When I was living in Dallas, one of my friends' Mum occasionally mentioned that if you had a hangnail, you should go to the hospital.
To this day (or at least until around 10 minutes ago), I had no idea what a hangnail was.
There I was this morning, the random information floating in my head while I tugged away at another jagged fingernail wondering…
Double-you Tee Eff is a hangnail?
(In case you don't speak phonetic geek, that reads as "WTF is a hangnail?")
Well… this is a hangnail.
Strangely, the very moment I was thinking about what it could be (and I thought it was just a nail you'd bitten that hung off the side), I was creating one. In fact, I probably have one on almost every finger on my hands at the moment.
I honestly can't figure out why you'd need to go to a hospital for one. Sure, it might hurt a little but it'll come out. Maybe it's one of those "worry over everything" Americanisms that sits nicely alongside "sue anyone & anything that offends you in the slightest". That last one seems to permeate the headline quite frequently.
And then as I read the Wiki entry a few minutes ago telling me what it was, I saw this.
You know, I've tried to stop picking at my fingernails in the past. It's hard. It's really hard.
I get addiction. I understand it. My need to pick at my fingernails isn't an addiction so much as it's a habit. A really bad habit I do often without realising, as if it's a safety zone that has no problems in hurting me.
Which is probably fine since a little big of pain I'm quite ok with.
But I've had that throbbing-pus-like thing in the past. Even had one in the past year…
…and I'm not anxious to have it again any time soon.