Compulsive reading

[Cockney_si]

I'm stuck with the misfortune of having a compulsive reading streak, it's been with me years now and sometimes can get annoying, especially in bars that have bar meals and I'm just there drinking.

I would read the menu through at least twice, commit it to memory and then read it again, I'm not even there to eat.

In the loo I'm the same, reading the text part number around the edge of the locking nut that holds the loo downpipe on.

If I drive past an advertising sign I'm reading it as I go past.

I can't switch it off!!!

Anyone else out there like this?

[laurence2]

I've noticed myself doing the same type of thing in W.H. Smiths, Waterstones, Librarys etc.

[cazzz1975]

yes, I am, I cant stop myself from reading, I will read my bus ticket, adverts, I cannot sit without reading something

I dont know why I do it I always have :S

on the bright side I have a great vocabulary!!

[pussnboots]

Not the same, but i once worked at the Trafford Centre and had to travel by bus on the M60, I had this compulsive urge to count all the cars going in the opposite carriage way, it drove me mad, and if I thought I had missed any I would be annoyed. Thank goodness since leaving the place this has stopped.

[jammiedodger]

yes i hate it, however its good to know that im not the only person who does it. say for example i am skimming posts on here, if i only read the first few lines i feel that something bad will happen if i dont read the entire post or paragraph in a book. Then if i do read it and dont think about wot im reading i feel the need to go back and read it again!!! aaaarrrrggggghhhh!!!!!

[CheekyChops]

I will even sit on the loo and read the back of a shampoo bottle or deoderant can, anything to hand if there is nothing else!

[Panic Button]

Sometimes I keep re-reading Answerbank in case any new Qs or As have appeared,

[Babz]

I read everything I can get my hands on and also have to add numbers up and keep adding them until I get the smallest number possible :-)

[whiffey]

I'm the same - but why not carry a small book around with you, then you won't have to read all sorts of other miscellanies. As for the small room, keep a number of books in there. I currently have The Shell Guide to English Villages, The Trumpet Major, London street map for planning bike rides, and The Reader's Digest Cookery Year.

[Doc Spock]

I read absolutely everything and anything at any time.Drives the Mrs daft. Menus in pubs, paper or book at mealtimes.
I can never go to the loo without reading material. Once during a brief overnight stay at B and B pub there was nothing to read so i took The Gideon Bible to the loo. That's what I call compulsive.

[Doc Spock]

Babz, how can you keep adding numbers up till you get to a small one ??

[whiffey]

Doc Spock, vis a vis not a lot really I carry a Gideon's New Testament in my inside pocket, and I regard it as unlucky to read anything scriptural while on the loo, I imagine I might get struck down by the wrath of God.

[Doc Spock]

hi whiffey, can you understand what Babz is saying with the numbers?

[Baby Jane]

So Im not alone in this then? I even read the tomato sauce bottle.

I also have a stupid compulsion where when I pass a car (on my bike) I have to make a word out of the letters on the registration, ie KTN becomes kitten etc.

xx

[whiffey]

Oh don't get me on OCDs !! I have to get down the stairs before the lavatory flush stops otherwise I will surely die. I have to put on my right cycle clip before the left cycle clip otherwise I will surely die. If my cycle trip computer doesn't read an even number of tenths of a mile at the end of a ride I have to do small loops until it does. Etc etc etc !!

No, I don't really understand the numbers thing, unless it goes something like 12 + 23 = 35, 3 + 5 =8 - but then you'd come to a grinding halt on 8.

[Doc Spock]

I am glad I am not alone. I have a few OCD's..
I cannot leave the car parked untill a sequence has been carried out,boot locked, windows locked,alarm light on. If I get interrupted I have to start again.
My wife has to lock the door of the house when we leave as I have to keep checking. More pills please doctor.

[nutgoneflake]

What a relief - I'm not the only OCD sufferer here! I do a numberplate thing where I have to firstly, try and anagram it. If it doesn't work, I have to make a word like Babyjane does.

I also have to anagram the letters on manhole covers, and work out patterns with telephone numbers on the keypad. So I like numbers that only use the 4 corners, or down one side, like 1471. Drives me mad.

But the worst is one that I've had all my life and it's a bit of a party trick too. Someone can give me a word, and I'll repeat it instantly, backwards. This one takes over if I let it...Someone could be talking to me and in my head I'm reversing everything. I read signs, posters on buses, anything, forwards then backwards. My brother does a similar thing where you give him a word and he tells you how many letters in it - without really thinking.

Cockney_si - you've opened a can of worms here - can't believe so many of us do these things, but it must be a sign of intelligence, surely??!!!

:0)

[Doc Spock]

start counting backwards from 100 till I say stop.











































Stop.
Give me the name of a vegetable.

[whiskeysheri]

I didn't realise it until now, but I'm exactly the same with the reading thing! I'll read through all the ingredients on the back of packets, stand in the shower reading the shampoo bottles, anything really!

I've always read a lot in general, though. I was 'reading' (well, looking at the words) in bed and turning my own light out at 18 months old!

It does seem a bit obsessive, though, doesn't it?

[Babz]

You add all the digits up for example 1997=26 then add the 2 and the 6 making 8...see what i mean? keep adding until you're left with a single digit ,or better still don't it's compulsive