Dried nasal mucus

Dried nasal mucus
A "booger" or "bogey"

Dried nasal mucus, pieces of which are colloquially known as bogeys[1] in English and boogers[2] in American, is commonly found in the nose and is a result of drying of the normally viscous colloidal mucus (or snot).[3]

Contents

Formation

Lateral wall of nasal cavity, showing the vestibule, in which dried nasal mucus can often be found.

Mucous membranes in the nasal cavity constantly produce a wet mucus that lines the cavity and removes dust and pathogens from the air flowing through. For the most part, the cilia that also line the cavity work to move the mucus down the nasal cavity to the pharynx where it can be swallowed. Not all the mucus stays fluid enough to be moved by the cilia. The closer the mucus is to being in the nasal vestibule and near the nostril opening, the more moisture it loses to the outside air, and the more likely it is to dry out and become stuck.

Eating

Main article: Eating mucus

Stefan Gates in his book Gastronaut discusses eating dried nasal mucus, and says that 44% of people he questioned said they had eaten their own dried nasal mucus in adulthood and said they liked it.[4] As mucus filters airborne contaminants, eating it could be thought to be unhealthy; Gates comments that "our body has been built to consume snot," because the nasal mucus is normally swallowed after being moved inside by the motion of the cilia.[4] Friedrich Bischinger, a lung specialist at Privatklinik Hochrum in Innsbruck,[5] says that nose-picking and eating the result is beneficial for the immune system.[6][7]

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/bogey_2?view=uk
  2. ^ http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/booger
  3. ^ "What's a Booger?". KidsHealth. http://kidshealth.org/kid/talk/yucky/booger.html. 
  4. ^ a b Stefan Gates, Gastronaut: Adventures in Food for the Romantic, the Foolhardy, and the Brave, 2006, ISBN 0156030977 (paperback), "Boogers", pp. 68, 69
  5. ^ "Dr. Bischinger Friedrich: Lungenkrankheiten" (in German). Privatklinik Hochrum. http://www.privatklinik-hochrum.com/de_neu/aerzte/lungenkrankheiten/bischinger_friedrich.php. Retrieved 2008-12-07. 
  6. ^ "Top doc backs picking your nose and eating it". Ananova. Archived from the original on 2005-02-06. http://web.archive.org/web/20050206203508/http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_903083.html. Retrieved 2008-12-07. 
  7. ^ Bankhofer, Hademar (2007). "Nasenbohren" (in German). Gesundheit kennt keine Tabus. München: Südwest. pp. 10–15. ISBN 978-3-517-08373-5. OCLC 185006183. http://www.randomhouse.de/content/edition/excerpts/16222.pdf. Retrieved 2008-12-07.  Theodore Pabst went several weeks surviving on nothing but snot, and believed it had cleansed his body of contaminants that are found in our environment today.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • mucus —   Hūpē, ūpē, hākelo, wale.   Also: na o, walewale, wale kea, weka, wekaweka, pīheka.    ♦ Dried nasal mucus, pāpa a hūpē.    ♦ To draw in mucus, hohō.    ♦ To hang, as mucus, kākelokelo …   English-Hawaiian dictionary

  • Mucus — Mucous cells on the stomach lining In vertebrates, mucus (adjectival form: mucous ) is a slippery secretion produced by, and covering, mucous membranes. Mucous fluid is typically produced from mucous cells found in mucous glands. Mucous cells… …   Wikipedia

  • Eating mucus — Classification and external resources A man picking his nose Eating mucus is the act of extracting nasal mucus and the succeeding action of ingesting the resulting product of this nose picking. Nasal mucus is also termed as boogers, snot, nose c …   Wikipedia

  • Nose-picking — Classification and external resources …   Wikipedia

  • Bogey — 1. swim or bath in a creek, waterhole, dam, etc.; 2. swimming hole; 3. take a bath or swim in a bogeyhole; 4. piece of nasal mucus, either dried, moist or semi dried: You got a bogey on your chin ; 5. expel snot from the nose: Don t bogey on it …   Dictionary of Australian slang

  • bogey — I Australian Slang 1. swim or bath in a creek, waterhole, dam, etc.; 2. swimming hole; 3. take a bath or swim in a bogeyhole; 4. piece of nasal mucus, either dried, moist or semi dried: You got a bogey on your chin ; 5. expel snot from the nose:… …   English dialects glossary

  • bogey — I. /ˈboʊgi / (say bohgee) Golf –noun (plural bogeys) 1. a. a score of one over par. b. Obsolete the number of strokes a good player may be reckoned to need to play a certain hole. –verb (bogeyed, bogeying) –verb (i) …  

  • b(e)u-2, bh(e)ū̆- —     b(e)u 2, bh(e)ū̆     English meaning: to swell, puff     Deutsche Übersetzung: “aufblasen, schwellen”     Note: Explosive sound of the inflated cheek, like pu , phu see d .; running beside primeval creation crosses the sound lawful… …   Proto-Indo-European etymological dictionary

  • Boogie — 1. piece of nasal mucus; expel snot from the nose: Don t bogey on it (cf. 19th C. British dialect (Warwickshire) bug , (west Yorkshire) boggart , (Yorkshire and Lincolnshire) boggle dried nasal mucus; late 19th C. US slang boogie ); 2. dance:… …   Dictionary of Australian slang

  • boogie — Australian Slang 1. piece of nasal mucus; expel snot from the nose: Don t bogey on it (cf. 19th C. British dialect (Warwickshire) bug , (west Yorkshire) boggart , (Yorkshire and Lincolnshire) boggle dried nasal mucus; late 19th C. US slang boogie …   English dialects glossary

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