What is on Keith's tongue?
(Click thumbnail for enlargement)
Keith says:
I'm a regular Boing Boing reader. Here's something that's kinda strange, maybe you can help. Here's a link to a picture of my tongue. Perhaps other Boing Boing readers can help me out.Anyone have an idea of what these things are? Post it in the discussions area.I've had these things hanging under my tongue all my life. Only recently have they been bothering me. I've been accidentally biting them and/or getting them caught on my lower teeth. It hurts a lot when this happens. Nobody else I know has these, except for my 5-year-old son; I figure it's genetic. As an adoptee though, I have limited access to my genetic history. My birth mother says that she doesn't have these. Anyone out there have these? Anyone have them removed? I searched Gray's Anatomy online, and of course have googled, but haven't found anything on this. Any tips or information would be appreciated.
Anyway, if you could post this, cool, I'd like to hear what others have to say about it.
i have something similar under my tongue. my dentist's assistant pointed it out to me once. i have no idea what it is, and it doesn't bother me.
Your tongue is apparently a nudibranch in disguise. They're sneaky like that, but the rhinophores always give them away.
I have those thingies under my tongue as well, would be curious to find what they are.
I have those, too. I thought everyone did, I didn't realize some didn't.
I'll have to check with my family, now. Who else does or doesn't have them? Now I'm fascinated.
I have no idea what they are called, but I have them, and I'm 41. I've never had a problem with mine.
skin tags. I have one on my penis
Seriously. Eww.
That said, I've had those things get inflamed before, but they went back to normal (almost invisible) as soon as I stopped irritating them.
You know, you could always go to one of those... what're they called? Doctors?
I think I can safely say that I never need to see a picture of the underside of someone else's tongue, gross little appendages or not, ever again.
May I ask the obvious question?
Have you asked your doctor?
I thought everyone had these but they were usually stuck to the bottom of the tongue by saliva. Kevin's does seem to be more pronounced than most peoples and also seem to be not stuck down like most peoples'. When I was a youngster friends and I used to enjoy freaking the girls at school out by using our teeth to unstick them (whatever they are) from our tongue and make them hang over our bottom teeth.
keith has unusually large sublingual papilla.
he can probably have them frozen off at the doctor's office.
otherwise, don't worry about them. they aren't a big deal other than the annoyance. the tongue is full of peptides that inhibit infections.
I get one ever now and again. It will swell up and hurt for a couple days and then leave. I've always thought it had something to do with getting my tongue clipped.
i have these! i tried to bite one off.
DO NOT TRY TO BITE THEM OFF
#7. I thought that was a skin tag :-) I'd follow #15's advice.
I really don't expect to see this posted.
I also have these as well.
Just a hypothesis, but I think they may be where your tongue was attached to the bottom of your mouth when your body was being developed in the womb. Then they detach when you are fully formed.
Just a hypothesis.
I don't have these.
I'm surrounded by Cthulhu people!
I believe those are plica fimbriata.
do not be concerned. Everything is perfectly normal and is it should be. Continue in your normal daily routines. Specifically, there is no need to cease the use of any free sample products you may have received in the bathro.. er "mail". If your symptoms are accompanied by any scaliness or shedding of superficial digits, do not be alarmed.
Truly a question for a Doctor... or Yahoo Answers... whichever you take more seriously. My guess, pieces of your lingual frenum that probably detached from the bottom of your mouth while you were being baked in the womb. Sort of like the little nubs you get from plastic injection molds.
I'm adopted too. I don't have these, but, is there a chance you have some catfish in you? I do. MMmmmm
Levity. I hope you have a good day.
To the people that say they don't have them try (gently) scraping the bottom of your tongue on your lower teeth, especially the area of your tongue that Kevin's "dangly bits" are and see if you can loosen them.
Ok. How many people created accounts just to say they had them?
I'm all for the whole "I'm-ok-you're-ok-our-bodies-are-beautiful" stuff, but really. I need a unicorn STAT.
Tongue-Tongue is all tongue.
I am Dr. Mung-Mung.
I don't have those.
Thankyou Boing Boing for injecting this lovely image into my RSS reader. Maybe in future you could keep this kind of thing below the fold?
rhizomes. lots of little tongues on the way if you pack your mouth with earth over night.
I think what you got there is refered to as a "Photoshop"
Q Hey,ya got in Soggoth in ya?
A. umm,no, I don't think so...
Q. ya want some? (slavering leer)
1: I think this is really a sociological interesting thing: A public viewing, including diagnosis. People could open up a blog just for that. People could send in pictures of their irritations, and pther readers could comment on that. It wouldn't be any good without a doctor, though...
2: Why don't you ask a doctor? That's what they're there for and what they studied medicine for.
A personal hint: If it's symmetric, don't worry.
I had no idea, but running my tongue over my bottom teeth I found I have one.
He is spawning via parthogenesis.
Dear BoingBoing, I gashed open my leg doing yard work. Does this look like a lot of blood to you?
I'm pretty sure that this is how Kuato started out. I'd get it looked at if I were you. Unless you WANT a little psychic mouth goblin, in which case I won't judge.
Woo. I'm only a first year med student, well 2nd year as of today, but I think those fimbriae. They are extensions of the plica finbriata. I've seen pictures but yours are actually bigger than any I've seen before. Here are some pics:
http://rdoc.org.uk/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/46510549/m/7471023922
I don't have them.
It looks like miniature upside horns.
Well, once we're doing "I've got a ____ on my ____", click through here. I think this may be the final word on the "I've got a ____ on my _____" thing.
Once we're doing the "I've got a ____ on my ____" thing, click here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/10/baby-born-with-second-pen_n_106316.html
It would be tough to beat that one in the "I've got a ____ on my ____ category".
wait a minute.... aw, I see now, those are broken plastic fork tines you stuck in there just to get a picture!
Huh. Nevermind, on further inspection, it turns I do have them, albeit very small ones.
Also, looking closely at the bottom of my tongue is an experience I never want to repeat.
Gaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!! My eyes, my eyes.
I think I know, the tongue is a symbiont that recently joined up with humans 100,000 years ago. Those are it's atrophied legs. Best not to let it get any ideas.
The next step in human evolution?
I had a flesh tag of some sort on my tongue and clipped it off with nail clippers, which hurt incredibly bad and bled quite a bit.
Try sticking a bit of brass on them, then BB will call it a 'steampunk tongue' and you'll get 2 days exposure!
I'm not a doctor, but I've gone to one on occasion, and I'm pretty sure those are parasitic twins. Usually, the doctor removes those fairly early in a persons' life, unless they are in hidden areas like this one.
If you do have them removed, be sure to at least have a proper burial. After all, they're technically family.
;)
There are several odd things that might happen in your mouth due to a deficiency of B vitamins. I see no taste buds on the side of your tongue, and that is a sure symptom. I suggest you ask your doctor to refer you to a nutritionist. (NOT a dietician!)
My god man! I almost hurled thinking about that. Did they crunch like onions?
doesthislookinfect2u.com hasn't been registered yet....
[*]
congratulations. you're the proud host of a new kind of cymothoa.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymothoa_exigua
I question the motives of the OP. This has turned into a horridly descriptive thread and must be closed down for the sake of the children.
If they suspect that our superpowers are linked to our minor antennae, well... you know this could get ugly real quick.
Best to hide all the references to them.
Remember? That thing where we all agreed?
Kill this thread now, before we all die!
"(Click thumbnail for enlargement)"
As if!
My GOD. Somebody get us a Penguin chaser, STAT. (Yes, I said Penguin. Tired of Unicorns)
sea lice
Now I feel like a mutant because I *don't* have the crazy parasitic twins under my tongue...
Maybe because I was tongue tied?
The real question I have is whether or not dear Keith can tie a cherry stem with them, because that would be extraordinary... If not, bite away!
Unicorn please.
@ #33 - that's my favorite use for 4chan
well now laddie,don't ye be worrying t'all. I've a fresh bucket o tar on the hob and it'll be a-boil afore ye know it!. The blacksmiths lent me his tongs and farrier's pincers and the barber his best lancet. Ye just glug down this grog and we'll gag yer champers at the corners wi a bit o oak. Aye, fret not now, we'll be using the Pratchett Academy standard o surgikal precision: "To within an inch or two and accompanied by lots of hot pitch and screaming"
This has already been covered by BoingBoing: http://www.boingboing.net/2005/09/19/another-picture-of-t.html
(And a tip o' the hat to #52, who beat me to the punchline.)
me again. just checked. i kind of have 'em too, but they're more like long, thin fins or ridges than dangly bits for me. and i can't peel them off with my teeth like everyone says
Dear Poster.
this is quite seriously connected.
see an MD before doing anything.
Despite the size of them remember that your pals on the internet have the same, but on my canine teeth.
can't type
Could this be a sign of old age?
If so, perhaps Keith may see a few trips to the dermatologist in the future.
Just putting it out there.
So we can say that it was mentioned.
When in doubt, do not consult a physician or specialist. Always go straight to the people who know these things -- as Uncle Cecil calls us, the Teeming Masses.
I don't have these . . . things . . . or any trace of anything like them.
yea... those are nothing...
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1273232.ece
I don't have them, you're all mutants.
I've had similar growths in my armpits. they are simply (I'm guessing) cancerous cells. Not the bad kind of cancer, just the kind where a cell or group of cells for one reason or another just keep reproducing and building on top of one another. I had the two in my armpits (both in the same location on each pit) burned off. after about a year they returned. if they are causing you problems you can get them cauterized off. if you do that, I'd be interested to see if they do grow back to see if indeed it is a similar skin growth.
Hey, thanks for the input everyone!
I had doubts that this would even be posted.
But anyway, I beleive these are the "plica fimbriata" or fimbriatae? as mentioned by a few readers above.
Thanks. I had checked with a number of online folks and couldn't find any clue about them.
That Steampunk joke was funny! But I think Cory Doctorow is the only person who cares about that stuff.
Most entertaining comments ever? Yes.
And having said that . . . could they be remora? Better call the local aquarium.
Oh, as for the Dr. recommendation, I did ask a doctor many years ago, and he said it was just some "tissue". This may come as a complete shock to everyone here, but doctors aren't always entirely cluefull. Plus, I don't want to blow the $$$ on an office visit just for this; esp. when expert advice is available for free on the internet!
Keith
Has anyone else done it yet? Oh well...
I am Keith's unusually large sublingual papilla.
That's nothing. I have five. Two big ones, as pictured, then three smaller ones.
Yes I have them. Yes, I have bitten them accidentally. Yes, I almost hurled when I did.
Mine are about as big as OP's.
No, I will not be posting pictures.
Somewhat on topic: The short Lloyd's Lunchbox, by a former coworker, Greg Ecklund
http://youtube.com/watch?v=dMnUfwVj_a0
Not for the squeamish
How about a red panda chaser?
The breathing tubes of the parasite that has replaced your tongue.
Oh, and seriously -- don't bite them or otherwise try to remove them. They're extremely sensitive.
awww, cute! do red pandas eat papillia?
OK Keith, let us know how it turns out, ok?
(he's gonna do something weird with em, you watch)
He's a damn Slan!
Kill the dirty snake!
My name is Keith and I also have had these things.
They use to get caught in my lower teeth too in weird instances.
They disappeared once after puberty, reappeared, and now have disappeared in adulthood. I'm 33 now and they've not been there for at least 5 years.
W E I R D for sure.
I always wondered what they are/were and thought everybody had them and didn't talk about them. Totally connected to nerves cause once I tried to remove one and learned it wasn't going to be easy (pain!).
OK, WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY
K
My name is Keith and I also have had these things.
They use to get caught in my lower teeth too in weird instances.
They disappeared once after puberty, reappeared, and now have disappeared in adulthood. I'm 33 now and they've not been there for at least 5 years.
W E I R D for sure.
I always wondered what they are/were and thought everybody had them and didn't talk about them. Totally connected to nerves cause once I tried to remove one and learned it wasn't going to be easy (pain!).
OK, WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY
K
What IS weird is the number of people who are freaked by a tongue.
We all,-well, pretty much all,-have one.
A tongue.
As for the dangly bits?
Catfish. definitely, I agree.
My brother had something similar. He called it a lip penis. It was just a weird, painless horn of flesh jutting from the inside of his bottom lip. Extremely odd. Went away.
A pair of nail clippers took care of mine.
I HAVE THEM TOO.
Not to worry. We will soon take over the human race and make them our love slaves.
Please do not cut or bite them off. It voids your warranty.
Clearly you should try to lance them with an exacto knife (wipe it with a napkin of course) after administering 6 or 7 shots of distilled "anesthetic"
I've heard of stalagmites, and i've heard of stalactites, but I've never heard of stalagbites. /thinking himself rather amusing indeed.
that's interesting. daniel radcliffe has an interesting tongue as well: http://tinyurl.com/6qddbf
I half expected to be Rick Rolled when I clicked the thumbnail image for enlargement.
I believe that you're a vampire and those tubes are designed to suck your victim's blood directly into your bloodstream. What, you think vampires actually digest blood?!? Of course not!
I thank the great Spaghetti Monster above for BoingBoing -- I laughed out loud at #36! Seriously, you guys rock.
I have them... always thought it had something to do with making babies somehow... ;-)
If you can catch flies with them, I would contact the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.
Didn't "Max Headroom" have a bit about a video doctor doing remote diagnosis, a guy dropping his pants and turning to the TV?
It's official. We're finally 20 minutes into the future.
"I'm a tumor, I'm a tumor! I'm a tumor, I'm a tumor!"
(Family Guy)
I am the sad. I do not have mutant fleshy-horn thingies under my tongue, and I just scraped it damn near raw trying to find them. Do they wave gently, seeking algae or plankton to stuff into...well, some as yet hidden secondary maw under the tongue?
If they could move on their own, that would be the greatest thing I've seen today.
It never occurred to me to email Boing Boing in lieu of going to a doctor when I needed help with medical issues.
Fish Tongue or Lotus Seed Boob. Don't know what gives me worse nightmares
I love this thread.
DO NOT TRY TO BITE THEM OFF
I have these too, slightly smaller. If you get something on your tongue caught just nip it off with a nailclipper or something. Seriously, infection be damned.
@#54, #50 - I nearly snotted out my soda. So Ace. Awesome.
Best of luck, Keith, and I'd listen to #15.
Tentacle hentai tongue, obviously.
oh god...unicorn chaser...please...
They're hanging tongue chads.
I say pierce em. Think of all the added stimulation.
Another one in the dangly sublingual papillae club! Mine don't look like catfish whiskers, tho.
I don't have any, but I suggest you NOT to bite these.
And I see many people who leave comment here are having the same things. You guys can make a club then.
Call Professor Xavier!
#97 -- seriously! that's what metafilter is for.
After consulting with a specialist, I advise you to remove them with Adobe Photoshop.
Skin tags, I'd guess. Someone I know just got some removed. They're genetic, they usually grow in places of high friction (armpits, necks, crotch) and will always grown back, apparently.
i've got one and a half.
i bit my left one in half when i was 12. it really hurt.
Wow, I long ragged strips of thin flesh there, just as if my tongue were formed in a mold. One time a dentist told me that if I kept biting a part of my inner cheek (a nervous habit), I could give myself mouth cancer. If you keep biting them, see a doctor.
Um - how about going to a doctor instead of BoingBoing?
go to a doctor???
where's the fun in that???
Can you make them wiggle or otherwise move? Without moving your tongue otherwise? Now that would be freaky...
Can you pick up radio signals?
Try curling you rtongue back into your throat (be careful - don't swallow) and touch the tip to the nearest filling.
See if you can pick up NPR.
damn someone already beat me to the cymothoa reference.
I guess the "I should ask my doctor" route never occurred to this guy?
I have those tooooo. :333 I used to try to bite them off but yah, it hurts. my sister told me when I was in grade school that our tongues are webbed at birth and doctors cut off the strings leaving the little fleshy bits. haahhahahahah!
I have these, but longer.
To keep them out of the way I hitch them onto my middle nipple.
what?
Just wanted to say, I've got these too. :D
@15
OMG MAN!
You almost made me give my monitor & keyboard a PBR shower =D
AS A DOCTOR!!!
That's no tongue... it's a space station!
Clearly it is Nicotiana persica. Next, you can expect lovely scented white flowers to sprout.
It's probably an alien parasite.
I too have had them . . and one on my penis . . turned off one woman . . an we had condom sex for months, even after I plucked it off . . talk about bleed ! gads . . I just went and sat in the tub for hours! lol
@37
"Open your mind! Open your miiiiinnnnd...."