I licked quite a few when I was a teenager. We used a lot of 9v batteries in our garage band–for homemade fuzzboxes, mike mixers and other assorted small electronics. (not to mention transistor radios)
It’s polls like this that make me feel like a crazy person. I’ve never done it, never heard of it, and it seems like such a bizarre thing to do – yet I’m in the minority.
Please, what does it feel/taste like?
I’ve been doing this for years. When I was a kid I reasoned that one of those 6 volt lantern batteries would feel weaker than a 9 volt. I was wrong. 
Don’t ever try this. Not trying to hijack the thread but this warning is too important to pass on. IT HURTS SO BAD, MY GOD IT HURTS. But no, really go ahead and try it, don’t listen to me. Have fun.
a full 9V might be a sharp unpleasing sensation. less might be a tingle. lower voltage yet would be a metallic taste.
Tested a couple of 9v batteries that way just this week. One was still good.
FTR: I test D cells the same way… 
I don’t think it feels like anything else. It’s like the tiniest bit of muscle cramp pain for a fraction of a second, mixed with the taste of metal (maybe pennies?) for a bit longer. Also your tongue will twitch a bit without you asking it to. It doesn’t hurt in the way a bee sting or a burn or a pinch might, and for some people it doesn’t hurt at all, but it is an odd unpleasant sensation.
If you’ve never tried it you should, at least once. It’s over in a moment and it’s a feeling you’re never likely to experience otherwise. I know what it feels like, I don’t like it at all, but once in a while I’ll still touch a set of 9 volt terminals to my tongue just because it’s so damn weird that the novelty of the sensation is worth the discomfort.
You should try horse-wire…
This is one reason I will never order a baked potato in a restaurant. They sometimes bake them wrapped in foil and then cut down through the foil before they serve them to you. I get the screaming panics just thinking about it.
I just got done typing a response to another electrically themed thread, here.
I think I’ll pass on your horse-wire. 9-volts are about as daring as I’m comfortable with.
Just because you asked, I went and tried it. Hmm. Weird sensation!
An odd effect I always wanted to know about if I’m the only one who experiences it, but never really found a way to bring it up in casual conversation: besides the tingle and metallic taste, it makes me salivate, quite a lot. In fact, reading this thread, the vivid memory of the feel and taste has been having the same effect…
I love the sensation of licking a 9 volt. There’s just something special about the feel of electrons running over your tongue.
Pavlov’s battery.
Yes, it never leaves you, does it? That rather metallic sensation is sort of on the cusp between “intriguing” and “unpleasant”.
My feeling exactly.
And someday I’ll learn how to do multiple quotes, but JohnT said “I’m sure it’s been asked before, but how else would you know the thing is charged?” to which I say, We always had a little battery tester device. Still do.
See my post #3. 
I think it’s hilarious that, according to the results, licking 9-volt batteries is very much a guy thing to do. It makes me think there’s something else going on here (i.e. it must somehow make your dick feel good).
I swear to god, if you people are withholding some crucial information from me, I’ll be very pissed.
Nah, my Dad taught it to me when “we” were working on something and I was very young.
Yeah, now I want to go lick a battery! I’m shocked at all the people who haven’t done it or even heard of it. I question the health of their childhoods.