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Friday Fun Thread for October 9, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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This is my personal average restaurant experience of the spiciness scales in the US.

Rating Thai place example Indian place example BWW example
🌶️🌶️🌶️ Crying while eating (only available if ordered with a majority-brown group) Pray for your butthole Vindaloo (only available if ordered with a majority-brown group) Blazin'® or Wild®
🌶️🌶️ Ordered "spicy" with a majority-white group Madras Mango Habanero™
🌶️ Labeled "spicy" with no waitress warning Tikka Masala Asian Zing®
White people: black pepper is too spicy Not labeled "spicy" Korma Honey BBQ

I skipped a bunch of the BWW spiciness scale, but everything below Asian Zing on that scale is hardly spicy, IMO.

Impressive. Paging @ToaKraka to assess your mad formatting skillz.

I (a Finn) once made the near-fatal mistake of ordering a "two chili" dish in an Indian restaurant in England. BAD mistake. After a while I was sweating in pain and it looked so bad the waiter asked me several times if I was ok. I finally got some relief when I asked if they had any milk (it was not on the list) and I will never forget the look of pity on his face when he said "Of course, sir, just a moment". Next morning was pretty bad but nowhere near as bad as eating it was.

If you run into this again at an Indian restaurant, order some yogurt or raita. They'll have it for sure, and it will moderate the spice the best.

The only (non-novelty) food I've had that made me feel physically sick from the spiciness was at an Indian restaurant. We were having dinner with a group of Indian classmates. I don't know if they told the waiter something as a form of hazing or if that was just the normal spice level. I'm pretty accustomed to spicy food, so I managed to eat it, but the next morning was slightly worrying.

My chili tolerance has always been limited more by the physical irritation of mucous membranes than the pain. It's a whole different thing to try to keep eating when your head is clogging up compared to when it just hurts.