Ask YC: Can you control the lizard-spit function?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=481577

by jsomers • 17 years ago

4 3 17 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Underneath your tongue there's a gland (I think) that will occasionally fire a reptile-like spray of saliva. It's happened to most people I've talked to.

Does any of you know what this strange anatomical feature is actually called and/or how to fire it at will?

SwellJoe• 17 years ago

This seems totally off topic for YC.

But, strangely enough, a handful of friends and I discovered this anatomical feature when we were kids...maybe seven or eight years old...and developed it to a pretty predictable art form. We called it "skeet". Which, in modern/adult terminology means something altogether different (though also involving bodily fluids). I haven't done it, or tried it, in over 20 years. So the ability seems to be completely atrophied, but I remember what it felt like now that I'm thinking about it. I reckon I could make it happen again with a bit of practice.

And, so I don't actually know how to tell you to do it at will, but I know it can be done, because I've done it, and seen a few other kids do it. Some were better than others (much longer range, and dramatically better accuracy), but I don't know if that was a factor of more practice or if some people are built significantly different.

Anyway, if a bunch of seven or eight year olds can figure out how to do it without guidance, I'm sure a grownup with a hackers mindset can handle it.

dgolden• 17 years ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleeking

jsomers• 17 years ago

Thanks! That's exactly what I was looking for.

Ask YC: Can you control the lizard-spit function?

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