# Gross Bodily Function Question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gross-bodily-function-question/279878>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 14, 2004, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gross-bodily-function-question/279878 "2004-12-14T23:40:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mojave66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@mojave66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mojave66)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gross-bodily-function-question/279878/1 "2004-12-14T23:40:28Z")

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For as long as I can remember, every once in a very great while (1 per every 6-12 months) I’ll cough up a small yellowish ball of goo that has the size, appearance and consistency of a curd in cottage cheese. Far more yellow, of course, noticeably drier, and very very smelly.

I have NO idea where these come from, or why I cough them up, or if anyone else does. And no, I haven’t been eating any cottage cheese at all lately, and yet yesterday I coughed another one up.

Very strange stuff. Anyone else have this issue (since it’s not really a problem), or am I just a freak of nature?

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**Author:** ![arjee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@arjee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arjee)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gross-bodily-function-question/279878/2 "2004-12-14T23:48:42Z")

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Sounds like a tonsillolith (also called tonsil stone). Google that and see if it sounds similar.

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**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gross-bodily-function-question/279878/3 "2004-12-15T00:05:32Z")

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HHHHHAWK…… PTUI!!! 😉

[Why are there ROCKS in my tonsils?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=142651&highlight=tonsil)

[I have a hole in the back of my mouth…help! (TMI)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=173230&highlight=tonsil)

[I’m vomiting pellets](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=237821&highlight=tonsil)

[Tonsil Stones (WAY TMI!)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=139443&highlight=tonsil)

Ah, the days of yore, when TMI meant “tonsillar exudates.”

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**Author:** ![mojave66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@mojave66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mojave66)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gross-bodily-function-question/279878/4 "2004-12-15T20:09:42Z")

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OK, this is PRECISELY why I coughed up (pun intended) the $14.95 to join the Doperboard. Not only to I get an answer to a question I’ve had since childhood, I get linked to three previous threads about the little buggars.

I’m just waiting for the day someone invents a thread that can talk to the deceased.