David K. Israel
My first _flosser sighting!
by David K. Israel - July 31, 2010 - 11:43 AM


I’ve lived in Los Angeles for five years. I’ve also been writing for mental_floss for five years. Somehow it took five years to spot my first _flosser on the streets! I was parking my car on Beverly Blvd when I saw this nice, young gal walking toward me in one of our best-selling tees. Her name is Jennifer and she has this to say:

Great to meet you yesterday. I bragged about my near-Hollywood encounter all day!
I tell my dentist I floss daily thanks to you (I’m sure that cheesy joke doesn’t get old)

The moral? It pays to wear our shirts out in the real world! If we spot you, we might just grant you 15 minutes of online fame. ;-)

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Comments (12)

  1. if you liven in East Baton Rouge, you’d see my dad wearing his “I’m no Rocket Surgeon” shirt…lol

    best father’s day gift!

    posted by MamaBug on 7-31-2010 at 12:32 pm

  2. I saw a young woman at the zoo (no, not an exhibit!) a couple weeks ago with “I’m an English major, you do the math!” shirt on and wasn’t sure how to approach her about being a fellow-flosser. Is there a signal or a code to identify myself as not to freak her out? Should I have said “Floss On!” and simply walked away?! Help!!

    posted by Marty on 7-31-2010 at 4:29 pm

  3. I think it entirely depends on, unfortunately, how cute she is and how old you are. No guy wants to be seen as creepy. I would have said, “nice shirt,” and then, “I’m an honorary member of the Professional Organization of English Majors.” THEN walked on.

    posted by Tim S. on 7-31-2010 at 6:28 pm

  4. I used the “English Major” line while working on a mountain bike trail project. Most of my compatriots are nuke workers, they loved it. I will use “Rocket Surgery” next time.

    posted by gus on 7-31-2010 at 6:30 pm

  5. Actually, a few months ago was when someone finally recognized one of the Mental Floss tshirts I own .

    It was the long sleeved Pavlov and I actually was wearing it to my DENTIST when I was having some gum work (ugh!) done.

    I was in the elevator AFTER said procedure when a young woman told me she really likes MF’s shirts.

    posted by Amy on 7-31-2010 at 6:52 pm

  6. If I can figure how to get the pics I take w/ Mac ‘Photo Booth’ to show correctly, I’ll be happy to model the ‘Pavlov’, plus ‘English Major’, ‘Lady MacBeth’, ‘Comma Sutra’, ‘Ambiguity’, and ‘Praise Cheeses’…

    posted by Amy on 7-31-2010 at 6:59 pm

  7. open your photo booth and drag it to the desktop, then you have a file to upload–macs are easy as 3.14159

    posted by Wayne on 8-1-2010 at 4:14 pm

  8. Now I really, really want a shirt…even more! :-)

    posted by Gummie on 8-1-2010 at 9:26 pm

  9. Thanks Wayne, I’ve actually done this… what I mean is, so the writing shows/reads like it’s supposed to (not mirror image)

    posted by Amy on 8-1-2010 at 9:47 pm

  10. I’ve gotten a lot of compliments on my sqrt(-1) <3 Math shirt – always fun to find people who enjoy the nerdy/witty jokes as much as we do :)

    posted by Debbie on 8-2-2010 at 1:39 am

  11. I took my three youngest daughters to the dentist last week. We were discussing dental hygiene for their benefit, and I think I said “mental floss” at least three times when it should have been dental floss.

    posted by Miss Cellania on 8-2-2010 at 10:51 am

  12. I rock both the english major and comma sutra shirts, and I use the phrase “it’s not rocket surgery” or a variation of it at least once a week. I should get that shirt.

    posted by Caitlin on 8-2-2010 at 11:48 am

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