# Anatomy Question - the notch in the sternum

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anatomy-question-the-notch-in-the-sternum/234252>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 14, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anatomy-question-the-notch-in-the-sternum/234252 "2004-03-14T18:23:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anatomy-question-the-notch-in-the-sternum/234252/1 "2004-03-14T18:23:58Z")

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What is that notch in the sternum (chestbone) called? I’m talking about that notch you feel where the throat meets the chest.  
In the movie “Dracula Dead and Loving It”, Leslie Nielsen calls this the “Ucipital Mapillary” (or possibly “mucipital”). I can’t find it on Google and so I have come to the “wise ones” at the SDMB for an answer.  
And if anyone wondered about that notch in the upper lip, that of course is the philtrum.

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**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anatomy-question-the-notch-in-the-sternum/234252/2 "2004-03-14T18:36:40Z")

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The anatomy & physiology textbook I am currently copyediting calls it the **jugular notch.**

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**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anatomy-question-the-notch-in-the-sternum/234252/3 "2004-03-14T18:38:49Z")

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The manubrial notch.

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**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anatomy-question-the-notch-in-the-sternum/234252/4 "2004-03-14T18:43:43Z")

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Well thank you for the quick answers (although other “Dopers” might have other answers as well).  
So, I guess Leslie Nielsen was just using a term fabricated in the script to make that “notch” sound extremely important.

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**Author:** ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anatomy-question-the-notch-in-the-sternum/234252/5 "2004-03-14T18:49:44Z")

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The manubrium is the upper most part of the sternum, where the clavicles attach to it with the interclavicular ligament.

Kapit/Elson, 2nd Edition, The Anatomy Coloring Book

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**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anatomy-question-the-notch-in-the-sternum/234252/6 "2004-03-14T18:55:12Z")

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Here are a bazillion notches:

[http://www.mercksource.com/pp/us/cns/cns\_hl\_dorlands.jspzQzpgzEzzSzppdocszSzuszSzcommonzSzdorlandszSzdorlandzSzdmd\_n\_10zPzhtm](http://www.mercksource.com/pp/us/cns/cns_hl_dorlands.jspzQzpgzEzzSzppdocszSzuszSzcommonzSzdorlandszSzdorlandzSzdmd_n_10zPzhtm)

(Scroll down to “notch”. Warning: big file.)