Wanted: annoying habit

[Robb]

Lemme 'splain.

I need an annoying, or at least singular, habit to help identify a character in my book. As an example: Fox Mulder on X-Files is always eating pistachios. You can start a scene with nothing in frame but a pair of black dress shoes and scattered pistachio shells, and know that it's Fox up there.

I'm drawing a blank, and messing around on DU instead of writing. Anyone throw me a lifeline? :shrug:

[radwriter0555]

1. Sunflower seeds. Matchbook covers... I used to dissect and shred...

matchbook covers... and eat sunflower seeds.

[radwriter0555]

2. Oh, and rolled up pieces of paper. I have to roll receipts and such

on the biad. TIGHT as I can. Make long little sticks out of them.

[patdem]

3. Smoking those cigar like cigarettes instead of real cigaretts and the

amroma of those sweet ones hangs in the air long after the person is gone!!!

[liberalhistorian]

4. Constantly picking at their hands.

My stepdad does this and it just drives my mom and I nuts. Don't know why, it just does.

Chewing on hair. Cracking knuckles. Drinking milk and coke together. Eating miniature Reese's Cups, then playing with and crumpling the wrappers (yours truly, lol!)

[Bossy Monkey]

5. Peeling labels off beer bottles, shredding napkins

It might help if you gave us a clue what kind of character you're talking about, or at least what environment s/he will be operating in. I once did a John Le Carre parody where everybody had an endearing idiosyncrasy just like his real characters; it got pretty silly eventually.

[HEyHEY]

6. The Character always phones during a sports game

[Robb]

11. Ha!

Sort of a compulsive type cat. I like the crumpled-up paper bit; I'm thinking it's something he does instead of smoking -- and he has lots of opportunities in the story where he could really use a smoke. The "reveal" is he turns out to be someone no one expects in the end, and the clue is just to the reader. The rest of the characters never get it.

Shredding matchbook covers is pretty good, although a little obtuse for an ex-smoker... And how often do you come across matchbooks in day-to-day life anymore?

Lots of good ideas to start from, though. Thanks all!

[HEyHEY]

14. here's a habit I have..I'll let you use it.

I tear up coasters...I tear them up into small small pieces, I mean TINY...then I play with the pieces on the table...you know I build little hills with them and stuff.

[SOteric]

18. I don't know that it's annoying, but when my friend tried to quit smoking,

she took up sucking on extra sour lemon drops and atomic sourballs. The intense flavours interfered with her ability to enjoy a cigarette...and the wrappers left a telltale trail for a few weeks.

[thom1102]

43. maybe he has to go to a certain place to get them...

one of the only remaining places that still has matchbooks. Plus the matchbooks remind him of his former vice and keep him from picking up a cigarette.

How about chewing on a pen/pencil. Ex-smokers often do that because it has a similar feel as a cigarette, and with them putting it into their mouth, it satisfies that oral fixation of the cigarette.

Oh oh, how about this. He is always asking to borrow someone's pen/pencil, cause he keeps losing his, and then he is always returning it chewed up?

[radwriter0555]

45. Well it can be ANY bits of paper. Matchbooks were of course related to

the smoking habit gone for 18 months now.

Now I roll up any receipt I get, in that tight little tube, starting at a corner. I keep them in my console in the cars.. save them up actually to do the twiddle with.

Any piece of paper will do, I'll manage to work it and roll it up.

Ooo, another one is PAPER clips. I have to bend them out, and fashion right angles and SPIN them while I'm on the phone.

Hmmm, I'm a tad more compulsive than I realized. I should work on that, LOL!

[number six]

7. when in doubt...

go with relentless foot tapping, facial tics, jerky movements.

[thebigidea]

9. Number Two duly notes your answer.

Questions are a burden for others. A still tongue makes a happy life. Be seeing you.

[number six]

22. Damn you

I'll escape your giant golf balls one of these days you damned societal allegory

[thebigidea]

8. refers to self in 3rd person

claims uncle invented cotton gin.

[bif]

10. Throat clearing

every 10 seconds. That's prettyh annoying.

[Wickerman]

46. Yeah, and sniffing

I hate throat clearing and sniffing. Its even worse when they stop - its like waiting for the other shoe to drop.

[bif]

12. And cracking knuckles.

n/t

[sexybomber]

49. oh God

I hate that more than anything on the planet. It just skeezes me out. :scared:

[Richardo]

13. Let me see (checking giant scroll Mrs Richardo gave him) ;-)

clicking ball point pens
chewing fingernails
gnawing pencils
irritating nose-whistle (like Garrison Keillor)
cracking knuckles
neurotically pulls on eyebrows
tears beer bottle labels into tiny shreds

[Richardo]

17. Says "right?" or "OK?" after every frickin sentence - like O'Reilly

Right?

[Lars39]

21. hehe-----we came across these guys at a garage once, where the

actual mechanic was an older guy named Billy going to college for some sort of engineering degree. Smart and practical; had no problem slinging himself under the van to check things out. His boss just hung around, ending EVERY sentence with "Idn't that right, Billy?"
Hilarious. And Billy never acted like it bothered him at all.

[Lars39]

15. Tapping rhythms with fingertips.

I am sooo bad about tapping songs on the steering wheel...

[kmla]

16. Humming the Hokey Pokey.

Intermittent loud flatulence.
Spitting out partially consumed altoids.
Obsessively trying to spit out a stray hair - "Thppt. Thppt."
Clearing a wedgie every 30 seconds or so.

Any of those annoying habits annoying enough? I could think up more.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

19. Bubble wrap!

Have the character constantly pop bubble wrap. I can only get about 7 popped before my husband is grabbing it and throwing it in the trash.

[ronzo]

20. Tooth sucker.

As if they have a piece of rib permanently stuck in their teeth. You know what I mean...

edit : sp.

[JohnnyAmerica]

23. If he's a smoker or a non-smoker.....

when he's nervous, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out an old, favorite Zippo lighter and plays with it, opening and closing it, making a noise that, trust me, truly annoys.

[NuckinFutz]

24. giggling/laughing after each statement

whether it's funny or not.

smacking mouth while gum chewing, etc.

[bif]

25. Here's the most annoying habit I know of...

when someone finishes sentences for you. Or repeats the last couple of words you say. Drives me nuts. ...me nuts.

[ronzo]

26. ... you nuts?

Yeah, that's a good one. It would also be fun to write.

[Lizz612]

32. Along those lines...

For years my cousin would silently mouth the words he just said, as if going over them in his mind, or trying to relay them to me telepathically. He'd come in and ask "Have you seen Granpa?" *Have you seen Grandpa* without changing expression or looking away. Drove me up the wall!

[Richardo]

33. Margaret Smith did a bit about that a few years ago - hilarious!

Had no idea some people really did it.

[E_Zapata]

37. god, that is pricelessly AWFUL.

That has to be the most annoying thing on earth.

I am going to remember it the next time I really want to annoy someone. And my defense when they come down on me? "I am just validating what you are saying."

[Kamika]

27. making clicking sounds with your fingernails

My cousin does this with his one hand and i swear ill kill him soon

[geniph]

28. Snorking instead of blowing their nose

You know what I mean - the people that make that horrible GANNNKKK noise snorting snot back up from the back of their throat instead of getting a tissue like a decent human being. Snorkers make me see red, quite literally - my big brothers used to hawk up loogies and spit on me, so that sound sends me into a blind rage.

Snorkers must DIE!!!

[Kamika]

29. Oh god

They make me feel ill seriously one guy snorted for like an hour and spit out the most gross thing ever and i threw up when i saw it

[MojoKrunch]

30. Tuneless, subliminal, humming to oneself.

Or a running interior monologue subconsciously mumbled aloud.

Mojo

[Richardo]

31. Oh! Oh! and high vibrato whistling....

I used to work with a guy in a clerical job that did that ALL THE LIVELONG DAY.

Still get the shakes thinking about it.

[Rabrrrrrr]

34. Explain about the character - what does he do, where does he go,

what's the time period of the novel, etc.? I can think of many things, but need some context.

[SoCalDem]

35. Picking scabs?? pretty annoying...and messy

:)

[Rabrrrrrr]

36. And self-mutilating so that new scabs will form!

That would be cool.

[MojoKrunch]

39. Ewww... I can see it now...

Camera pans over cheap leather shoes and slacks as *scabs* fall to the floor around feet.

BLEH.
lol

Mojo

[GoddessOfGuinness]

38. How about this one?

My husband never throws away the foil wrappers from Hershey Kisses. Instead, he rolls them up into balls and shoots them across the room for the cats to chase.

[MojoKrunch]

40. Oohh.. I like that one...

Chocolate addiction *and* messy/artistic.

Kinda reminds me of the guy from BladeRunner who turned matchsticks/toothpicks into little men.

Mojo

[Red State Rebel]

41. Popping and Cracking Gum

My sister used to do that, made me want to scream!

[VelmaD]

42. It wasn't pistachios...

Mulder ate sunflower seeds. Which is a great bad habit for a character.

Knuckle cracking is a good one too - I do that and it drives people around me insane.

Wearing white socks regardless of what else he's wearing would be one that would annoy the hell outta me. :-)

[Robb]

44. For the record...

I'm going with a combo pack... he's popping those cheap candy mints you can get by the plastic bucketfull, constantly. And he works on the plastic wrappers in his pocket until they're smooshed into these seamless plastic pellets.

...Which he leaves around, so we can see he's been somewhere. Thanks everyone! Popped off 2000 words this morning without breaking a sweat.

Onwards!

:)

[Rabrrrrrr]

47. Ha ha! Round little plastic pellets like mouse poop

or rabbit poop.

I like it!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

51. LOL! I bet it's especially obnoxious in a concert hall setting!

I'm picturing the slow movement of the Grieg Piano Concerto...the audience enraptured by the soft silver tones gliding from the piano to their very souls, leaving them breathless. Then, in the most deliciously intimate moment...
crinkle, crinkle, crinkle

[Spider Jerusalem]

48. Carrying a Zippo lighter and continuously clicking it open and closed...

with one hand. There's an annoying habit...

[mykpart]

50. Here's one my son used to do:

He would sing softly, under his breath, in a deep voice, old Negro Spirituals. Favorites were "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," and "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen."

Another thing you might use is maybe the character only wears a particular brand/style of shoe that is out of fashion.

[geniph]

52. One of the posters here

once was complaining about his cubemate, who would make loud, moaning, semi-orgasmic noises whenever he ate anything - and he was constantly eating. I asked if it was only when he ate bananas and carrots, but no, he said it was when the guy ate anything. I'd have had to kill him in self-defense.