Nose-picking

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Nose-picking is a common cultural taboo, and carries a number of medical risks.

Nose-picking is the act of extracting mucus and/or foreign bodies from the nose with a finger. Compulsive nose-picking is known as rhinotillexomania (etymology: Greek, rhino "nose" + tillexis "habit of picking" + mania). Because the mucus membranes constantly produce mucus, and because the nostrils are exposed to air, sometimes the mucus dries and causes irritation and most people try to dislodge the itch.

Although a very common habit, it is a mildly taboo subject in most cultures. Children's literature often makes reference to it, to amuse readers (for example Jacques Charpentreau's poem "De l'Education!" and Gordon Korman's Nose Pickers series). John Allen Paulos's imaginary novel, Rucker: a life fractal has a section where "proboscis probing is discussed at length."^[1]

Nose-picking may carry a number of medical risks, including causing nasal infections and nosebleeds^{[citation needed]}. Most authorities recommend using a tissue. Nose picking, however, should not affect the sense of smell, for the nasal cavity is too high up to reach.

Due to the special nature of the blood supply to the nose and surrounding area, it is possible for retrograde infections from the nasal area to spread to the brain, although this scenario is unlikely to arise from nose-picking. For this reason, the area from the corners of the mouth to the bridge of the nose, including the nose and maxilla, is known to doctors as the "danger triangle of the face."

1 Quotations
2 References
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Quotations

Popular sayings and jokes reveal social attitudes about nose-picking, similar to toilet humor:

I'm not picking my nose, I'm pointing at my brain!
You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose.
You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't wipe your friends on the couch.
How did you know I went to Harvard? I noticed your class ring when you picked your nose.
"I know he picks his nose. I felt under his furniture."—Van Lane Ferguson, We Bark at Midnight (1962)
What is the most musical part of your body? Your nose, because you can pick it...AND BLOW IT!!! —Fresh Prince of Bel Air
"How come I can pick my friends but not my nose? Who made up that rule anyway? How can you say 'that's the way it is, that's just the way it goes'? Why don't you decide for yourself what you can do and what you can say."—Ani DiFranco +
"The doctor said I wouldn't have so many nosebleeds if I kept my finger out of there."—Ralph Wiggum, The Simpsons episode "I Love Lisa"
"Remember, Ralphie, if your nose starts to bleed, it means you're picking it too much...or not enough."—Chief Wiggum, The Simpsons episode "Das Bus"
"Hey, Mom, what's for dinner? Go up your nose and pick a winner!"—Biz Markie, the song "Pickin' Boogers"
In The Lion King 1 1/2 Pumbaa exits the cinema to get some snacks. While he is gone, Timon picks his nose. Pumbaa then comes back and Timon quickly wipes the evidence on a chair.

Pumbaa: Were you just picking your nose?

Timon: No! I had an itch on the inside!

[edit] References

^ John Allen Paulos, "HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS, ITS FRACTAL NATURE," Temple University Dept. of Mathematics [1] Last accessed 18 December 2006

James W. Jefferson and Trent D. Thompson. Rhinotillexomania: Psychiatric Disorder or Habit?; The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Volume 56, Number 2, February 1995. This study won an Ig Nobel Prize in 2001.