minimal effort, some self-made as an outlet for creative energy, maybe even some superficial roleplaying to go along with it
      • maybe some other activity you can do together like table football or table tennis or twister or …
      • Owl@mander.xyz
        11·
        5 days ago

        Seems like I’m the issue, I’ll go point by point:

        1. Since I don’t party, I don’t know anyone and if I happen to know someone we have nothing in common, as with most people my age, since they only care about looks, the gym, gossip and partying + I live in an uncivilised country where drinking = getting wasted and people often start around the mark of 11-12yo.

        2. I don’t like most modern music and have tinnitus. Also I’m not that big of a music fan in general, I’m more of a visual arts type of person.

        3. I don’t see the fun in dancing, can’t dance (no one has ever taught me) and feel very self conscious

        4. Wait, you are supposed to hear anything apart from the music?

        5. Costumes? Never heard of parties with costumes (apart from Halloween)

        6. There are places where you can do other activities outside of dancing with the people there?

        • NotAnonymousAtAll@feddit.org
          2·
          5 days ago

          Thank you for sharing your perspective. Let me first reiterate that none of what I wrote was intended as shaming or attacking people who do not like partying.

          I strongly disagree with “Seems like I’m the issue”. Seems to me more like you have very good reasons to dislike all parties you could realistically attend currently, and to generalize from that to not liking parties in general is only natural.

          I did not want to convince anyone they are wrong; just to share my perspective that not all parties are the same, and they can be fun even for people who think they don’t like them in general if done right.

          • Owl@mander.xyz
            2·
            5 days ago

            Let me first reiterate that none of what I wrote was intended as shaming or attacking people who do not like partying.

            I understood it and I’m very happy that you avoided calling me simply “no fun”, and instead you wrote a pretty sizeable and detailed comment

            It’s nice seeing great people ;)

  • LeapSecond@lemmy.zip
    19·
    7 days ago

    Gossiping, and the inevitable culture of “what will people say?” that comes along with it. I don’t really talk about other people when they’re not there. And it’s really weird when someone introduces you to a new person and they’re like “I’ve heard so much about you”. It almost sounds threatening.