Scritching
Alright, all you furs out there, got a question: Do you unconciously scritch your non-furry friends? I’ve caught myself doing this to just about everyone I’m close to, and I have to wonder if this is something that just happens from being around openly-affectionate furs a lot, or if it’s just me. One of my closest non-furry friends (who strangely knows nothing of the furry fandom) said something to me about being too touchy-feely for his liking all of a sudden, and I didn’t realize I was doing it!
Also, yesterday I was driving downtown to get my car inspected, and Sandy pointed out a car that said “yiff” on the license plate sitting in a parking lot. So, we dropped off the car and went for a walk back to that parking lot, and sure enough, there it sat. A 2001 Ford Focus sedan, silver, Virginia “Animal Friendly” plates YIFF, Harrisonburg city registration sticker, with an Apple sticker on the back. Has anyone seen this car, or happen to know who it is? I can’t imagine that a non-fur would get plates like that, but with a local registration sticker it’d have to be someone with a Harrisonburg address. College students don’t have Harrisonburg registration stickers. I mean, I’ve searched Pounced.org, the Furry Proximity locator, Yahoo profiles, MSN profiles, and every message board and mailing list under the sun, and found no furs at all within a 1-hour radius. So if there’s another fur around here, it’d be huge earth-shattering news 
May 1st, 2004 at 10:42:05
you can scritch me *murrrrr*
May 1st, 2004 at 11:25:09
Definitely not. Outside the fandom, and even for many people on the inside, touching people you haven’t established that level of relationship with yet is a no-no. It makes me very uncomfortable when an acquaintance or someone I just met puts their hands on me via uninvited scritching, backrub, and the like. That’s a signal that they want to attain some level of physical interaction.
May 1st, 2004 at 12:02:07
Or, evidently, it just means that they’ve developed a bad scritching habit. =)
I found myself wanting to scritch non-furry friends too, but as far as I recall I’ve never actually done it, especially not by accident. In your case, Felix, you’ll just have to start training yourself not to scritch. :/ *slurps*
May 1st, 2004 at 13:49:35
I have a few non-fur friends I talk to online, and I find myself wanting to hug, scritch, pounce…whatever I can sometimes, I’ve never slipped up…but I came close a few times.
“Wait…he’s not a fur…better backspace all that snuggling”
lol, and as for the car…why didn’t you leave a note or something? I don’t think he/she woulc consider you to be a freak for wanting to meet local furs.
May 1st, 2004 at 15:30:46
I might have, but thinking about it makes it seem a bit odd “Hey, I like your license plate, send me an email sometime”. There’s still that 1% that it wasn’t a fur at all, just a wild coincidence. I’m a wuss when it comes to such things, but I might go by there again to see if that car is around, might be someone who works in the area.
May 1st, 2004 at 15:32:22
I’m not talking about strangers, I’m talking about close friends & family. I get weird about strangers putting their paws all over me as well, but it’s cool with people I know.
May 2nd, 2004 at 0:24:59
If I were you and I saw that car again, I’d definitely leave a note under the windshield wiper, something along the lines of: “Wanna chat with a local wolfie? E-mail: felix@whatever.com” And see what happens. It couldn’t hurt.
May 2nd, 2004 at 19:19:56
Yeah, I should have done that, if that wasn’t a fur it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve made a fool of myself.
[remembers the time he asked one of the fundie Christian guys out on a date]
May 3rd, 2004 at 10:32:38
Felix, I don’t know why I get to say this, but you’d be surprised at how many Furs live in Virginia…mainly Blacksburg…which shouldn’t be too far away from Harrisonburg. I’m basically and hour and a half away from you…I think.
May 3rd, 2004 at 17:27:56
Blacksburg is a LONG way from Harrisonburg. I’ve yet to hear a definitive answer as to exactly how far, having never been there myself, but the estimates I usually see range from four to six hours.
May 5th, 2004 at 9:13:52
Actually, it’s a fairly serious problem for me now. I scritch my ex-girlfriend (non-furry) when I’m at home visiting sometimes, out of habit, and it really freaks her out. It’s kind of funny, really.
August 9th, 2005 at 13:16:44
In the last two years I have seen a black VW bug with “BLKSHP” plates and a black tail hanging out the trunk, a green Mustang with “HOWLING” plates, a jeep with “SEAOTER” plates (I asked and she worked for Ocean Journey), and a Ford with “Bearfur”. For BLCKSHP and BEARFUR, I left a note that says “Are you a furry? Let’s talk!” with my email and phone number. Only BEARFUR replied, out of curiosity, but nothing came of it.
Any time I see anything that is obviously furry (even if they don’t know it), I make my best efforts to make contact. It would be a shame to have a fellow fur go about life unaware that there’s a community within their locale.