# Eating boogers-cannibalism? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 8, 2004, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-boogers-cannibalism/249269 "2004-06-08T12:57:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![I\_m\_Gandhi\_Dammit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@I\_m\_Gandhi\_Dammit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_m_Gandhi_Dammit)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2004, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-boogers-cannibalism/249269/1 "2004-06-08T12:57:21Z")
Does eating your own boogers qualify as “cannibalism”? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2004, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-boogers-cannibalism/249269/2 "2004-06-08T13:02:27Z")
No ---
**Author:** ![Ponster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponster/32/17081_2.png) [@Ponster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponster)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2004, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-boogers-cannibalism/249269/3 "2004-06-08T13:08:25Z")
“cannibalism” refers to the eating of human flesh (or an animal eating the flesh of another animal of the same kind), so feasting on your nasal mucus won’t get you either imprisioned nor sent to hell 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2004, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-boogers-cannibalism/249269/4 "2004-06-08T13:29:00Z")
> [@Ponster](#): > > “cannibalism” refers to the eating of human flesh (or an animal eating the flesh of another animal of the same kind), so feasting on your nasal mucus won’t get you either imprisioned nor sent to hell 🙂 Swallowing after fellatio though… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2004, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-boogers-cannibalism/249269/5 "2004-06-08T13:47:42Z")
> [@beagledave](#): > > Swallowing after fellatio though… 😉 Er… flesh?? My advice… if she starts chewin’, zip up an’ start runnin’… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Cloud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bcef8e/32.png) [@Little\_Cloud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Cloud)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2004, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-boogers-cannibalism/249269/6 "2004-06-08T17:03:40Z")
Nope. It’s self grooming - much like biting off a ragged piece of a fingernail. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-boogers-cannibalism/249269/7 "2004-06-08T17:42:17Z")
> [@I'm Gandhi Dammit](#): > > Does eating your own boogers qualify as “cannibalism”? I’m sure Miss Manners would agree that, regardless of whether or not it’s cannibalism, it’s still not proper etiquette. I prefer Kleenex. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2004, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-boogers-cannibalism/249269/8 "2004-06-08T17:55:59Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > I’m sure Miss Manners would agree that, regardless of whether or not it’s cannibalism, it’s still not proper etiquette. > > I prefer Kleenex. And how do Kleenex taste? ---
**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:** [June 8, 2004, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-boogers-cannibalism/249269/9 "2004-06-08T17:59:56Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > I’m sure Miss Manners would agree that, regardless of whether or not it’s cannibalism, it’s still not proper etiquette. Actually, she has addressed this topic ( ---
**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:** [June 8, 2004, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-boogers-cannibalism/249269/10 "2004-06-08T18:02:28Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > I’m sure Miss Manners would agree that, regardless of whether or not it’s cannibalism, it’s still not proper etiquette. Actually, she has addressed this topic (_Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Corret Behavior,_ p. 249): “In manners, . . . the only recognized act is one that has been witnessed. The number of practices, disgusting or exciting, usual or unusual, in which you wish to engage in private is of no concern to society.” So as long as no one sees you, pick away with Miss Manners’ blessing. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-boogers-cannibalism/249269/11 "2004-06-09T17:21:15Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > Actually, she has addressed this topic (_Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Corret Behavior,_ p. 249): “In manners, . . . the only recognized act is one that has been witnessed. The number of practices, disgusting or exciting, usual or unusual, in which you wish to engage in private is of no concern to society.” > > So as long as no one sees you, pick away with Miss Manners’ blessing. At first I thought you meant she’d addressed it directly. Gentle reader, Miss Manners assures you that, within the privacy of ones own home, such practices, while perhaps unhygienic, are not unmannerly in the least. Why, Miss Manners herself, when her (normally crisply starched) hankerchiefs are in the washing machine, has been known to eat her boogers. Anyway, you’re right that if no one sees it, it’s not bad manners. I assume, though, that you are also expected to refrain from discussing it with others.