THE PEOPLE'S LISTS - PART 2
Excerpted from The New Book of Lists by David Wallechinsky and Amy Wallace.
ILLUSTRATIONS BY LAURA PARK
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REALLY UNUSUAL
MEDICAL CONDITIONS
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CARROT ADDICTION
In its August 1992 issue, the highly respected British Journal of Addiction described three unusual cases of carrot dependence. One 40-year-old man had replaced cigarettes with carrots. He ate as many as five bunches a day and thought about them obsessively. According to two Czech psychiatrists, when carrots were withdrawn, he and the other patients “lapsed into heightened irritability.”
MARY HART EPILEPSY
The case of Dianne Neale, 49, appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine: In a much-publicized 1991 incident, Neale apparently suffered epileptic seizures upon hearing the voice of Entertainment Tonight cohost Mary Hart. Neale experienced an upset stomach, a sense of pressure in her head, and confusion. Laboratory tests confirmed the abnormal electric discharges in her brain, and Neale held a press conference to insist that she was not crazy and resented being the object of jokes. She said she bore no hard feelings toward Hart, who apologized on the air for the situation.
In another bizarre case, the theme from the show Growing Pains brought 27-year-old Janet Richardson out of a coma. She had been unresponsive for five days after falling out of bed and hitting her head, until, according to her sister, the TV theme “woke her up.”
HULA HOOP INTESTINE
On February 26, 1992, Beijing worker Xu Denghai was hospitalized with a “twisted intestine” after playing excessively with a hula hoop. His was the third such case in the several weeks since a hula-hoop craze had swept China. The Beijing Evening News advised people to warm up properly and avoid hula-hooping immediately after eating.
UNCOMBABLE HAIR SYNDROME
Also known as “hair felting,” this condition causes hair to form a tangled mass. In a case reported in 1993 in the Archives of Dermatology, a 39-year-old woman’s hair fell out and was replaced by dry, coarse, curly hair so tangled that it was impossible to comb. It lacked knots, kinks, or twists that would explain the tangling. The hairs themselves were strangely shaped: The cross-sections were triangular, grooved, or shaped like kidneys instead of circular. The usual solution to this problem is to cut off the solidified mass of hair. In one case, a woman from Indiana wanted to keep her hair, having spent 24 years growing it. After two and a half months of lubricating her hair with olive oil and separating the strands with knitting needles, the hair became normal.
FOREIGN ACCENT SYNDROME
There are about 50 recorded cases of foreign accent syndrome, in which people who have suffered strokes or other injuries adopt a new accent. For example, Tiffany Roberts of Florida suffered a stroke and then began speaking with an English accent. She even adopted such Anglicisms as “bloody” and “loo.” Roberts had never been to Great Britain and was not a fan of British television shows.
Perhaps the oddest case concerned a Norwegian woman who fell into a coma after being hit on the head by shrapnel during an air raid in 1941. When she woke up, she spoke with a thick German accent and was ostracized by her neighbors.
THE PEOPLE'S LISTS | 1 | 2 |
See all articles by this contributor Anonymous, on Dec 21, 2008 wrote:
I have no idea why some people are acting like 11 year olds, obsessed with swearing and the like, even when you get told that there are kids reading this you still go on. Really... leet speak is for games... | | Anonymous, on Dec 20, 2008 wrote:
i had sex with your mother | | Anonymous, on Dec 20, 2008 wrote:
MMMMMIIIIINNNNNGGGGEEEEE | | Anonymous, on Dec 20, 2008 wrote:
the MARY HART EPILEPSY article was rofltacular
| | Anonymous, on Dec 20, 2008 wrote:
i like the hula hoop medical one that is col but i will indead warm up before playing on my hula hoop again lol BY BETHAN EIRWEN JONES | | Anonymous, on Dec 20, 2008 wrote:
Excellent piece, I really enjoy this magazine, but the one thing that really gets me is the comments that people leave on here. If you feel offended by the article or think "vice sucks" don’t read it. It is as simple as that. Also, if you come on here purely to argue with people for no reason, then why not join a forum for people with anger management issues. Noone wants to read your comments, especially when they are totally unrelated to the article. Thanks. | | Anonymous, on Dec 20, 2008 wrote:
"Stupidity is a disease that is slowly wiping out any chance of the continued existance of intelligent life." | | Anonymous, on Dec 20, 2008 wrote:
re:the anonymous comment, dated 19th December, who likes to rant, about prostatutes, raipists etc, please buy yourself a dictionary, your spelling is abysmal, obviously if English isn’t your first language then I could understand, unless of course your incredible, and amusing lack of intelligence is in some way an ironic way of expressing yourself, oh, sorry, when you get yourself a dictionary, look up ironic. You are a shame to one of the most beautiful, expressive languages we have. | | Anonymous, on Dec 20, 2008 wrote:
watever weidos how stupid of u | | Anonymous, on Dec 20, 2008 wrote:
I think its absolutley disgusting that some incredibly immature people out there think it acceptable to post such fowl language. I quite innocently clicked a link on the MSN home page to read about the rather bizarre medical stories and was seriously offended by the immature comments below! WHY? Have you never heard the saying ’if you have nothing nice to say then don’t say anything at all’! Or does your intellectual vocabularly limit you to the lowest form of the english language!!!
| | Anonymous, on Dec 19, 2008 wrote:
yehh likee mee roflzz
| | Anonymous, on Dec 19, 2008 wrote:
i think that the people who keep swearing should’nt use words like that to express their comments, and it’s a sign of their mentality, and there are some kids reading this you know!!! | | Anonymous, on Dec 19, 2008 wrote:
god there are some sad people on here | | Anonymous, on Dec 19, 2008 wrote:
well you cant blame them for the problems, it just happens to them. Unlucky... | | Anonymous, on Dec 19, 2008 wrote:
what an earth is all this
| | Anonymous, on Dec 19, 2008 wrote:
why u all being nasty?? | | Anonymous, on Dec 19, 2008 wrote:
i think u all need to take a chill pill | | Anonymous, on Dec 19, 2008 wrote:
you are all sad! | | Anonymous, on Dec 19, 2008 wrote:
shut up u spaz U NEED 2 GROW UP
Whats the matter with people at least immigrants work. Soon they’ll be running the country and people hear will be low lifes (e.g DRUGS, PROSTATUTES, RAIPISTS...
U NEED TA SORT UR SELVES OUT U LOW LIFE JELOUS BASTARDS
FUCK UR SELF U MOTHER FUCKERS | | Anonymous, on Dec 19, 2008 wrote:
sooooooooo! BOOM =D | | Anonymous, on Dec 19, 2008 wrote:
weirdos | | Anonymous, on Dec 19, 2008 wrote:
dugga-dugga-down-int-grownd! @:-o)
| | Anonymous, on Dec 19, 2008 wrote:
mum | | Anonymous, on Dec 15, 2008 wrote:
omg hoo evr writ dat b4 ur rli stupid nd u need 2 grow up! | | Anonymous, on Dec 15, 2008 wrote:
ok.... hehe nd shut up ppl hoo swear u twats!!!!!!! haha lollollol f**k u! | | Anonymous, on Dec 14, 2008 wrote:
really, no way, you sure, pudi like dem you fuilth immigrant bastard | | Anonymous, on Dec 9, 2008 wrote:
SALEHA PATEL RULES....add me on salehababe786@hotmail.com....big up all the immigrants | | Anonymous, on Dec 9, 2008 wrote:
SALEHABABE786 WOZ EYA CHILLIN | | |
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