Nailbiting

[ccab]

Do you bite your nails? - I do, but not for any nutrition. It happens unconsciously when I'm trying to concentrate intensely, when I watch Man Utd or when I've quarrelled with a woman. Unfortunately, it means my fingers are always in a bit of a state, particularly the backbiters, which I pursue & persecute right back to the first red-raw mini-knuckles.

One of the consequences of this dysthetic nibbling has been two hard little white lumps on the skin just below two of my fingernails. At first I thought they were gummata and hoped they were warts, but six months have passed now since they sprouted and I'm not sure what they are. Another consequence is in my mouth. One upper and one lower tooth on the right hand side are faintly worn, but not visibly. It's only perceptible to my tongue. The only other consequence is the brief but awful stinging when toilet paper happens to split - not to mention the uncomfortable salty moment when it occurs to me I may have scratched my nose a few seconds earlier. But the old stories - about nail trees unfurling their branches up my throat, armoured worms invulnerable to medicine, or calcified jagged gutballs shredding the bowels - these all turned out to be scaremongering bullshits.

I'm quite content to for my nailbiting to continue, it's healthier than smoking and as ugly as it is it's still prettier than baldness. It's a revolting habit, but it's mine, and the only one I have.

Any other nailbiters?

[Emma Raducanu]

A friend bites his nails and spits them as far as he can, which I find completely disgusting, especially when they land in my food.

Also, I remember many years ago, there was a particularly bad tasting nail varnish designed to repusle those who bit their nails. I'm guessing it never really worked though? It would take just as much effort to apply the varnish as it would to stop yourself biting your nails in the first place.

[Beagle 2]

I bite my nails as NATURE INTENDED, yes. I dunno, what's the problem, I put them in the bin and wash my hands a lot. I suppose they get  grubbier quicker, but It wouldn't make much sense to me to use scissors, far too much fucking about.

I am currently single...

[ccbaxter]

I do, and have done since I was 11, and I'm now 29, and I didn't get where I am today without biting my nails, and yes, now I put it that way, I really really despise myself for such a filthy habit...

Then again, every time the subject comes up, I like to re-tell a Jasper Carrott routine, just as a matter of routine really - how he, as a fervent non-nail-biter, came up with the idea of collecting all normal nail clippings and selling them in packets to nailbiters to save them the bother of gnawing their own.

Except, except (punchline ahead).... Pot Noodle got there first.

(I wait to be told that Bob Newhardt told that one first.)

But anyway, yes, I started at 11 because I felt I needed a hobby in those just-started-secondary-schools-just-about-pre-puberty-years, and have found it a comfort in times of boredom ever since.

Though do other nailbiters ever get anxious about the etiquette of, well, simply throwing away those discardable shards of nail? I just flick mine to the floor, but occasionally catch someone's eye and wonder, with them, just how long that DIY clipping might sit on someone's carpet before biodegrading away.

[actwithoutwords]

I'm a biter too unfortunately. Much as it's a bad habit, I can't possibly imagine ever actually cutting my nails with a scissors. I mean, what's up with that?
I tend to do it on my own or else in the library, rather than in a situation where the nail might be resting on someone else's carpet. The one thing I dread is how ridiculous I must look when I'm playing with the nail in my mouth.
Now that I mention that, I always take the fucking about with nail in mouth thing for granted, do other nail biters do that too?

I have definitely worn my front teeth. But it's hard to know whether it's from nail-biting or grinding them in my sleep. It is a bit upsetting either way, I hate the idea of doing permanent physical damge to yourself.

[The Boston Crab]

I started the same thread a couple of months back and I'm really pleased to say that after 26 years I've finally stopped.  The first time I clipped my nails (ever in my life) after I stopped was quite a moment. I find that when I go out and have a few beers I occasionally find myself attempting to bite again but I've developed a kind of reflex now which alerts me to it. Previously I could gnaw them all away and not even notice...

I keep them clipped rather short which suggests I'm not completely ready for the constant temptation but actually I tried to havea bite the other day for research purposes and they're a bit too hard now anyway.

Lots of Love,

Bosto.

[ccbaxter]

You do realise we were talking about biting fingernails, don't you, Bosto...?

[Lady Beaner]

I used to bite my nails a lot when I was a kidling. My Mum soon saw paid to that though by giving me a short, sharp slap on the wrist when I was about five years old. I remember it as clear as day! It was the only time I ever remember her raising her hand to me!

[ccab]

It was the only time I ever remember her raising her hand to me!

Are you sure she wasn't jealous and over-eagerly offering her nails to you?

[alexl]

I used to bite my nails - now I cut them so hort that it's not possible.

[duckorange]

You do realise we were talking about biting fingernails, don't you, Bosto...?

My son bites his toenails. Can't complain - it's about the only exercise he gets.

[Milo]

Though do other nailbiters ever get anxious about the etiquette of, well, simply throwing away those discardable shards of nail?

I always just bite them up into tiny pieces and swallow them.

[Milo]

Also, I remember many years ago, there was a particularly bad tasting nail varnish designed to repusle those who bit their nails.

When my parents forcibly applied that stuff to me I was bloody-minded enough to scrape it all off with my teeth and then carry on biting. They soon learned their lesson.

[mook]

Though do other nailbiters ever get anxious about the etiquette of, well, simply throwing away those discardable shards of nail?

I always just bite them up into tiny pieces and swallow them.

Oh what? That's vile, nailbiting is bad enough as it is, but eating the bits. You're disgusting Milo, disgusting do you hear me?

[supinebeing]

i too have just managed to give up the finger-crippling habit after 26 years of biting til bleeding. sometimes i would barely be able to open my palm to full extent so pulsatingly did the ends of my digits throb.

nowadays i generally have pretty well unbitten nails and i find its like havingt a new tool or implement - i can actually open coke cans for the first time in my life without a knife

however, like the finest crackhead, i sometimes find myself falling into a frenzied relapse in times of high stress during which time i contemplate the white bit of the nail (the best bit to bite) for a nanosecond and then am gnashing and gnawing until i am back to gummy fingered state on all fingers - as though im possessed.

this happened  last week when i had to move out of and clean my old house with the hope of getting a deposit back and after my fit i attempted to clean an oven with bleeding, bitten digits, mr muscle and no rubber gloves ... the pain was like crabs marching in formation along the veins and arteries in my fingers; a crackling, numbing pain the like of which i have never previously witnessed