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Crime

30th Jul 2021

Police called to fight between two housemates because ‘one of them was chewing too loudly’

Kieran Galpin

Being grossed out by chewing is apparently a medical condition

Living with a group of people can be heaven on earth or glorified hell. Sometimes, your housemate makes an obscene amount of noise, or perhaps they are ridiculously messy and leave fast-food containers littered on every surface. But for West Sussex police, the cause of a housemate ruckus could not have been more simple.

Being called out to a property in Burgess Hill, where inspector Darren Taylor describing it as a ‘somewhat tense situation’, police were faced with a domestic situation caused by one party chewing too loudly.

“Team attended a somewhat tense situation yesterday in BHill as two tenants in shared accommodation were reported to be fighting each other…due to one of them eating their food too loudly? After separating them, neither wanted to make any allegations apart from the food issue,” tweeted inspector Darren Taylor.

One Twitter user told the inspector that this condition is called Misophonia, which is described as the emotional or Psychological responses to certain sounds such as chewing. Those who have misophonia usually describe it as when a sound “drives you crazy.” Their reactions can range from anger and annoyance to panic and the need to flee.  The disorder is sometimes called selective sound sensitivity syndrome.

So next time you are hanging out with friends, perhaps eat soup or just a pot of hummus. The last thing you want is to be eating, and suddenly your best friend becomes enraged and launches themselves across the room. Suddenly, you are faced with fighting your friend until the police show up. So, to avoid all that heartache, opt for a liquid lunch and for heaven’s sake, don’t go for the crisps.

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