# Ouch! What the heck is this pointy thing stuck in my toe? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2006, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouch-what-the-heck-is-this-pointy-thing-stuck-in-my-toe/373900 "2006-09-23T23:36:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouch-what-the-heck-is-this-pointy-thing-stuck-in-my-toe/373900/1 "2006-09-23T23:36:51Z")
I just got up to walk across the room and became aware of a sharp pricking pain in one of my toes; expecting a splinter or thorn, I took off my sock and found [this](http://www.gurman.co.uk/stuff/thang.jpg) stuck in my toe. The image is magnified 10x (the object is no bigger than about 3mm wide); the bit stuck in me was the slanted point at the lower right corner of the object. What the heck is it? ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouch-what-the-heck-is-this-pointy-thing-stuck-in-my-toe/373900/2 "2006-09-23T23:38:42Z")
Looks like a stinger to me, but 3mm is getting pretty dang big for one. Wasp, I’d say if it were larger. Do you have scorpions where you are? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouch-what-the-heck-is-this-pointy-thing-stuck-in-my-toe/373900/3 "2006-09-23T23:49:55Z")
[QUOTE=TimeWinder] Looks like a stinger to me, but 3mm is getting pretty dang big for one. Wasp, I’d say if it were larger. Do you have scorpions where you are? [/QUOTE] There are a few isolated populations of small scorpions in the UK, but none particularly near here. The whole thing is approx 3mm across the widest dimension, not just the little bulb thing. There is no soreness or irritation around the place where it was stuck; the only pain was that caused by the pure mechanical intrusion of the thing. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouch-what-the-heck-is-this-pointy-thing-stuck-in-my-toe/373900/4 "2006-09-24T00:03:39Z")
A tiny reversed ‘S’ from a [Superman logo](http://www.newtek.com/products/lightwave/tutorials/modeling/superman/superman_main_logo.jpg) ? ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouch-what-the-heck-is-this-pointy-thing-stuck-in-my-toe/373900/5 "2006-09-24T02:47:39Z")
Is it an insect leg? Some insects have bulgy little legs, and most of them have little spikes for gripping various surfaces. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouch-what-the-heck-is-this-pointy-thing-stuck-in-my-toe/373900/6 "2006-09-24T04:58:11Z")
That’s a very grainy picture, but it’s a fair bet that’s a maxillary plap of an insect, probably some sort of beetle. It’s part of the insect’s mouth, and used for fine manipulation and tasting if food. There’s a [picture here](http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~struwe/price/images/8%20%20maxillary%20palp.JPG), although being a different species yours doesn’t look exactly like that. And your picture is also upside down relative to that photo. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouch-what-the-heck-is-this-pointy-thing-stuck-in-my-toe/373900/7 "2006-09-25T15:10:45Z")
Its a toe nail.