The first time my 11-year-old got a bloody tongue from licking a Tootsie Pop, we thought it was a fluke. The second time it happened, we examined the Tootsie Pop and figured out that the voids that had formed in the pop had sharp edges. Anyone else have this happen to them?
A new video game called Mass: We Pray brings new family fun to those who can't wait until Sunday to go to church. It has a cross-shaped motion-sensing controller reminiscent of a Wiimote, and you can collect "grace points" in order to unlock holy mysteries. The release date is slated for Spring 20... More.
In the "social experiment" to end all "social experiments", a Minnesota father claims he put his computational linguistics Ph.D. to good use by speaking Klingon--and only Klingon--to his baby. Yes, for the first three years of its life, this kid was subjected to in-real-life parental trolling. The s... More.
Jacques Vallee is a computer scientist, partner in a venture capital firm, and author of more than 20 books, including Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers, The Invisible College, and The Network Revolution. When it was revealed that the U.S. resorted to torture to extract inform... More.
Remember the June 2005 Supreme Court eminent domain ruling that gave Pfizer Pharmaceutical the right to bulldoze a housing neighborhood in Connecticut to make way for a $300 million private development project? Some of the homeowners didn't want to give up their homes but Pfizer took them to c... More.
"Bhaiya," a Hindi word meaning "big brother," has remarkable nuance, depending on how it is spoken and to whom. Dave Prager catalogs some of these inflections in a recent article on his life-in-India blog, "Our Delhi Struggle." Jenny tasted the power of bhaiya while watching friends negotiate with... More.
RSS Feed
Yeouch. Never happened to me, but then again I always lick twice then bite.
Your child seems to be licking Tootsie Pops with an unheard-of vigor.
Yes! But years and years ago - suck away the bulk of the sugar and bubbles form concave negative faces, perfect little blades. Getting cut is kinda rare though. I recommend crunching them up.
Tootsie pops contain flukes?? Eewwww.
I never got a bleeding cut from it, but I do remember them developing rather sharp edges.
Solution - give her a broken beer bottle to gnaw on, for practice - it's like the donut ball players put on the bat when they're on deck, or the beard of an olympic swimmer. Once she can chew on that without cutting her tongue, tootsie-pops will be super easy to deal with!
Practice Glass - by the same people who brought you 'drop a brick on your foot if your arm hurts'.
Yeah, I remember being cut by them more than once. I'm not one to cry "sue!", but as a general rule anything that draws blood deserves a complaint via letter or phone call.
If it hurts, don't lick so hard.
Aww man, you just started a new
High-School-vampire-lollipop-make-out fad.
Apparently this has happened to other people:
http://sugarholic.blogspot.com/2006/09/caramel-tootsie-pop.html
Yeah, this isn't all that uncommon. It can happen with many different kinds of hard candy, depending on how they're eaten. It's kind of something that one learns to recognize and avoid pretty quickly. Part of growing up.
Yup. Happened all the time when I was a kid, especially when I tried to answer the question about "how many licks" to get to the center. Yeow.
I never cut my tongue, but Tootsie Pops can do a number of the roof of my mouth, though.
Yep, this is a tootsie hazard. No idea why. Your kid should do what I did as a kid, run the razor-sharp edges against your teeth to grind'em down. And tell her not to suck so hard.
You have to lick these very carefully, sadly. The ones with gum in them I recall as less hazardous--but this may be wrong, as I liked the gum ones better, so I may just not be remembering the hazard as well, given that they gave me more joy.
I can't believe how well I remember this.
they often have a wedge-slit that tapers to a point, so she might have licked that part and got it stuck. ew. poor thing, i guess she never gets to the middle of the pop!
"Is this forever?"
Sorry, couldn't resist....
Blowpops too, can sore your tounge if you eat them wrong.
I just crush em w/ my teeth when they get to that point. :)
Did I mention my dentist has a 4th kid going through an Ivy league school?
Cut me once- shame on you.
Cut me in two places before I can even be persuaded to put down the candy- shame about childhood onset type 2 diabetes.
It's one of the perils of that sort of lollipop. Pretty much any hard candy can wind up with sharp edges, really.
Yes! Its the worst thing ever.
I always remember sharp edges on lollipops---the trick is to put the pop in your mouth and gently move it around for a while until your saliva dissolves the sharp edges into somewhat smoother ones. At least, that's what I always do.
Yes - I loved those when I was little and cut my tongue on them regularly. They got sharp - but the pain was worth it. Now that I think about it, the salty blood taste complemented the sweetness and sort of added an addictive complexity to the whole experience.
write them (real old-school pen and paper style)and complain. we did it years ago while tripping on acid, telling them we'd found "strange insect eggs" in some Lemon Head candy. The payout was a MASSIVE box of free candy and a form letter assuring us of strict quality controls in place. SO, you'll probably get more tootsie pops...
Kids these days. Used to be they could at least be trusted to eat a piece of dang candy without hurting themselves. Not any more, apparently.
Personally, I blame the face book.
I've had this happen with candy canes. I've found that the red stripe running through the traditional candy cane to dissolve faster than the white candy, leaving a groove with a razor edge running down the length of the cane. Ouch.
I've noticed the sharp edges before, but I guess I had enough good sense (or the dexterity) not to cut myself with them (usually chomped them down with the back teeth if they got too dangerous).
yep! it happens if you suck on them too hard or lick too forcefully. I'd generally cut the top of my mouth.
You should sue. If an old lady can get millions for spilling hot coffee on herself, you should get compensation for this.
Any hard sugar candy that has air mixed in will create the bubbles. When you wear these bubbles down, you create sharp edges. I always thought people used the edge of a tooth to smooth the sharp when it formed.
I've cut my tongue on tootsie pops and other suckers and hard candies so much that I generally stay away from them altogether.
Yeah, you can cut your mouth on a lot of foods. Just don't lick with vigor or suck too hard.
I've noticed the sharp edges on Tootsie Pops since I was a child - it's probably my tongue's favourite part of their geography. I've never seen anyone hurt themselves on one, though. I think he got a little too fascinated with the sharp edges, perhaps...
I remember the sharp edges when I used to eat them.
Four words: you're doing it wrong.
yes, this has happened to me many times over the years. it's just a risk with this style of hard candy.
and how much more broken/frustrating can the bb login process be? we as humans have had ways of logging in that don't lose currently-typed posts for at least a couple of years now.
how much more broken/frustrating can the bb login process be?
Is that a dare?
"Any hard sugar candy that has air mixed in will create the bubbles. When you wear these bubbles down, you create sharp edges." -> my thoughts, exactly. Well, not exactly: in much nicer words :)
I think the letter of complaint is a good option.
Never had this happen with a Tootsie Pop, but am aware of the v-shaped surface slits, and you can feel how sharp the edges of them are when you explore them with the tip of your tongue.....(oh grow up!)
Back in the day that the McDonald's Cherry Pies were deep fried as opposed to warmed ("baked") they often formed big surface bubbles on them. I popped the center of the bubble out on one of them, and licked the crater. I sliced my tongue on that, in a quite similar fashion. I never once considered that lawsuit material, but rather proof that I was an idiot for doing such a thing, and deserved exactly what I got!
Be more careful with the sugar treats in the future!
Tootsie Pops caused my cleft tongue.
All the time when I was a kid.
Always close to happening everytime I have one. Sharp sugar edges abound....
don't buy the "Shattered Brandy Snifter Flavour".
Seriously, please don't write the company to complain or sue. It's hard candy, if you suck on it too hard the little spaces can scrape or cut you. As noted above, candy canes will do the same thing.
All it takes is to eat the candy slightly different next time. I think some people naturally eat tootsie pops a certain way where it can scrape your tongue or mouth and I'm one of them.
PLEASE don't make candy manufacturers have to stop producing hard candy. It tastes good.
Yep, happens all the time, you just need to be a little more careful. I either roll the lollipop around in my mouth without licking to wear the edges off, or I bite down on the candy to break the edges.
To all of those people who suggest writing angry letters: you're the kind of people they poke fun of in this Onion article:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/fun_toy_banned_because_of_three
Yep, any hard candy can do this if there's a good sized air bubble.
"Anyone else have this happen to them?"
No, but it's my 9th greatest fear!
You bet. Even wrote a story on an old blog about it:
http://fracture98.blogspot.com/2004/11/lick-it-up.html
Just don't buy the Hepatitis flavored ones and you'll likely be okay.
Also, to those recommending letters of complaint: the bigger the fuss made about something like this, the more likely it its to be banned by the TSA.
yes. this happens to me almost every time I eat a tootsie-pop
Only once and never again. It was one of those 5 inch carnival sized lollipops. I first noticed that all the white stripes were turning red, then looked in the mirror of my dad's car and found I had cut all the tastebuds on the top of my tongue, ALL.
I started to freak out. Thankfully, quick thinking dad pulled into a gas station and traded my lollipop for a couple of popsicles that deadned the pain.
For God's sake, man! Don't let him eat Captain Crunch!
The horror! The horror!
This always happens to me with any style of hard candy or cough/throat lozenge (which seems ironic in the latter case.) I tend to cut and bruise easily, so maybe that's true of my internal surfaces as well, but I can't have a Jolly Rancher, Hall's Lozenge, or Wenworth's without at least one jagged edge snagging a tongue or cheek.
Yeah, I also vote with the "just be more careful."
I'm envisioning a nightmarish parental campaign to ban hard candies everywhere for risk of danger to kids.
:(
A childhood w/o candy canes is a sad thing
Yep. I can't remember getting cut too often, if ever at all. But Tootsie Pops, Blow Pops, etc. always get those sharp edges. There's nothing different about them now than 20 years ago. I hope nobody decides to get litigious.
Man, I used to get "sugar cuts" all the time (I ate a lot of candy as a child). It's like having a paper cut inside your mouth. Just be glad it wasn't a sour candy -- that hurts when the acid hits the cuts.
Anyway, there's not really much you can do. Sometimes, it helps if you don't move the candy too much in your mouth. Other than that -- stick to non-hard candy?
Yes, I've been cut w a tootsie pop or a similar sucker.
You shouldn't be so stingy w the candy and she wouldn't devour them so.
Tootsie Pops are just a gateway drug to Supercool.
By any chance, does she get a rough tongue when eating hard grains? Like stone ground tortilla chips or anything else? I have a condition - geographic tongue - that cuts my tongue on semi sharp edges when others are not affected, and I am also affected by hard grain particles such as chips and other items with semi sharp edges. If she is, have her see a dermatologist -
I read “Tortoise poop”, my bad.
But yes, as a child I managed to make my lips and tongue bleed on ice lollies on a number of occasions.
I thought that a) it was so cold that it’d frozen to my lips and taken some of the skin away and b) I suck at pretty much everything.
This has troubled me for some years, so thanks.
Geographic tongue is one of the coolest condition names I've ever heard.
#33-
That's what she said.
yes this happened to me and yes I too found the sharp edges. Its not on every pop as far as I know but it does seem to be on a lot of them, and yes a slice on your tongue sucks more than a paper cut. Just my two cents but its likely a flaw made due to some budget cuts or change in manufacturer. I never had this problem as a kid or young adult, its only recently Ive noticed the flaw in the candy. oh and yes Ive also had this happen from candy canes, a slight crack forms between two colors and the same thing happens.
No Tootsie Pops in New Zealand. I do remember cylindrically shaped lollipops that acted as slide whistles and that developed sharp little holes following licking.
Once, when I was young enough that I was in a car seat & being driven to Montessori day care, I noticed that I'd licked my lime lollipop from the bank into a sharp scythe shape, and wondered if it would cut my tongue. It did. I cried.
Used to happen to me all the time as a kid so I stopped eating hard candy entirely. Oddly, I seem to have a propensity for paper-cutting myself. I lick a pudding lid, cut tongue. Open a piece of mail, cut finger. Open a plastic case, sliced hand. I have a paper cut curse.
Oh, yeah, you always had to watch out for that...keeps your tongue on its toes! There were no helmets for lollipops when I was growing up...not toooo long ago.
but if you really want a painful delight, try the products from this company: http://candyaddict.com/blog/2006/10/19/monty-pythons-whizzo-chocolate-company/
I bet Mr. Owl was behind this...
yea that happened to me pretty much every time i had a hard lollipop, didn't matter if it was tootsie pop or not.
Yes - this just recently happened to me..
I, a 48 year old woman*, was content at my desk beginning to enjoy a Tootsie-Pop...and my tongue got stuck on a shard. No where else to go but 'slice'.
So... at my desk, with a bloody tongue...I put a sign on the Tootsie-Pop bowl:
"Warning: Suck Reponsibly - Tootsie Pops can cut your tongue"
*I put in my age to show that even responsible adults can cut their tongue on a Tootsie Pop
It happens to me yet, and I'm 37 - happened to me as a kid and of course growing up. Don't eat hard candies but rarely now for nausea, don't eat most cereals for the same reason.
It's not geographic tongue, it's not overly vigorous licking, it's just sensitive skin. I bet the kid has trouble with getting bandages off too.
Yeah, this happens to lots of people. It's supposed to happen. It's a cull.
On a related note, I was once killed by a tongue-sharpened candy cane.
No, I've built up resistance through years of Captain Crunch consumption.
Totally. The collapsed bubbles form sharp edges. If you aren't careful you can easily cut yourself.
I don't think I've ever bled, but I was definitely cut many a time as a child eating Tootsie Pops and other candies. I remember a bowl of Rocky Road ice cream cutting a thin strip of skin clean off of the inside of my cheek.
In the entirety of my youth never have I
been cut by a lolly-pop/sucker, or what have you.
Perhaps children these days have reduced capacity for 'sense of touch' in their mouths.
Darwin is knocking...
Well after my above post, I went and had a Tootsie Pop. Guess what?! I cut my damned tongue on the thing! Bleeding and all... :/
It happens to me nearly every time I have one.
Warning - candy may form sharp edges around air pockets. Consume candy product gently. Warning - many of our chicken products contain chicken bones. Do not attempt to eat the bones, or injury could occur. Warning - cake is very dry. Laughing or breathing while consuming the cake may cause choking if cake crumbs are inhaled into the lungs. Warning - (etc, ad nauseam)
sometimes you just gotta let natural selection take its toll. warning labels contribute to weaknesses in the gene pool
rattlesnake venom can be consumed without harm if you have no cuts in your gums (or stomach ulcers).
They should include venom in the candy formula to teach children caution
This is nothing compared to getting a Dorito tip stuck between your tooth and gum.
Yes, I remember them doing that to my tongue when I was young. Sometimes the hard candy doesn't fill the mold and the air pockets become sharp if you do not break/bite them.
Of course you would think that Tootsie would have a warning label about such dangers. j/k
Great, another food to keep away from my flatmate. A man who routinely works with sharpened scalpels, a Dremel tool and a sewing machine without injury but I've watched him cut his mouth open on a fucking sandwich. It wasn't even toasted!
Dum Dums have the same air holes. I've had that happen a couple time. Doesn't hurt though. Once you know it can happen you can be more careful.
I'm sure someone will sue those companies eventually (Poor little johnny was scarred for life by the deadly accident) and we'll either won't have lollipops anymore or the price will shot up.
I thought it only took three licks to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?
Yes, it happened when I was a kid... Nothing new.
I've had this happen to me too. almost with all hard candies.
but usually i don't lick, i just have the candy in my mouth and kinda suck. it helps.
but the cuts are annoying.
there's probably nothing the manufacturer can do about it. maybe a warning label?
These sorts of sharp edges are very common in any form of pulled boiled sugar sweets. "pulling" the sweets traditionally is done by hand, but these days is mostly done by machines.
The pulling process forms the sugar solution into hundreds of very thin, compressed strands, which can give the candy a beautiful sheen (this is where the shine in candy canes, humbugs, and Tootsie pops come from), but also introduces miniscule gaps between the strands, which can sometimes result in sharp edges.
My subjective experience is that I've encountered far fewer sharp edges in hand-pulled sweets than in machine-pulled sweets. But I don't have any good explanation for why that might be; logically, there should be no difference.
Regardless, you shouldn't ever encounter these sharp edges in non-pulled boiled sweets. (Toffee and butterscotch are good examples of similar boiled sweets which are not typically pulled)
This is NOT new. Happened to me several times as a kid many, many moons ago.
This happened quite often! sometimes they hurt but usually they were so sharp you never felt it. Not quite as bad as the captain crunch palate carnage I endured to enjoy that sadistic cereal!
It's called a lollygash.
This has happened to me on numerous occasions ... I try to be careful, and am sometimes a glutton when it comes to tootsie pops, but I can only eat 2 before I'm in too much pain to continue.
I learned early on that they are dangerous...but they're hard to avoid.
I've experienced that too, but lately I've had more of a problem with Lifesavers. Especially the fruit or tropical ones. If you don't crunch them, eventually the ring will wear down and open up, creating a very sharp point on each end where the ring dissolved. I always seem to poke my tongue and have it bleed with those. Then I crunch it up, wishing I'd done it sooner.
Happened to me last week. I took the stick out my sucker and a few minutes later it had formed into a mandoline-like blade that my tongue got caught and cut in.
Also, as a kid I used to sharpen my candy canes to a point that would draw blood. Never put my eye out, though.
I never usually "licked" them i usually just sucked on them, but i remember cutting my tongue once or twice... when the bubbles would open it would make some sharp edges... not a big deal, never bothered me, never bled that much either. Actually as a kid i thought it was pretty hardcore, to cut my tongue on my candy.
-phuc
That has always been the way of the Tootsie Pop. I was a sucker, so it was the roof of my mouth that would always get cut.
Just dont lick with the tip of the tongue, and be more careful, kid!
Also, does that child drink a lot of coke perchance?
YEEEESSSSS...but instead of cutting my tongue, the little, razor sharp edges cut the roof of my mouth! oowwww!!!
oooooo sounds harsh i just cut my tongue licking a cup. dont ask me why.take A TISSUE PAPER and put pressure on your daughters tongue if blood dosnt stop coming by 15 minutes i wood call the doctor
No. But I remember captain crunch scraping the roof of my mouth until it was raw.
As a kid you learn your way around the rough edges of hard candy to avoid this. Somewhere around the time you hear you shouldn't run with a sucker in your mouth or scissors....
I googled and found this site. I complained to the company, and only received a blah blah email. I hadn't eaten them in a long time. The problem seems to be their equipment that is supposed to settle the candy and get out the air bubbles. I have another cut on the roof of my mouth that I got today.
I am going to recontact them and let them know there are whole sites about this subject.
I always get sores on my tongue. I would complain to them.
they do have sharp edges i only got cut once there is no reason to complian