@Knixon said:

Watching the "flashback" episode again where Leonard first moves into the apartment, it seems odd that Sheldon would include "coitus" among the terms since it's basically beyond his thinking.

Although it is assumed that Sheldon is a 'virgin' before he met Amy, he does know about "coitus". He'll have read all about it and also seen others - 'caught them in the act' - do it.

Even given that he had previous roommates that might have triggered the subject, doesn't it seem likely that Sheldon's roommate agreement would simply state "no coitus?" And perhaps even "no female visitors?"

Sheldon never does anything simple. Any agreement must be as complete as possible and anything he can think of will be included, especially when it benefits him. He will even go as far as writing a new and improved one if the previous one contains loopholes that can be exploited by someone like Priya.

Well, none of that was actually required, since Sheldon includes "I settle all ties" in the Roommate Agreement. So really he always gets what he wants. The Roommate Agreement could basically be two lines: "We vote on anything/everything." and "I settle all ties." The only reason to have anything else detailed is to specify some of his demands before separate votes.

Like so many other things in the show, the whole thing about the Roommate Agreement was a set-up to make jokes that didn't really fit - and didn't HAVE TO fit - with the characters as presented. Another example being Sheldon's "eidetic memory" which he has when it's convenient, and when the jokes call for him to not have it, he doesn't. Why would he need to keep an Enemies List on a floppy disk, for example? Well, it was just something else they could write jokes about.

I suppose that Sheldon did "know about" coitus since he caught his father doing it. But it does seem like the kind of thing he would exclude in the Roommate Agreement since he would never anticipate doing it himself, and he wouldn't want anyone else doing it anywhere near him or his rooms either.

@Knixon said:

Like so many other things in the show, the whole thing about the Roommate Agreement was a set-up to make jokes that didn't really fit - and didn't HAVE TO fit - with the characters as presented. Another example being Sheldon's "eidetic memory" which he has when it's convenient, and when the jokes call for him to not have it, he doesn't. Why would he need to keep an Enemies List on a floppy disk, for example? Well, it was just something else they could write jokes about.

Almost everything is a set-up. Sheldon is certainly not a consistent character. And neither are the others. That and the - somewhat annoying - contradictions in behaviour and situations in different episodes seem to make the show funny enough for most viewers. I can't remember ever really bursting out in laughter. I might smile, sigh or just grumble whenever I notice these inconsistencies. I don't have an eidetic memory, so most of these occurences are just a blur in my mind, like the Flash whizzing past me.