Talk:Nose-picking

This is silly. Let's keep it! --Ed Poor

I WAS KIDDING!!! (see User:Tarquin) I was kidding! nooooo (wail of anguish). what the heck. let's keep it. -- Tarquin

I was kidding too (except about the this is silly part). Should we delete the entire article, or what? --Ed Poor

well, it covers the subject in a serious manner, with medical links. I'd like to know where the quotations come from. -- Tarquin

Two of the quotations came from well-known folklore and the third, about the furniture, came from a book of ironic aphorisms by a gentleman named Van Lane Ferguson. Another from that book: "If you don't believe you exist, smell under your arms."

A kind correspondent has reminded me that the book is called We Bark at Midnight by Van Lane Ferguson, published by Tuttle. This talk page is evidently the only place on the www you can find this out. Ortolan88

Aoooooooooooooooooouw! Put the quotations back in! -- Tarquin 11:43 Dec 20, 2002 (UTC)

Another quote he sent me, "I guess being an ordinary, everyday Alabama commonlaw wife just wasn't good enough for Edna." The quote that was censored from the article by a humorless square was, "I know he picks his nose. I felt under his furniture." The other two square-censored quotes, not from the book, were, "How did you know I went to Harvard?" "I noticed your class ring when you picked your nose." And, "You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose." Ortolan88

I vote for restoring the censored quotes. They were refreshing and entertaining and interesting. There's nothing wrong with an encyclopedia that has a bit of panache and cheek to it. Having serious information is one thing, but being dry and dull is another. I may just restore those quotes myself. soulpatch

This isn't the most serious entry in the wikipedia, but this is the first time I've been banned to bad jokes, etc. I put those quotes in, not entirely tongue in cheek, because I thought they gave an indication of the attitudes against nose picking that society has. Some people have no sense of humor, which, I maintain, is a genuine sense that helps us analyze and understand. Ortolan88

LOL. thanks for the laugh ! user:anthere

If they're real quotations, put them back in with the srouces! -- Tarquin

I don't understand the concept of "real quotations". Two of them were very common well-known jokes that I have heard and told for years. One of them came from a very obscure source, so obscure I remember only the author (although the book is probably in my attic). There's a legal concept called "taking judicial notice", meaning that a lawyer doesn't have to prove that the sun rose on the day in question, that the ocean is wet, etc. They were in no way "false quotations", which I assume would mean that I had made them up, but "real quotations" does not, it seems to me, necessarily mean quotations with sources. If I said, "It is magnificent, but it not war", I would give the source, but if I said, "Nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs", I might not. These quotations were in the latter category. My goodness, if there is to be an article on nose-picking at all, no one is going to expect The Harvard Review of Near-Eastern Ontology and Metaphysics to be cited. Ortolan88

-- If I can't cite The Harvard Review of Near-Eastern Ontology and Metaphysics I don't want to be in your revolution.  :-)

Mettre ses doigts dans son nez

C'est degoutant, c'est malsain,

Alors qu'on peut les fourrer

Dans le nez de son voisin

Jacques Charpentreau

No mention of why Kellogg's Frosted Flakes are not so-called in the U.K.? --KQ

Are those what we call "Frosties"? What has that got to do with nose-picking? The only thing about breakfast cereal I can think of is in Raymond Briggs' Fungus the Bogeyman, the packets of "Flaked Corns"... -- Tarquin 22:16 Sep 26, 2002 (UTC)

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Should the reference to "bogey-flavoured beans" be included in an article on nose-picking? I propose that it be moved to the (linked-to but as yet unwritten) article on snot-eating. I may be joking, of course. ;) -- Oliver Pereira 10:58 Nov 11, 2002 (UTC)

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Googling suggests that the author of "Rucker: a life fractal" is Eli Halberstam, not the author cited. Is this true?

Yes and no. "Rucker: a life fractal" is a fictional novel: it does not exist. It is mentioned in Paulos' book Beyond Numeracy, in which he explains what it would be, and by way of example writes a review of it. -- Tarquin

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You may want to check out Henry A. Kissinger (http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_A._Kissinger) ;-) // Liftarn

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Why on earth does the article only say 'dried' mucous? And perhaps some altenative methods for extraction like the suction bellows I see toddlers getting stuck up their noses. Two16 17:21 Jan 9, 2003 (UTC)

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One thing is that, at least for some, dried mucus is bloody painful and itchy and there's no amount of wind that will dislocate it. I believe there are people whose physique just somehow causes this kind of buildup. This is a source of ridicule much like all those early-bird disdain toward people with delayed sleep phase syndrome. Why would it be a psychological disorder when it much more resembles ordinary physical reflexes?

Why yes, I am indeed writing a comment about this subject at half to four in the morning.  ;) --blades 00:37, May 11, 2004 (UTC)

Cultural Examination

I wonder if culture could be examined. A friend of mine in highschool explained to me that public nose-picking was common and was not considered inappropriate in the least back home in Jamaica. The idea was that they were keeping their nose clean. I didn't think to mention their unclean finger. =) -- Sy 18:15, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Nose picking in East and West

From the article: "Although a very common habit, it is a mildly taboo subject in most East Asian and Western cultures"

My guess is that someone first wrote "in most Western cultures" (probably by an expert in the wide field of Western culture). Later someone from an East Asian background (again, an expert) probably tagged the "East Asian" bit. I think it's safer if people just wrote "in most cultures" even if that makes you sound like an ignorant (Insert your country here)-ian by assuming that it is the same for other cultures. One should use common sense and write it as "in most cultures," implicitly implying the whole globe, especially since if it isn't true, others can correct it. It's slightly cocky to think one's own culture is the only one with hygiene or etiquette.