Do you have any idea what life would have been like without the tongue? Yes, I said the tongue, that always almost forgotten organ caged inside your mouth. Whoever thinks of the tongue, apart from when you mistakenly bite it while eating, Oh my god! talk of mind-numbing pain. Well, today I will tell you a couple of things you may not have known about our constantly wet friend.
Here we go, please feel free to share:
- The tongue can be used for biometric identification:
In simple terms, it is the best way to identify a person, just like a fingerprint, the tongue print can act as an identification tool. Just think about it, the tongue is forever always in the mouth and so there is no way for anyone to forge the print.
- The tongue is a Workaholic:
There is no rest for the wicked, I’m not suggesting the tongue is wicked, but it does not get to rest at all. When eating, the organ helps in the mixing process of food. When you are talking, the tongue bends and contorts itself to form alphabets and letters. Even when we are asleep, the tongue constantly pushes saliva down our throat so we don’t choke.
- It is a natural food cleaner:
It clears the food from the teeth as soon as you eat, it sweeps around your mouth using the tip of the tongue to search for any hidden food particles.
- The tongue is extremely sexist:
Gender issues still come to play when dealing with tongue? Haba. It is reported that on an average, the women have shorter tongues than men, an adult man’s average tongue length is 3.3 inches (8.5 cm), and an adult woman’s average tongue length is 3.1 inches (7.9 cm).
That organ is probably the strongest part of the human body. It’s the only muscle in our body that has one end that moves freely, unattached to any other body structures and at its other end attached to eight other muscles. All the bodybuilders can’t beat the amount of strength put together.
- The tip of your tongue is very sensitive:
The tip of your tongue is very sensitive because it determines the mechanical characteristic of the food. Want to know, try placing a fish bone at the tip with your eyes closed, the tip would calculate its size and density in seconds.
- The tongue is an aquatic tissue:
It can only detect taste when there’s saliva that allows for moistness, it becomes incapable of identifying taste when dry.
- The tongue houses bacteria:
The tongue stores lots of bacteria, so it is advisable to wash your tongue very well to kill extra bacteria hiding on your tongue. The bacteria accumulate between the taste buds and other tongue structures and can lead to bad breath and tooth damage.
- Sticking Out Your Tongue is a Form of Respect:
Remember when we were flogged for sticking out our tongues because it was considered an act of rudeness in many Nigerian cultures, well now you can confidently do so if you want to increase intercultural relations. In Tibet to be precise, it is used as a form of greeting, a sign of respect to others.
- The tongue heals very fast:
It’s fun to know that it heals faster than any other part of the body, which is why when you bite yourself, you don’t feel it after a while, although the initial pain is not funny at all, after a while though, it goes for good.
Can we now say that the “Cat got your tongue” with all these facts? Just so you know, the expression “has the cat got your tongue?” can be traced to ancient Egypt, where the tongue of blasphemers was cut off and fed to cats. Another story traces the origin to 2500 years ago in ancient Assyria, a time when conquered soldiers and criminals had their tongues cut off and fed to the king’s cat. whichever one is correct, if any, a cat got the tongue.
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This article was first published on 27th October 2017
adepeju
Adepeju Adenuga is a writer (considering where you are reading this, makes perfect sense). She holds a Masters Degree in Literature in English from the University of Lagos.
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