4hodmt comments on Open thread, Jan. 25 - Jan. 31, 2016

[4hodmt]

I stopped biting my nails (coating them in a bitter substance to remind myself not to bite them if I tried) and I did not make any replacement habit. I don’t have a “habit of not biting my nails” any more than I have a habit of breathing. It happens automatically without conscious effort, so calling “not biting nails” a habit is misusing the word.

[Brillyant]

This is why I mentioned the definition of “habit” in my comment.

I don’t have a “habit of not biting my nails”… It happens automatically without conscious effort...

From Wikipedia:

“A habit (or wont) is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur unconsciously.”