# the indentation under your nose and it's origin **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 12, 2003, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-indentation-under-your-nose-and-its-origin/187996 "2003-07-12T17:15:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wonkeaux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@wonkeaux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonkeaux)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-indentation-under-your-nose-and-its-origin/187996/1 "2003-07-12T17:15:58Z")
regarding the query about the ridges under one’s nose, I spent quite a while like an idiot trying to find the replies to this before realising there weren’t any, here’s one now though. link: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_078a.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_078a.html) in Hewbrew grade school we were told when babies are in the womb an angel pops in there to say hi and teach you the entire Torah (old testament to you goyim), apparently you memorise it with the angel’s help. shortly before birth the angel touches your face, right below your nose causing the indentation discussed in the post linked to above, and simultaneously in a rather cruel joke I suppose causing you to forget the Torah you had just been taught. what is the point of this -I have no idea, I wonder if anyone else who attended hebrew school ever heard this story? ;j they told us a lot of other bizzare things as well but that one sticks in my memory. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-indentation-under-your-nose-and-its-origin/187996/2 "2003-07-16T15:48:24Z")
There’s a similar tale among us goyim that babies know the secrets to life, the universe, and everything, but at the momement of birth an angel effectively shushes us. I wonder if we stole it from you guys. I though the idea was that babies still know the truth (maybe that’s why they cry all the time?), but by the time they learn to speak, they’ve forgotten it. If the angel wanted to make us forget immediately, seems like he’d slap us on the forehead, instead. ---
**Author:** ![Nangleator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e19adc/32.png) [@Nangleator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nangleator)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-indentation-under-your-nose-and-its-origin/187996/3 "2003-07-16T19:11:35Z")
That explains the stunned expression and the drooling, but not the klabortnum. (I just made up that word, because if those ridges have a name, then I just can’t seem to remember it, so I might as well make up a new word every single time for the spliboozums.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bad_Astronomer)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-indentation-under-your-nose-and-its-origin/187996/4 "2003-07-17T02:01:12Z")
Well, this is odd. I happen to know that area is called the filstrum, but cannot find a reference to it on the web. Perhaps I am spelling it incorrectly. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-indentation-under-your-nose-and-its-origin/187996/5 "2003-07-17T02:47:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Bad Astronomer \* > \*\*Well, this is odd. I happen to know that area is called the filstrum, but cannot find a reference to it on the web. Perhaps I am spelling it incorrectly. \*\* philtrum I think filstrum sounds better though. Scientist 1: Hey Fred, what will I do with these water samples, they contain a lot of suspended material. Scientist 2: Philtrum ---
**Author:** ![The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bad_Astronomer)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-indentation-under-your-nose-and-its-origin/187996/6 "2003-07-17T05:56:26Z")
Ah, thanks. I should have said “[…something like filstrum.](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/9012.htm)” That’s what I meant, anyhow. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-indentation-under-your-nose-and-its-origin/187996/7 "2003-07-17T23:49:30Z")
“Philtrum” is also Greek for “love potion”–Anglicized as “philter.” ---
**Author:** ![Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ac91a4/32.png) [@Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knighted_Vorpal_Sword)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-indentation-under-your-nose-and-its-origin/187996/8 "2003-07-21T13:48:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by wonkeaux \* > [Bin Hewbrew grade school we were told when babies are in the womb an angel pops in there to say hi and teach you the entire Torah (old testament to you goyim), apparently you memorise it with the angel’s help. shortly before birth the angel touches your face, right below your nose causing the indentation discussed in the post linked to above, and simultaneously in a rather cruel joke I suppose causing you to forget the Torah you had just been taught. what is the point of this -I have no idea, I wonder if anyone else who attended hebrew school ever heard this story? \*\* The point is so the baby will grow up to toil in the study of Torah. If a person knew it all when he/she came out, there would be no point to spending a lifetime of studying. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-indentation-under-your-nose-and-its-origin/187996/9 "2003-07-22T14:33:05Z")
I guess the angels don’t bother with babies that have fetal alcohol syndrome, theirs is usually flat. ---
**Author:** ![sciguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@sciguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciguy)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-indentation-under-your-nose-and-its-origin/187996/10 "2003-07-22T17:55:43Z")
Huh, I always assumed they had just made up that story in “The Prophecy”… Gabriel: Do you know how you got that dent, in your top lip? Way back, before you were born, I told you a secret, then I put my finger there and I said “Shhhhh!” ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-indentation-under-your-nose-and-its-origin/187996/11 "2003-10-09T07:15:10Z")
Tom Brokaw has a V above his mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Cobweb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Cobweb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Cobweb)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-indentation-under-your-nose-and-its-origin/187996/12 "2003-10-09T14:09:24Z")
The “an angel shushed you at the moment of birth” story is familiar to anyone who has seen the Bogart/Bacall classic “Key Largo”, where it is used to charming effect.