# Tongue-in-Groove? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 10, 2003, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-in-groove/212341 "2003-11-10T03:42:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DaisyFace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@DaisyFace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaisyFace)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-in-groove/212341/41 "2003-11-11T03:41:17Z")
Disclaimer: Any and all references to “biting” in previous post are unintentional. Thank you. Have a nice day. ---
**Author:** ![stochastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@stochastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stochastic)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-in-groove/212341/42 "2003-11-11T05:40:46Z")
Being the SDMB, I feel compelled to throw some science into this discussion. Tongue rolling was first described as an autosomal dominant trait. However, more recent work suggests that tongue rolling is not an inheritable trait. Check out this link for an academic review of the problem: [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/dispomim.cgi?cmd=entry&id=189300](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/dispomim.cgi?cmd=entry&id=189300) Check out this link for a more layman discussion: [http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon970226/skinny1.html](http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon970226/skinny1.html) FWIW: My wife and daughters can all roll their tongues, I’m the lone mutant in the family that can’t. Also…is it just me or did anyone else read this thread title and think it had something to do with either cabinetry or oral sex? ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-in-groove/212341/43 "2003-11-11T07:33:29Z")
So if tonge rolling isn’t genetic, I wonder how many other things we take for granted as being genetic, aren’t. Oh and the title - I was reminded of a dirty joke. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-in-groove/212341/44 "2003-11-11T12:40:37Z")
I must confess, I worked long and hard to come up with a thread title that was clearly descriptive, perfectly innocent, amusingly ambiguous, and vaguely salacious. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Kickback\_Joe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/cdc98d/32.png) [@Kickback\_Joe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kickback_Joe)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-in-groove/212341/45 "2003-11-11T13:03:44Z")
Well **ETF** you did a fine job of being vaguely salacious. While I cannot refute the sites mentioned above neither I nor my wife can perform said tongue roll ☹ but two of our boys can. ---
**Author:** ![stochastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@stochastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stochastic)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-in-groove/212341/46 "2003-11-11T18:12:27Z")
> [@](#): > > While I cannot refute the sites mentioned above neither I nor my wife can perform said tongue roll but two of our boys can. Kickback Joe, your anecdote doesn’t refute the sites I mentioned, but rather supports them: for if tongue rolling were a dominant trait and your sons can do it, then either you or your wife should also be able to do it. ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-in-groove/212341/47 "2003-11-11T19:17:39Z")
**EdTdFd** , you can _too_ curl your tongue! All you have to do is: 1. Open your mouth. Big. Real big. More. More. Ick, maybe not that much. 2. Insert three fingers in mouth, the middle one above the tongue, the outer two below. 3. Raise outer fingers relative to middle one. Tongue will bend into a U shape. Toldya so. 4. Shriek when you realize people are watching. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-in-groove/212341/48 "2003-11-11T19:22:42Z")
**BJMoose** : 😃 😃 😃 **Kickback\_Joe** , your post and previous ones describing the distribution of this talent in one’s family have me picturing Dopers across the continent – nay, across the world – holding tongue-rolling tests at the dinner table. 😛 For what it’s worth: I can’t wiggle my ears, either. ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-in-groove/212341/49 "2003-11-11T19:51:01Z")
Sheesh. Do I have to explain _everything_ to you ? . . . ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-in-groove/212341/50 "2003-11-12T01:27:41Z")
Yep. Mee2. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-in-groove/212341/51 "2003-11-12T03:21:37Z")
I can’t. Nor aah don’t trust dem folks that can, neither! The work of the Devil, it is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-in-groove/212341.md?page=2)