To think all of this hand holding bollocks is going a bit too far now

[nenevomito]

It used to be that when something bloody awful happened to someone, they'd ask for a bit of hand holding, but its getting ridiculous now.

All it takes is for someone to post summat like "I've burnt tea" and the first sodding responder says "ooh you must be so worried, I'm holding your hand". This is then followed by a million other "I'm holding your hand too" posts.

How many fucking hands does one person have?

Seriously. Sheesh. Knock it off.

Oh... I missed that, "Cease and desist you sweaty-pawed, hand-holding care bears!". Could we have an emoticon for that? So funny.

... and NO to the foot-holding, nobody's feet!

Again, I say this is not about the wonderful support mn gives. It's about folk posting

The very thought of soft hugs and hair stroking makes me nauseous.

babyheave sometimes folk dont know what to say or advise so a handhold maybe make you want to vomit into the nearest bin but people just want to show support

then legs it in case she wallops me

I do actually agree with you, babyheave. It's used a lot here now, it's become 'fashionable'. I read about 20% of threads on AIBU, 5% in relationships and 10% in chat on MN overall. The threads where I've seen a poster asking for a 'hand hold' are the more serious/upsetting ones and the OP is asking for 'visible' support, I guess. For a foot-in-mouth kind of person like me, it's easy to post a heap of well-meant advice that in fact, comes over like a sucker-punch. If OP sees a 'hand hold' in that post, the support is more obvious, I suppose.

I agree everlong and i rarely handhold but I guess some just want to show some support

Lying, no probs whatsoever when someone's in crisis of one form or another but recently I've seen a kid with a sniffle ok after calpol and someone whose DH was 10 mins late home. I've also seen hands offered when the OP's not asked for it as it seems to be the thing to say of the moment.

It takes the impact away from the gesture for the big stuff.

Um, its metaphorical OP so it doesn't actually matter how many hands one has - i am an octopus

But we'r not listening Everlong, we're reading words on a screen.

I asked for folks to hold my hand on friday night, DP and I had a barney and he had walked out, i knew he would be coming back but i suffer from anxiety so blew things up out of proportion. I really just wanted distracting and support as opposed to some one holding my hand but i like the metaphor. I would not want my hand help in RL funnily enough and try to hug me? One of us would fall over in my efforts to get away!

yy Babyheave, it does. Too much hh for very little does reduce the impact and make it pointless.

I get what you are saying everlong, however on some threads, say a thread about someone who is being abused by their DH, or whose child is sick - there may not be anything else to add that other posters haven't said already, so rather than confuse the thread further with what everyone else has said put into a slightly different sentence a simple or > is a nice way of showing support without clogging up the thread.

Fair enough everlong - Have to admit to be PMSL at your typo there - "len" made me think "don't call me len you little bollox" from Father Ted I called my dog lenny and i often call him len, only to have him say (well obviously its me) "don't call me len, ya little bollox" to me and reply "len len len len len" oh dear (i have new antihistaines today)

Yy "I'll hold your hand OP" often means "so I can catch up with the next thrilling instalment."

Aren't we all just nosey feckers though kotinka? MN is the new 'stenders for the thinking woman