# Gas or solid (bodily function)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-or-solid-bodily-function/2578
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 14, 1999, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-or-solid-bodily-function/2578 "1999-08-14T03:50:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [August 14, 1999, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-or-solid-bodily-function/2578/1 "1999-08-14T03:50:00Z")
This is an unpleasant subject, but I’d really like to know thw answer.
Exactly how does the anal spincter (medical name?) know the difference between a gas and a solid? Now don’t nitpick here, I know about wet ones.
Peace,
mangeorge
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### Author:  [@Nickrz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nickrz)
#### Post date: [August 14, 1999, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-or-solid-bodily-function/2578/2 "1999-08-14T04:03:00Z")
I’ve actually had people tell me they don’t
know about “wet ones.” Really. Never had one. I wonder how they survive on all that cheese, never had a good red wine drunk, never ate a bad nacho, ach… either that or they’re lying and they know all about the dreaded bacon-stripes and the running home to change the dainties.
I’ve heard the same thing, mg, that the good ole sphincti is the only smooth muscle in the body that knows the difference, and quite frequently can head those puppies off at the pass, so to speak. (Thank God). Alas, I cannot answer your question, I can only testify to its authenticity.
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### Author:  [@Toymaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toymaker)
#### Post date: [August 14, 1999, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-or-solid-bodily-function/2578/3 "1999-08-14T14:19:00Z")
“Imagine trying to hold a combination of solid, liquid and gas in your hands, and letting only the gas out the bottom. Up the sphincter anai!”
An actual quote from an actual article by an actual, and nearly famous, person.
Gary
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### Author:  [@Alan\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Q)
#### Post date: [August 14, 1999, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-or-solid-bodily-function/2578/4 "1999-08-14T15:55:00Z")
Toymaker–
I found that little essay in a collection by Willard R. Espy called “Another Almanac of Words at Play”, a completely charming book that is now doubtless long out-of-print.
–Alan Q
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### Author:  [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)
#### Post date: [August 16, 1999, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-or-solid-bodily-function/2578/5 "1999-08-16T23:34:00Z")
Actually, I don’t think it’s up to your sphincter to know the difference. I’d say it’s up to _you_ to know the difference!
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### Author:  [@jayron\_32](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayron_32)
#### Post date: [August 17, 1999, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-or-solid-bodily-function/2578/6 "1999-08-17T03:45:00Z")
OK…
The gas is under much more pressure than the solid, and so just forces itself out by building up pressure.
Solids and liquids are, to a first approximation, non-compressible, and so themselves exert no pressure, per se. For a solid or liquid to shoot out, it needs to be pushed, either by muscular contractions, or by a back-up of gas (the source of the “wet-one.”)
* * *
Jason R Remy
“One pill makes you taller, and one pill makes you small, but the ones that mother gives you don’t do anything at all”
– Jefferson Airplane \* White Rabbit \* (Slick, G. 1966)