# Fuck people who call people "mouth-breathers" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 21, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916 "2011-12-21T03:25:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Faruiza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@Faruiza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faruiza)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916/41 "2011-12-21T23:42:23Z")
> [@JBDivmstr](#): > > Nor did _ **I** _! > The SDMB has just (possibly) saved my life! > Someone I know (who will remain nameless, though I will henceforth, look at them in a different way) had almost convinced me to try using one of those. :eek: > After clicking on the link, I think I’ll have to say, “Thanks but, _ **no-fucking-way!** _” I mean, “No, thank you.” I feel compelled to point out that the amoebas come from using plain tap water in the neti pot. If you use purified or distilled water, hell, even plain boiled water, your amoeba problem vanishes. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916/42 "2011-12-21T23:47:19Z")
> [@JBDivmstr](#): > > Nor did _ **I** _! > The SDMB has just (possibly) saved my life! > Someone I know (who will remain nameless, though I will henceforth, look at them in a different way) had almost convinced me to try using one of those. :eek: > After clicking on the link, I think I’ll have to say, “Thanks but, _ **no-fucking-way!** _” I mean, “No, thank you.” Yes, because two people had a problem with something the article itself mentions is incredibly rare, we must completely stop something. Heck, it’s a fucking amoeba! You can kill it by boiling the water first, or filter it out with even the most basic of filters, or just use distilled water. I hate scare journalism. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916/43 "2011-12-22T00:14:31Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > When I hear the term “mouth breather”, I picture a neanderthal-ish character standing there with an open mouth, breathing noisily while staring emptily at whatever it is that means nothing to them. I think pop culture and movies have propagated this image. I picture **Cartooniverse**. I keed; I keed. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916/44 "2011-12-22T01:16:12Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I’d be up for replacing it with _ **“Lip-movers”** _ to designate how dense guys read books. Hey, I LIKE moving my lips when I read. Well, not when I read the interwebz, or read descriptions in video games, but when good fiction gets me engaged, I start moving my lips (and maybe mumbling a little) when I get really into it. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916/45 "2011-12-22T01:16:59Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Heck, it’s a fucking amoeba! You can kill it by boiling the water first, or filter it out with even the most basic of filters, or just use distilled water. I hate scare journalism. So my homeopathic swamp water remedy is a bad thing? I pour three ounces of medicine into a swamp. Allow to mix for 3 years, then take out buckets of water from the clean spot 3 miles away, because surely it’s all one body of water and it remembers the medicine molecules I put in and allowed time to mix. It’s clean, it’s natural, it’s homeopathic, so clearly it can’t harm anyone. ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916/46 "2011-12-22T03:53:26Z")
Just mix it with some of my homeopathic vodka. There’s so little alcohol in there it should kill anything. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916/47 "2011-12-22T04:11:12Z")
But there’s more! Consider this [portrait](http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/images/aria/sk/z/sk-a-164.z?leftcoulisse) of [Charles V](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_V,_Holy_Roman_Emperor). The guy suffered from a case of mandibular prognathism, and as a result of his ‘Habsburg Jaw’ appears in this image not to be able to close his mouth. Probably a mouth-breather. However, the guy was also emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, widely admired (no small trick for an emporer), probably borderline genius and at the very least was fluent in all the era’s major European languages, not to mention the owner of a worthy list of accomplishments. To sum up Charles V as just a ‘mouth-breather’ would be foolish indeed! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916/48 "2011-12-22T04:34:49Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Hey, I LIKE moving my lips when I read. Well, not when I read the interwebz, or read descriptions in video games, but when good fiction gets me engaged, I start moving my lips (and maybe mumbling a little) when I get really into it. I sometimes do that, when the text is something I’d like to plan on reading aloud to my wife later. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916/49 "2011-12-22T11:36:42Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Heck, it’s a fucking amoeba! You’re a fucking amoeba. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916/50 "2011-12-22T13:20:01Z")
I referred to a personr as a mouth-breather just the other day, to my boss. Someone in another department called me - a tremendously overweight gentleman. He had to wait on the line while I looked something up for him, and I swear that he shoved the entire telephone handset in his mouth. I could hear every inward breath and exhalation, every swallow and lip smack. And then he started humming. Oh God, the humming! And now, because of your post, **Cartooniverse** , I feel a little guilty for having described him as such. ---
**Author:** ![mkecane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@mkecane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkecane)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916/51 "2011-12-22T15:53:12Z")
I’m leaving my home At least for a couple weeks I’ll leave it in the care of a friend Don’t get me wrong He’s a nice guy I like him just fine But he’s a mouthbreather. - David Yow ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916/52 "2011-12-22T15:58:27Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > Agatha Christie has lots of young female characters–often ones who get killed off–who are supposed to be not very bright and are described as “the adenoidal type”. What did she mean by that? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916/53 "2011-12-22T22:23:22Z")
I agree completely with the OP. “Slack Jawed” is one thing “mouth breather” is another. Really, it’s not a insult and should not be used as one. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916/54 "2011-12-22T22:38:50Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > What did she mean by that? Having adenoidal tonsils unusually large enough to block nasal airflow, forcing the person to breathe through their mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916/55 "2011-12-23T00:49:08Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > Having adenoidal tonsils unusually large enough to block nasal airflow, forcing the person to breathe through their mouth. Is that all? The quote seemed to me to be implying something more, like a more complete description of someone. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916/56 "2011-12-23T10:15:21Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Is that all? The quote seemed to me to be implying something more, like a more complete description of someone. I think it also implies rather noisy mouth breathing. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916/57 "2011-12-23T18:46:09Z")
I always heard adenoidal to be a feature of someone’s voice, high pitched and whiny, as the second set of definitions [here](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/adenoidal). As that definition is from a UK English dictionary and Christie was British I’m confident that that is what she meant. I don’t believe it was intended as a slur on intelligence. Whether there is really any relationship between whining in a high pitch and the adenoids I’m not sure. It’s not a description one hears these days. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916/58 "2011-12-23T18:50:11Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I picture **Cartooniverse**. > I keed; I keed. 😃 Oh, no need to keed. For those who’ve met it it is a sad reminder of how accurate your depiction is. –Wiping runners of saliva from grizzled beard, dragging knuckles on ground. Meh, what’s a few strands of missing DNA amongst friends? They made a [movie about me once](http://www.moviegoods.com/large_detail.asp?http://www.moviegoods.com//Assets/product_images/1020/251153.1020.A.jpg) but it only did middling simian business… ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916/59 "2011-12-23T19:27:26Z")
> [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](#): > > As that definition is from a UK English dictionary and Christie was British I’m confident that that is what she meant. I don’t believe it was intended as a slur on intelligence. It’s pretty clear that it was: > [@](#): > > She was placed next to Tommy and at intervals fixed him with a pair of pale gooseberry eyes and in a slightly adenoidal voice asked: “Don’t you think it’s really quite safe now? Everyone’s going back, aren’t they?” > > Before Tommy could reply to these artless quiries, his neighbour on the other side, the beaded lady, struck in… > [@](#): > > Mrs. Perenna thereupon accompanied him to a small bedroom, the door of which happened to be just opposite the door of Mrs. Blenkensop’s room, and summoned the adenoidal, semi-idiotic Beatrice to “move Mr. Meadowes’ things”. > [@](#): > > Lily Gamboll was a plain child with an adenoidal appearance of open mouth, hard breathing and thick spectacles. > [@](#): > > “We had a resident maid until a month ago—slightly hunchbacked and terribly adenoidal and in many ways not too bright…” > [@](#): > > “How slow you are, boy. What did you have to eat for tea?” > > “There was coffee cake,” said Ronnie very much puzzled, "and some _pâté_ sandwiches - " > > “Coffee cake,” said Miss Percehouse. “That’ll do.” She began to write briskly. “You can go back to your painting, Ronnie. Don’t hang about, and don’t stand there with your mouth open. You had your adenoids out when you were eight years old, so there is no excuse for it.” ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916/60 "2011-12-23T19:32:26Z")
> [@Faruiza](#): > > I feel compelled to point out that the amoebas come from using plain tap water in the neti pot. If you use purified or distilled water, hell, even plain boiled water, your amoeba problem vanishes. Sure it does. You probably just get clean amoebas… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-people-who-call-people-mouth-breathers/606916.md?page=4)