# Belly Buttons

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/27306>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 29, 2000, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/27306 "2000-07-29T03:32:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![retsin2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@retsin2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/retsin2000)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2000, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/27306/1 "2000-07-29T03:32:06Z")

</div>

Cecil was kind enough to bestow upon us the knowledge of why some people have innies and some people have outies  
[here](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_089.html).

What Mrs. Retsin would like to know is:

1. Why does it feel funny when you touch the inside of your belly button?

and

1. If you have an outie does it feel funny to touch it?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2000, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/27306/2 "2000-07-29T06:35:22Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by retsin2000 \*  
> \*\*Cecil was kind enough to bestow upon us the knowledge of why some people have innies and some people have outies  
> [here](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_089.html).
> 
> What Mrs. Retsin would like to know is:
> 
> 1. Why does it feel funny when you touch the inside of your belly button?

\*\*

Because there are a bunch of nerve endings all squished together right there.

> [@](#):
>
> \*\* and
> 
> 1. If you have an outie does it feel funny to touch it? \*\*

Probably not very but this is a guess. Any excess sensitivy would have been mitigated by contact with clothing and the individual would compensate naturally in any case.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2000, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/27306/3 "2000-07-29T06:48:33Z")

</div>

This reminds me of one of those circumcision threads.  
Peace,  
mangeorge

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![robinh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@robinh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robinh)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2000, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/27306/4 "2000-07-29T11:59:02Z")

</div>

**2) If you have an outie does it feel funny to touch it?**

Just a sample of one, but…My 2 year old absolutely will not wear her pants with the waistband around her waist, but must push them down under her belly. She is the only one of my 4 kids to do this and the only one with an outie. If I pull her pants up she says, “no! boo-boo!” so apparently it is uncomfortable.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2000, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/27306/5 "2000-07-29T15:54:16Z")

</div>

We went to the beach last week, and there was a kid…about 10 years old…running around and it looked like he had a small hot dog hanging out where his belly button should be. WTF was that? 😕