Pupils have begun returning to school as lockdown restrictions were eased across England.
Outdoor markets and car showrooms have also started reopening, while the first horse racing event in months was being staged and pigeons took to the skies for a race over Yorkshire.
Annoying as these "flexes" always are, sometimes they, even more annoyingly, aren't inaccurate.
At other times, however, we find ourselves raising our eyebrows or stifling our laughter over certain people's subtle flexes.
Redditor Reasonable_Buddy1293 was eager to hear about the most bizarre and confusing flexes they've been privy to, leading them to ask:
"What’s the weirdest flex you’ve ever heard someone say with a straight face?"
"A manager of a different department to me prided herself on being crazy busy all the time."
"She proudly told me she hasn’t listened to music in 15 years because she doesn’t have time."
"I asked if she has a radio in her car, and she said she turns it off."
"I said, what about in supermarkets where they play background music, she said she tunes it out and ignores it."
"This conversation was about 12 years ago, and I’m still so confused."- sl0wl0rris
“'I don’t drink water'.”- krysiis
"My cousin once bragged that he had never used sunscreen in his life."
"Said it with total pride like he was invincible, while peeling like a lobster on vacation."
"lmao."- SnTnL95
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“'I don’t use my PTO'."
"Soooo you’re working for free basically?"
" Weird flex but ok (we get X amount of days off that don’t roll over or pay out)."- feelinlikejericho
"My neighbors across the street.."
"A mom, her daughter, and 2 grandkids."
"She was pissed because the school was sending the police due to her granddaughter's missing too many days."
"'I didn't finish high school and neither did my daughter, and we turned out fine!'"
"No, you didn't."
"You have 4 people in a 2-bedroom house that's falling apart and no car between the 4 of you."
"She was ranting about this while I was giving her a ride across town, because we are nice people and would occasionally help them."- handandfoot8099
"Does this count?"
"I had a boss who would call my handwriting ugly and chicken scratch."
"She thought she had the 'authority' to say it because she won an award for her handwriting, which she bragged about almost once a week."
"Eventually, I learned that the award she won was from Grade 3."
"Girly was in her 70s!"- honeysaliva
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“'I’ve had all degrees of burns'.”
"In college, my husband was loitering in a hallway waiting for his class to open and was standing near a girl and a guy."
"Girls hands are both wrapped in gauze and the guy asks why."
"She says she has second-degree burns on her hands and had to wrap them up."
"Then he very confidently comes out with 'yeah, well I’ve had all degrees of burns' as the ultimate story top."
"It is said frequently around my home to this day and is a part of our family vocabulary."- Penguinofmyspirit
“'I’m the only man in town with six fingers!'”- MidichlorianJunkie
"I knew someone who was proud that he never, ever ate fresh food (fruits and veggies)."
"He’d actually pick them out of food at restaurants."- Odd-Comfortable-6134
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"I used to work in a library that was in a very deprived area."
"Local kids would hang out there cos there wasn't really anywhere else for them to go."
"They had to have a library card to do that, and we kept a list of their parents/guardians to call if things got rowdy, which they often did."
"One time these two kids were causing trouble after closing time, wouldn't leave, were throwing furniture around and yelling in our faces."
"I told them we were going to call their parents, one of them turned around and said triumphantly, 'HA! I don't even HAVE any parents!'"
"She did have grandparents, though, who were pretty pissed when they heard what she'd been up to."- can_u_tell_its_me
"My BIL is almost 60 and doesn't eat fruits or vegetables, and he thinks it's funny that his kids and now grandkids are the same."- ohdearitsrichardiii
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"'I once chugged a whole jar of pickle juice and it destroyed the lining of my stomach!'"
"OK, go you, kiddo!"- gtmattz
"Dude, I used to brag about how he keeps his car super clean because he washes it every weekend in front of his house."
"Turns out he tried starting up a car washing business and it went under."
"He has like five years' worth of cleaning supplies that he’s trying to get through."
"That’s why he cleans his car all the time."- LuckyCod2887
"I know this person who has these giant bicep muscles."
"Him and his partner would always brag how they're the biggest in the area."
"But honestly, they look ridiculous."
"Like someone jammed toddler head into his arm, they're huge."
"But it's not proportional to the rest of his body."
"I went home and had a good cackle with my husband about it."- CrabbiestAsp
Workout Flex GIF by Kræftens Bekæmpelse Giphy
We've all achieved things in our lives that we are proud of, and hope we might get even the tiniest bit of recognition for.
At the end of the day, though, it is essential to remember that Pride is one of the seven deadly sins for a reason...
TikToker and "Down There" Dr. Marcy Crouch recently filmed a brief TikTok video, holding a bunched up pair of pants and looking miffed.
She started:
"Somebody... explain this to me."
"I would like to know why, Champion at Target, [why you included] a center pleat?"
Holding eye contact with the camera, Crouch then leans back, revealing her already cute outfit of fitted, light blue pants, and a front-tucked t-shirt with a tiger on it. Still holding eye contact, she pulls the pleated pants on over her blue ones.
When Crouch stands up, the problem with the pants' design becomes immediately obvious.
The pair of pants has two standard side pleats, which typically add definition to the hip area, but by adding a third, center pleat, it obviously points out a woman's vagina, even offering the illusion of one on the outside of the pants.
Who would need X-ray goggles when you could just wear these?
Crouch then models the pants, showing how the pleat moves with her movement of walking, moving her legs around, putting her hands in her pockets, and squatting, all of which further accentuate the visual of the problematic pleat.
At the end of the video, she simply says:
"When I'm talking to you, this is all you'll see."
"Do better."
You can watch the video here:
Some agreed that this was a huge design oversight.
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Others quipped that they'd love to buy these pants just to make other people uncomfortable.
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And who could look at NSFW pants and not make a few NSFW jokes? Here are some of the safer favorites.
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Design flaws will come and go, but there are some articles of clothing that stay in the public memory forever.
While these pants might not be the one, they're definitely a contender.
McCutcheon belted out the iconic "Hit me baby, one more time," while punctuating the words by lightly hitting her steering wheel with her fist.
But then her face turned incredibly serious and her eyes bulged as she put both hands on the wheel.
Based on the tension in the steering wheel and the sound in the video, she seemed to go over gravel or fresh pavement, which can be enough for a car to lose traction, and she held onto the wheel as it pulled to the side, and she corrected.
But then she may have over-corrected as the car pulled in the opposite direction, causing the car to overhang into a ditch, followed by the video being a frantic montage of images as the car flipped over.
Since she was wearing her seatbelt, McCutcheon then appeared in the camera in the upper right-hand corner, reaching down to see if her phone was okay and if she could call for help.
You can watch the video here:
Some were tickled by the irony of the video and the song choice.
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Since the incident and going viral, McCutcheon has posted quite a few humorous edits of the accident footage, as well as the bio:
"I'M OKAY AND THE CAR STILL DRIVES BY THE WAY."
Fortunately for Kaitlynn McCutcheon, she was totally fine after the accident, and her car remained drivable. What could have turned out to be a terrible accident actually turned out to be a laughable moment, largely because of the timing of the song before the crash and even her Bluetooth disconnecting and reconnecting mid-crash.
There's no crime against having a little bit of fun while you're driving, but it's important to strike that balance between safe driving and hitting all the right notes.
And remember: always buckle up!
But nurse and TikToker Lynn Shazeen is now warning people about not drinking too much matcha—or at least being mindful about how much of it you're drinking—after her "matcha obsession era" landed her in the hospital.
In a short teaser TikTok video, Shazeen showed herself sitting in a hospital room, getting bloodwork done and possibly receiving some kind of transfusion.
The voiceover on the video says:
"You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation..."
The rest of the video was then a compilation of photos she'd taken, featuring her various matcha and matcha latte drinks she'd purchased at Starbucks.
The video also featured the text overlay:
"RIP to my matcha obsession era."
You can watch the video here:
Fellow TikTokers of course had a lot of questions, wondering what the connection was between Shazeen purchasing matcha lattes and ending up in a hospital room, since matcha is supposed to be a healthier option for us to drink and enjoy.
In a follow-up video, Shazeen explained that while matcha has a lot of positive health benefits, it also can block iron absorption, leading to mild to severe iron deficiencies.
Shazeen then showed a series of bloodwork panel results she'd received, revealing that her iron levels were incredibly low and that she was very anemic. Immediate iron transfusions had to be done to get her blood levels back up to a somewhat normal level, and she'll have to be monitored to make sure the issue does not persist.
What's really shocking about this is that Shazeen is not even the most frequent matcha drinker, citing that she only drinks it once or twice per month.
The most avid matcha lovers among us need not despair, however. Because matcha blocks absorption, the best time to drink it is two hours before or after you plan to eat, so your body has time to absorb nutrients properly while also enjoying the matcha. Matcha also shouldn't be the very first thing that you consume in the morning, because it can lead to an upset stomach and cause other problems.
Some key symptoms to watch out for if you're concerned about an iron deficiency or anemia are shortness of breath, heart palpitations, irritability, and low energy.
You can watch the follow-up video here:
Fellow TikTokers were a mix of shocked and thankful for the information.
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Though this doesn't mean that matcha is yet another thing that we all have to cut out of our diets, it's an important reminder that there is such a thing as "too much of a good thing," even when it comes to matcha.
Fortunately for matcha lovers, they can still enjoy the taste and its health benefits, as long as they are mindful of the optimal times to drink it throughout the day.
