# The Pope's Nose
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-popes-nose/5388
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 25, 1999, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-popes-nose/5388 "1999-11-25T16:02:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@drollman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drollman)
#### Post date: [November 25, 1999, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-popes-nose/5388/1 "1999-11-25T16:02:00Z")
Now that all my American friends are celebrating Thanksgiving…(a full 6 weeks after us Canadians. Yes we do celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada. I’m surprized this question would even be asked on such a smart show like tonight’s episode of “Fraiser.”…but I digress…) maybe someone can answer this: For year’s my father refered to the rear of the of the bird, (The part that crosses the fence last) as “The Pope’s Nose.” Where did this expression originate? Is it an insult or a compliment to be offered “The Pope’s Nose”?
Happy gobble gobble everyone!
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With God as my witness, I thought turkey’s could fly.
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### Author:  [@Bobinelli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobinelli)
#### Post date: [November 25, 1999, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-popes-nose/5388/2 "1999-11-25T17:01:00Z")
In the UK it’s referred to as the Parson’s nose. I don’t know where this originated from but a lot of people consider it to be the tastiest part of the turkey - so I’d guess it’s a compliment.
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### Author:  [@putrid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/putrid)
#### Post date: [November 26, 1999, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-popes-nose/5388/3 "1999-11-26T08:17:00Z")
I was told that the term was inspired by a Durante-esque pope of earlier this century but I do not know whether that is true or which pope that was. I believe it is a protestant term.
I am under the impression that the pope’s nose is inedible. My family considers the ‘oyster’ the best part of the turkey.
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### Author:  [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)
#### Post date: [November 27, 1999, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-popes-nose/5388/4 "1999-11-27T02:29:00Z")
I heard the “Pope’s nose” expression describing the license plate light housing on a '50s VW beetle.
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### Author:  [@jwg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jwg)
#### Post date: [December 16, 1999, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-popes-nose/5388/5 "1999-12-16T21:13:00Z")
Catholic bashing. It implies that pope has his face up the rectum of the bird; just like he would for another person or the devil or whoever. Please, don’t come back and ask why. I think that more polite parents may never have explained the term to the children - bigotry simply isn’t carefully taught anymore.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [December 17, 1999, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-popes-nose/5388/6 "1999-12-17T05:17:00Z")
Charles Funk, in **A Hog on Ice** , backs up **jwg**. He claims that the term arose during the period following the death of England’s James II when there was fear that a Catholic might claim the throne. Someone used the phrase as an insult and it stuck. For some reason, it changed to “parson’s” in the U.S. in the early 19th century. (This would not have been done in deference to Catholics–who were pretty thoroughly discriminated against–but it is unclear why it changed.)
* * *
Tom~
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### Author:  [@Cap\_n\_Crude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cap_n_Crude)
#### Post date: [December 17, 1999, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-popes-nose/5388/7 "1999-12-17T16:47:00Z")
This is the first I’ve heard of the Pope’s Nose being any part of an avian. My understanding was that the Pope’s Nose was a penis nickname, in that “Blowing the Pope’s Nose” was a euphemism for masturbation. The head looks rather like a pope’s or bishop’s mitre, after all. It ties in with the other euphemism “beating the bishop.”
* * *
–Da Cap’n
“Playin’ solitaire 'til dawn
With a deck of fifty-one.”
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [December 17, 1999, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-popes-nose/5388/8 "1999-12-17T16:56:00Z")
## Any thing that reads, “(verb)ing the (noun)'s (noun)” is a euphemism for masturbation!
Elmer J. Fudd,
Millionaire.
I own a mansion and a yacht.
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### Author:  [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)
#### Post date: [December 17, 1999, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-popes-nose/5388/9 "1999-12-17T17:25:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Catholic bashing.
I’m sceptical of this. My wife’s polish-catholic family uses this term. I, with my protestant heritage, had never heard it before I was married.
* * *
_It is too clear, and so it is hard to see._
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### Author:  [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)
#### Post date: [December 17, 1999, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-popes-nose/5388/10 "1999-12-17T17:26:00Z")
Skeptical, darn it, not sceptical :(.
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### Author:  [@Cap\_n\_Crude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cap_n_Crude)
#### Post date: [December 18, 1999, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-popes-nose/5388/11 "1999-12-18T06:33:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Skeptical, darn it, not sceptical :(.
Both are accepted spellings, though sk is a lot more common.