# Can you gleek? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 19, 2006, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-gleek/340722 "2006-01-19T21:17:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-gleek/340722/21 "2006-01-20T07:29:57Z")
When I was in 8th grade, for some reason, this became the new “in” skill for the boys in our class. So they decided to have a little competition. Only they did it during English class. Our teacher was so pissed she made the entire class come over and mop up the desks. Yuck. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-gleek/340722/22 "2006-01-20T10:43:06Z")
> [@Susie Derkins](#): > > Ah, but can you queef? Fanny farts? Sorry, wrong plumbing for that one. I can quaff, though. And coiff. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-gleek/340722/23 "2006-01-20T10:58:28Z")
Wow, I haven’t heard that word for years. I would probably be the world champion gleeker if it were any Olympic sport. I rule in terms of accuracy and distance - about three metres at a 45 degree angle. My best shot ever was to spray the inside of the school bus driver’s windscreen from the front seats on the other side of the bus. He had no idea what was going on. I don’t use the roof of my mouth - just position the tongue halfway down and back, then move it quickly down. The best way to get volume is to ‘charge’ the gland up by yawning but holding it in, then expel the saliva with the tongue. Once, when I hadn’t eaten for a day, the smell of some food made me spontaneously gleek. Luckily it landed on the floor. “I’m sorry, that’s never happened before.” “That’s OK, honey, it’s no big deal.” ---
**Author:** ![MizGrand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@MizGrand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizGrand)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-gleek/340722/24 "2006-01-20T15:45:28Z")
I can’t gleek, but I clearly remember a boy who had an amazing talent there. He went on to become a news out-in-the-field kinda guy, I think. **I can** , however, blow bubbles off of my tongue into the air! I learned when I was about 10 and can’t find many others who share this unique talent. ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-gleek/340722/25 "2006-01-20T15:49:20Z")
I’ve done it and I’ll second **jjimm** ’s involuntary gleeking…how awkward! ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-gleek/340722/26 "2006-01-20T16:11:46Z")
It was called gleeping at my school. I think we were all a little backwards, though. I can’t do it voluntarily, but it happens all the time when I yawn. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-gleek/340722/27 "2006-01-20T17:30:10Z")
I can’t do it at will (and I’ve been trying to follow the tutorials!) Incidentally, we called it snake spitting. You know the scene in Grease where Danny is sitting in the diner, surreptitiously glancing over his shoulder at Sandy and Rizzo comes along and says, “Somebody snakin’ ya, Danny?” Is that a reference to gleeking, and if not, what the heck did she mean by that? ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-gleek/340722/28 "2006-01-20T17:30:59Z")
> [@Anastasaeon](#): > > I can’t do it on command, but it’s happened to me during a yawn. Always a little startling. > > I only recently learned the name for it was “gleek” from my brother in law. He’s quite adept at it, and a bit of an enthusiast. It happens to me when I yawn, especially if my hands are full and I can’t cover my mouth. I just thought I was a freak. Now I know I am not alone 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jpeg\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@Jpeg\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jpeg_Jones)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-gleek/340722/29 "2006-01-20T19:04:46Z")
Like a _champ_! Learned in junior high school. It’s a skill I don’t use any more, though. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-gleek/340722/30 "2006-01-20T19:47:31Z")
I don’t know which is more disturbing about this: that English has an actual separate word for this, or that you folks are so enthusiastic about it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-gleek/340722/31 "2006-01-20T22:02:55Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I don’t know which is more disturbing about this: that English has an actual separate word for this, or that you folks are so enthusiastic about it. 🙂 I don’t think you have a proper appreciation for the badge of honor that went along with being able to gleek skillfully in the elementary and junior high years. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2006, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-gleek/340722/32 "2006-01-21T04:58:48Z")
I can’t do it voluntarily, but sometimes on accident, you better watch your plate! Also, we always called it “elephant spitting”. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-gleek/340722/33 "2006-01-21T19:58:40Z")
> [@Anastasaeon](#): > > Perhaps the waiter, as well, in lieu of a tip. [#24](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=355137) ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2006, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-gleek/340722/34 "2006-01-21T20:23:51Z")
> [@Joey P](#): > > [#24](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=355137) Damn. He’s living life fuller than I thought. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-gleek/340722/35 "2006-01-21T21:04:08Z")
I thought Gleek was the Space Monkey on the old SuperFriends cartoon show. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-gleek/340722/36 "2006-01-21T22:23:50Z")
In Shakespeare’s **Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene I,** Titania awakes to find Bottom singing about birds. She flirts, and he demurs. He modestly says he not so hot, and, “Nay, I can gleek upon occasion.” A source I read long ago said gleek meant sing in Shakespeare’s day. My old 12-pound dictionary gives half a dozen other meanings, none of which is spit or sing. ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-gleek/340722/37 "2006-01-22T06:18:09Z")
Yes, voluntarily, and I have good aim. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-gleek/340722.md?page=1)