# Help me decipher this police report **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 29, 2001, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-decipher-this-police-report/95923 "2001-11-29T14:50:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tramp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@tramp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tramp)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-decipher-this-police-report/95923/1 "2001-11-29T14:50:16Z")
“Police describe two suspects including one white male, 6’2” to 6’3" tall, lanky build, short blond hair parted down the middle, with slight pock marks on his face. The second suspect is described as a 6’ tall white male, about 200 lbs., with a shaved head and possible cauliflower ear and possible Philadelphia accent, police said. He was seen wearing a dark shirt with a light colored stripe across the chest, police said." What is a cauliflower ear? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-decipher-this-police-report/95923/2 "2001-11-29T14:56:38Z")
A cauliflower ear is what wrestlers get–serious wrestlers, not WWF. It comes from all that clinching, side of head pressed against side of head, which rubs and irritates and eventually “rearranges” the cartilage so the ear looks, well, like cauliflower. Wrestlers now wear helmets to prevent this. I’ll go see if I can find a picture, if you want. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-decipher-this-police-report/95923/3 "2001-11-29T14:57:26Z")
> [@](#): > > What is cauliflower ear? > > Cauliflower ear is an acquired deformity of the outer ear. Because the ear is precariously perched on either side of the head, it is often vulnerable to blunt trauma. Wrestlers and boxers in particular are susceptible to this type of injury. When the ear is struck and a blood clot develops under the skin, or the skin is simply sheared from the cartilage, the connection of the skin to the cartilage is disrupted. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-decipher-this-police-report/95923/4 "2001-11-29T14:59:23Z")
“Cauliflower ear” refers to an ear which is swollen and/or deformed as a result of an injury. From this site: [http://www.ccent.com/ENT/caul.html](http://www.ccent.com/ENT/caul.html) > [@](#): > > Shearing injuries, like severe blows with a rubbing motion, cause a separation of the perichondrium from the cartilage with resulting collections of blood and serum. This is a very common wrestling injury…Surgical incisions and external sutures to compress the external auricular skin to the cartilage are finally done, if needed, to prevent reaccumulation. Blood not removed is then invaded by fibrous scar tissue, resulting in the familiar cauliflower ear. It is also common among boxers (the human kind, not dogs). ---
**Author:** ![AndyJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@AndyJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyJ)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-decipher-this-police-report/95923/5 "2001-11-29T15:00:30Z")
My cousin has some bashed in ears, he playes rugby. When I used to play I used to tape mine back with insulation tape around my head, stopped them getting ripped off aswell. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-decipher-this-police-report/95923/6 "2001-11-29T15:01:35Z")
[Cauliflower ear](http://www.adweek.com/adweek/images/creative/ad_pic(nike14).gif) ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-decipher-this-police-report/95923/7 "2001-11-29T15:04:24Z")
Here’s [another pic](http://www.freehearingtest.com/earphotos.shtml) of cauliflower ear. It is accompanied by some other photos which were pretty nasty, don’t look if you are squeamish. ---
**Author:** ![tramp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@tramp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tramp)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-decipher-this-police-report/95923/8 "2001-11-29T15:13:56Z")
yuck. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-decipher-this-police-report/95923/9 "2001-11-29T15:17:15Z")
Although upon further browsing, I now see that helmets don’t necessarily prevent it, so I’m glad I was here, because Bonzo started wrestling this year as a freshman, and now I have something new to worry about. I’m so glad! 😃 Evidently a Greco-Roman wrestler named Randy Couture has one, but I’m having trouble finding a pic that shows his ear really well. **Cornflakes** , is that Randy Couture in your link? [http://www.nikebiz.com/media/n\_beauty.shtml](http://www.nikebiz.com/media/n_beauty.shtml) > [@](#): > > RANDY COUTURE– CAULIFLOWER EAR > This is what happens when your life’s passion involves getting your ears rubbed, pulled, twisted and otherwise abused. It’s called cauliflower ear and it’s common among wrestlers. Even four-time national champion Greco-Roman wrestlers like Randy Couture. Since 1985, doctors’ requests that he have this thing treated have fallen on a deaf ear. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-decipher-this-police-report/95923/10 "2001-11-29T15:42:29Z")
Cauliflower was a euphemism for the vagina in the late 18th and 19th century. Francis Grose, author of _A Classical Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue_ (1785) reports that: ‘A woman, who was giving evidence in a case wherein it was necessary to express those parts, made use of the term _cauliflower_, for which the judge on the bench, a peevish old fellow, reproved her, saying she might as well call it an artichoke. _Not so, my lord_, replied she, _for an artichoke has a bottom, but a \*\*\*\* and a cauliflower have none_’. A nice example of 18th century wit there. ---
**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-decipher-this-police-report/95923/11 "2001-11-29T16:01:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nostradamus \* > Cauliflower was a euphemism for the vagina in the late 18th and 19th century. You’re not saying that the suspect in the police report had a vagina-shaped ear, are you? _Insert obligatory “aural sex” joke here._ Hee hee hee hee… ---
**Author:** ![tramp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@tramp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tramp)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-decipher-this-police-report/95923/12 "2001-11-29T19:36:22Z")
Now with a vagina shaped ear I’m not sure he would be able to hide from the cops for long… everyone would know who this guy was ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-decipher-this-police-report/95923/13 "2001-11-29T20:19:18Z")
I think that _cauliflower_ as a slang term for the vagina sadly fell into disuse at the end of the 19th century. At that time it became known as a cabbage. I know this is nothing to do with ears or cauliflowers but other terms for the vagina over the years have been \*green meadow, greengrocery, groceries, mushroom, nettle bed, parsley bed, \*and _sweet potato pie_. The most recent plant euphemism I have is _lettuce_ from the 1990’s, as in _shaking the lettuce_ for urination. ---
**Author:** ![pennystheman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@pennystheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pennystheman)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-decipher-this-police-report/95923/14 "2001-11-29T20:48:43Z")
Interestingly, it is a rule in American high school style wrestling that you must wear a headgear. In international style (Greco-Roman and freestyle) the only people who wear them are Americans, because we are so concerned about looks in our society. I never wore one when I wrestled Greco. It left me with a tiny bit of cauliflower, but not much. In most other countries, wrestlers with cauliflower ear is considered a badge of honor. I play rugby now, and if you don’t wear tape to keep your ears down, they HURT after the match. I think rugby players have more of a problem than wrestlers sometimes, because the tape doesn’t always stay on the whole 80 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-decipher-this-police-report/95923/15 "2001-11-29T23:32:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > **Cornflakes, is that Randy Couture in your link?** I’ll confess that I don’t know Randy Couture from Adam, but [yes it is](http://www.adweek.com/adweek/creative/best_spots_99/9933.jsp), apparently: > [@](#): > > (…Displaying) to the strains of “You Are So Beautiful,” maimed athletes-including wrestler Randy Couture (cauliflower ear)-wear their scars proudly. Over the top? Perhaps. But it’s strong, compellingwork-impossible to ignore.