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July 06, 2010
Why God, why?
longest fingernail, originally uploaded by Benjaminja.
I'm fairly obsessed with keeping my fingernails nice and trimmed. I hate the feeling of long nails, and how grime gets under them. Yes, it occasionally impedes my ability to open a can of beer or maybe do some hardcore guitar pickin, but I think it's worth it.
So, I'm kind of grossed out whenever I read about someone who decides she is going to grow her nails as long as she can. Like this lady, in a story that reads like it was written for a British tabloid:
Sondra Woods has been letting her fingernails grow out for nearly nine months. They're about 6.5 inches long, and she just cut them! She says she wants to see how long they will grow.
She soaks them in lemon juice a few times a week, which she says makes them grow and harden.
People stop her on the street and want to take her picture, but that's OK with her. Sondra hopes to fulfill her dream of modeling her nails one day.
Sondra says her long nails don't stop her from doing everyday activities.
Wtf, lady? You want to grow them to see how long they'll get? That sounds like something a 16 year old boy does, as in, I'll see how many slices of pizza I can eat, or I'll see how far I can ride my bike on one wheel. In other words, dumb things.
I also am not certain how having 6 inch nails doesn't interfere with daily living activities. How are you going to dial a phone, or send a text message, or drive a car? It seems unwieldly to me.
I'll never forget when I was in the Walgreen's at State and Jackson, and my cashier had three-inch press-on nails. All I could remember was how it took her twice as long to ring up my purchase, because she had to jab the cash register instead of using the tips of her fingers. It's like a permanent state of pressing buttons with a pencil, if the pencil was superglued to your finger.
Of course, this brings into play my nail hypothesis: as fingernail length goes up, job prestige goes down. You see plenty of cashiers with long nails, but not CEO's. I don't think it's a coincidence. Please note, Lil Kim is an exception to this rule.
Also, in searching Flickr for a picture for this post, I cam across a group called Long Fingernails and Really White Teeth. I am not sure how these are related, but apparently they are.
entry no. 1482
Posted at July 6, 2010 04:48 PM