# So why would "The bird of paradise fly up your nose?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 24, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-would-the-bird-of-paradise-fly-up-your-nose/220926 "2003-12-24T23:26:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![justwannano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ab992/32.png) [@justwannano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justwannano)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-would-the-bird-of-paradise-fly-up-your-nose/220926/1 "2003-12-24T23:26:32Z")
Never could figure that one out. ---
**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:** [December 24, 2003, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-would-the-bird-of-paradise-fly-up-your-nose/220926/2 "2003-12-24T23:34:15Z")
Some context please? ---
**Author:** ![justwannano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ab992/32.png) [@justwannano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justwannano)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-would-the-bird-of-paradise-fly-up-your-nose/220926/3 "2003-12-24T23:39:49Z")
Its part of a song. Dunno who sang it. Can’t even remember the words except for that stupid line. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-would-the-bird-of-paradise-fly-up-your-nose/220926/4 "2003-12-24T23:40:48Z")
[May the bird of paradise fly up your nose.](http://sniff.numachi.com/~rickheit/dtrad/pages/tiBIRDPARA.html) ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-would-the-bird-of-paradise-fly-up-your-nose/220926/5 "2003-12-24T23:41:55Z")
It’s an old song by [Little Jimmy Dickens](http://sniff.numachi.com/~rickheit/dtrad/pages/tiBIRDPARA.html). Basically, the singer is a notorius cheapskate whose “victims” insult him with these lines: > [@](#): > > May the bird of paradise fly up your nose > May an elephant caress you with his toes > May your wife be plagued with runners in her hose > May the bird of paradise fly up your nose. So it’s a radio-safe way of saying “Bite Me.” Clear as mud? ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-would-the-bird-of-paradise-fly-up-your-nose/220926/6 "2003-12-24T23:43:55Z")
It’s from a country-western song popular in the Seventies… “May the bird of paradise fly up your nose.” It was a sort of backhanded good tiding, like “May you live in interesting times.” And that’s about as interesting as it gets. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-would-the-bird-of-paradise-fly-up-your-nose/220926/7 "2003-12-24T23:47:00Z")
The song came from 1965, As [this article shows](http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=31438), the lyrics went international. A decade later, it would have been “Up your nose with a rubber hose”. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-would-the-bird-of-paradise-fly-up-your-nose/220926/8 "2003-12-24T23:58:28Z")
Didn’t it start as a catch-line by Johnny Carson, before the song? ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-would-the-bird-of-paradise-fly-up-your-nose/220926/9 "2003-12-25T00:14:48Z")
I seem to remember it as a catch phrase delivered by Dick Martin on _Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In_ in the late 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-would-the-bird-of-paradise-fly-up-your-nose/220926/10 "2003-12-25T03:35:50Z")
**Eve** , knowing Johnny Carson, this is probably one of the many lines, routines, jokes, etc he outright stole.