h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Truth About Nose-Picking - A8941845
Author: Dr. Sausage (Scout) - U171578

This one has been on my desktop since 2002 (I had written this to celebrate the 2001 IgNobel prize on that topic - and to continue in the vein of the memorable Toilets and Sanitation Entry, ahem...) At that time the information on that subject was very sparse. In the meantime you can find a lot (including also a lot of rubbish) about nose-picking. A timely and timeless subject.

I am sure you experts out there will have suggestions.

HELL (AKA SAUSAGE)

I quite enjoyed the article! Well written, informative and fun! Although, I felt you could expand slightly on the 'compulsary nose picking' section. You defined the terminology, but that was basically it.

I seem to remember reading the ignoble thing on nose picking - but can't remember what it was...Maybe a reference to that?

Good article

Is this something I could comdortably read after having just eaten my breakfast?

Good Entry, Hell; although I've only had time to skim it.

Just a small point I noticed:

'dry nasal secretion is commonly known as 'booger' '

In Britain they are known as 'bogies'.



s back to the tasks he's s'posed to be doing.

PS You should link to 'The effluvia of the human body' A4113811

This is super nit (not nose) picking here, but:

"and even less people would admit" - the finer points of English grammar escape me at the moment, but I think it should be "fewer" as opposed to "less".

Aha... The usual experts.

I gave it a once-over (added link, added 'bogies', replaced 'less' by 'fewer' and expanded the compulsory part by one sentence, explaining what conmpulsory means.)

SAUSAGE

Very funny and informative at the same time!

I liked this, but you've missed out one important thing. What happens to tbe bogies once they've been picked? Little crusty areas on bedroom walls, on the bottom of the top bunk on bunk beds (I once found a brother's collection there - ugh, I was nearly sick).

That's the unpleasant bit, although I have to admit to not being able to look at someone with their finger up their nose. My dad used to root around up there for minutes at a time when we were all kids, but if we got caught with a finger up a nose, oh no, we'd be told off.

Also, I don't know if this really fits the entry, but a bit of trivia - wet bogies (ie snot) is the best lubricant the body produces.

Another important thing missing from the entry, and related to Naim's point, is that of flicking bogies - a sport much practiced by schoolboys.

We have joy we have fun
flicking bogies at the sun
but the sun is so hot
that it melts them into snot.

That's sung to the tune of a real song, but not sure I know which one.

Sorry....

That would be 'Seasons In The Sun' by Terry Jacks - one of the few songs about suicide ever to be a hit...

'Seasons in the sun' by Terry Jacks (more recently by Westlife):

http://users.cis.net/sammy/seasons.htm

I remember it now.

I like the entry, good job!

Neat Entry!
I was going to suggest a bit of culture and a reference to the Gogol short story/Shostakovich opera "The Nose", but a check suggests it's not quite as picking-explicit as I remembered.
Maybe nose-picking in literature is not so commonplace, though there's always Dahl's "The Twits".
And there's this - unfortunately not (yet) a real book :
http://www.flapart.ca/images/FA-Nose.jpg

Hello all you bogey fans...

I was thinking about including a bit about what happens next: booger-cemetery, or museum... However, while doing research on that topic, I found out this is a very big topic, that deserves an Entry of its own. This is why I excluded these bits from this Entry. Y'know to keep it focused on nose-picking. But I could write a little para under misc devoted to the booger.

H

I've heard that the Basuto people of Lesotho in Southern Africa have developed nose picking to a fine art - special metal implements are readily available for this purpose.

I've also heard if a baby has a runny nose, it is considered normal and acceptable for the mother to suck the snot out, rather than letting it build up to the stage where it needs to be picked.

entry!

thier = their

"Sometimes children are caught picking their nose because they have something (usually boogers) in thier ...)

"booger" is the American term. Is it generally used in Britain?