50 Fun Facts About Tongue

Which basic taste did Kikunae Ikeda identify in 1908 while studying kombu broth?

Ikeda's discovery led directly to the founding of Ajinomoto, which sold the world's first umami seasoning: monosodium glutamate.

Roughly how many taste buds does the average human tongue carry?

Each bud lives only about ten days before it is replaced, so your tongue is constantly rebuilding its own sensors.

What is the average lifespan of a single taste bud?

Taste receptor cells turn over quickly, which is why a burnt tongue recovers its sense of taste within a week or so.

Which type of papillae, the most numerous on the tongue, contains no taste buds at all?

They give the tongue its rough texture; in cats they are so heavily keratinised that the tongue works like sandpaper.

How many circumvallate (vallate) papillae does a typical human tongue have, arranged in a V at the back?

They are the largest papillae and sit just in front of the terminal sulcus, the groove that divides the tongue into oral and pharyngeal parts.

Which Harvard psychologist's 1942 book gave rise to the 'tongue map' myth by re-plotting a 1901 German paper?

Boring's normalised graphs were misread by later authors as showing zones of no sensation, and the diagram was still being taught in schools in the late 1990s.

Which cranial nerve, the twelfth, supplies motor fibres to almost every muscle of the tongue?

Its name literally means 'under the tongue', and the first recorded description of it was by Herophilos in the third century BC.

Which extrinsic tongue muscle is the 'safety muscle', the only one that pushes the tongue forward?

It arises from the inside of the lower jaw; if it fails, the tongue can fall back and block the airway, which is why it earned the nickname.

How many muscles make up the human tongue?

Four intrinsic muscles change its shape and four extrinsic ones move it around, which is how it manages tasks as different as swallowing and rolling an R.

What is the average length of the adult human tongue, measured from the back of the throat to the tip?

Most of it is hidden; the visible oral part is only about two-thirds of the whole.

The fold of tissue that tethers the underside of the tongue to the floor of the mouth is called what?

When it is unusually short or thick, the result is tongue-tie, which can interfere with breastfeeding and with sounds like 'r'.

What is the medical name for tongue-tie?

Severity ranges from a thin band of tissue to a tongue completely fastened to the floor of the mouth; a simple snip called a frenotomy is the usual fix.

Which artery, a branch of the external carotid, is the tongue's main blood supply?

It is so vascular that medicine placed under the tongue reaches the bloodstream almost immediately, bypassing the gut.

Which heart medication is routinely given under the tongue because it acts fast enough for angina?

The oral lining beneath the tongue is very thin and sits on a network of veins, so the drug enters the bloodstream in seconds.

The tongue's foramen cecum is a leftover from the embryonic descent of which gland?

The thyroid starts life at the base of the tongue and migrates down the neck, leaving that tiny hole as a souvenir.

'Geographic tongue', with smooth red map-like patches, affects roughly what share of the population?

It is entirely harmless and has no cure, though it occasionally causes a burning feeling with acidic or spicy food.

A red 'strawberry tongue' with swollen bumps is a classic sign of which childhood infection?

It starts white and coated, then turns bright red after four or five days; the same sign appears in Kawasaki disease.

A smooth, shiny, 'beefy' tongue with worn-away papillae is a classic sign of which vitamin deficiency?

Doctors call it Hunter's atrophic glossitis; the same B12 shortage causes pernicious anaemia.

Which over-the-counter stomach remedy is known for temporarily turning the tongue black?

Its bismuth reacts with sulphur in saliva to form black bismuth sulphide, which is alarming but harmless and washes off in a day or two.

Which protein in West African 'miracle fruit' makes lemons taste sweet?

The effect only kicks in at low pH, so it is sour food specifically that gets flipped to sweet, and it wears off in about half an hour.

Which geneticist published the first paper treating tongue rolling as an inherited trait, in 1940?

Sturtevant himself later doubted the simple dominant-gene story; identical twins often disagree on the trait, and some people learn it with practice.

Roughly what share of people can roll their tongue into a tube?

Studies find no difference between men and women, and identical twins are frequently discordant, so it is not the simple Mendelian trait biology class claimed.

The English word 'tongue' comes from which Old English word?

The odd '-ue' spelling was a 14th-century attempt to indicate 'proper' pronunciation and is, in the words of the etymologists, neither etymological nor phonetic.

What is the technical term for 'speaking in tongues' in religious practice?

Linguists define it as fluent syllables with no comprehensible meaning; it is a hallmark of Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity.

In which country is sticking your tongue out traditionally a greeting rather than an insult?

By contrast, an Italian farmer was convicted and fined by Italy's highest court in 2009 for sticking his tongue out at a neighbour.

Which Hindu goddess, shown with a lolling tongue, did Mick Jagger suggest as inspiration for the Rolling Stones' logo?

Designer John Pasche avoided anything overtly Indian because he thought it would date, but kept the tongue; the logo debuted on Sticky Fingers in 1971.

Who designed the Rolling Stones' tongue-and-lips logo in 1970 as a London art student?

Jagger spotted his work at a Royal College of Art degree show; Pasche was paid 50 pounds for a design often called the most famous logo in popular music.

Which Kiss bassist, famous for his long tongue, launched a men's magazine in 2002 actually called "Tongue"?

Media reports have put the tongue at up to seven inches and claimed he insured it for a million dollars.

On what occasion did Arthur Sasse take the famous photo of Einstein sticking out his tongue?

Editors argued over whether to publish it; Einstein loved it and ordered nine prints for himself. The original later sold for over $72,000.

In the 1952 film Singin' in the Rain, Gene Kelly's character drills tongue twisters for what reason?

The same drill turns 'Moses supposes his toeses are roses' into a full song-and-dance number with Donald O'Connor.

Which 1986 Run-D.M.C. song is named after a classic tongue twister?

Tongue twisters are a staple of hip-hop; this one opened Raising Hell, the album that also carried the group's Walk This Way collaboration.

What supplies the extra power that launches a chameleon's tongue at over 3,000 watts per kilogram?

Because the launch is elastic rather than muscular, chameleons can fire at full speed even when cold, while the muscle-powered retraction slows right down.

Small chameleons can project their tongues how far, relative to their body length (excluding tail)?

Smaller species have proportionately bigger tongue apparatus, so the tiniest chameleons are the most impressive shooters.

Which animal's tongue is anchored to its breastbone by a 'sternoglossus' muscle and flicks about 160 times a minute?

Fully extended it is as long as a human forearm, and it can only move straight forward and back because the mouth is barely wider than a pencil.

About how long is a giraffe's tongue?

Combined with a skull that can tip back past 90 degrees, it lets giraffes strip leaves from branches directly overhead.

Which forest relative of the giraffe uses its long black tongue to groom its own ears and eyes?

It lives only in the Ituri Forest of Congo and is the sole known mammal there that feeds entirely on understory plants.

High-speed photography showed a hummingbird's forked tongue traps nectar by what mechanism?

For decades textbooks said capillary action drew nectar up the tongue's grooves; in fact the tubes spring open, close around the nectar and haul it in.

Which bird's tongue bone is so long it wraps around the skull, cushioning the brain?

The barbed, sticky tongue itself does not spear grubs, as long believed; 2004 studies showed it wraps around them instead.

Cats have about 470 taste buds. Roughly how many does a human tongue have?

A cat also laps four times a second, touching just the tip of its tongue to the water and pulling it up like a corkscrew.

A snake's forked tongue delivers scent particles to which structure in the roof of its mouth?

The fork gives directional information, so a snake can tell which side a smell is coming from, and anacondas can do it underwater.

Which family of frogs, including the African clawed frog, has no tongue at all?

They also lack vocal cords and make sound with bony rods in the larynx; other frogs have a tongue attached at the front that flips out to catch prey.

Unlike a human tongue, a frog's tongue is attached at which end of the mouth?

It lies coiled in the mouth and flips forward; frogs shut their eyes as it fires, so they must line up the target beforehand.

Australia's blue-tongued skinks flash their bright blue tongues for what purpose?

They are slow, short-legged and shy, so a sudden blue tongue is a warning display; the pygmy blue-tongue is the only ambush hunter in the group.

Gyutan, a dish of grilled beef tongue, originated in which Japanese city?

Beef tongue is a global staple: lengua tacos in Mexico, tongue with Madeira sauce in France and Belgium, and tongue with chrain in Ashkenazi cooking.

Fried tongues of which fish are a traditional part of fish meals in Norway and Newfoundland?

In Norway, cow and moose tongues are also popular toppings on open sandwiches, the moose version mostly among hunters.

'Lengua', the filling of a popular Mexican taco, is Spanish for which meat?

Beef tongue is also served in vinegar in Argentina and Uruguay and jellied with horseradish across Eastern Europe.

Like an elephant's trunk, the tongue is classed as what kind of boneless structure?

A fibrous lingual septum splits it into left and right halves, visible on top as the median sulcus.

Which is the only tongue muscle NOT supplied by the hypoglossal nerve, taking its motor fibres from the vagus instead?

It lowers the soft palate and lifts the back of the tongue during swallowing.

Taste from the front two-thirds of the tongue travels along which branch of the facial nerve?

General sensation there comes from the trigeminal nerve's lingual branch; the back third uses the glossopharyngeal.

One study found what share of young adults in Israel had an oral piercing, most commonly of the tongue?

Tongue piercing and splitting have grown more common in Western countries in recent decades.