Generally speaking, I am an environmentally conscious individual: I ride a bike; I recycle my garbage; I try not to set rubber tires on fire. You know, the usual. My one destructive vice, however, is wasting water.
I love long showers and baths. As a kid, I used to take showers with the drain plugged so the tub would fill halfway with water. I would then lay down on my back and let the droplets rain down on me with just my eyes and nose sticking up out of the water, like a little pink alligator. I called these my, “Swamp Baths,” and they played hell with our water bill.
Even now, I’m the very last one out of the shower at my local gym here in Hannover, Germany. Not even the stupid 15-second timer on the showers can stop me from wasting enough water to revive the Mojave Wasteland. I don’t even know why I do it; something about the heat and the water soothes me to my core. Makes me docile and slow-witted, like a cow on its way to the slaughterhouse: “Jesus, Betsy just dropped dead right in front of me. Oh well, better keep shuffling toward those men with the bloodstained aprons…”
So I’ve never really understood why people think it’s time to get out of the shower, pool or bathtub just because their skin is starting to prune. Are wrinkled fingertips truly the klaxon alarm to end bathtime? Maybe parents made this shit up so their horrible little children would stop robbing future generations of potable water. Some people think pruney skin occurs because the outer layers absorb warm water, causing the cells to expand and fold over on themselves. Others explain it as a vestige of evolution, which gave our extremities better grip in wet conditions. Personally, I think it’s a random, ugly little phenomenon which cannot be explained, much like yawning, orgasm toe and piss shivers.
All I know is I’m gonna stay in the tub until I’m goddamn good and ready to get out. My German wife, however, will end bathtime long before I do, explaining:
“It is time to get out. My fingers are getting schrinkled.”*
*I suspect this may have come from the combination of the English word ‘wrinkled,’ and the German word ‘schrumpfen,’ meaning ‘to shrink.’
If you would like to read another classic quote from The Wife, check this one out: My German Wife Offers the Perfect Alternative to Traditional Childbirth
“Orgasm Toe”? O.o
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Yep, fellow shower water waster here. I haven’t timed mine, but I suspect that 20 minutes is typical. It’s my one water conservation failure.
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“Schrinkled” is a great word, and should be adopted by both languages immediately.
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Not “schrumpfen.” “Schrumpelig,” I suspect.
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Schrinkled is indeed excellent. Is it an actual word or an inspired invention?
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Schrinkled = awesome. And I’m with you on the long showers, even though it drives my German guy crazy.
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This was just hilarious. Absolutely funny. (Note to myself: don’t take a zip of Coke when reading this blog… LOL)
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You are such a poor example of an American. Most would not make a scene on a train describing the poor conditions. The person next to you could have been living in one. Callus and rude best describe your behavior. It is obvious you are a say anything, do anything, regardless of the nationality you offend. Please bring in down about a dozen notches…
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Steve, my friend, you have missed the point spectacularly.
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I would have substituted the word “shriveled” instead. At least she didn’t want some schrinkle cut fries to go with a Döner.
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