# Tongue rings
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 21, 2000, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032 "2000-09-21T18:55:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@relic\_11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/relic_11)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2000, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032/1 "2000-09-21T18:55:31Z")
Guys? Sexy or turn off?
Had it done? How much and for how long did it hurt?
Any tips?
Comments?
Opinions?
Health factors? (have backup, please)
My friend and I are getting pierced this weekend, my ears, her tongue. We want to be a little more informed than we are now.
Thanks!
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### Author:  [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2000, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032/2 "2000-09-21T19:09:24Z")
I don’t care for the idea. There’s a major nerve and a major blood vessel running down the center of the tongue; one false poke, and you’ve either nicked the nerve (screwing up your sense of taste) or nicked the blood vessel (possibly wrecking the blood supply to your tongue, causing it to go necrotic).
Plus, it makes you talk funny. Plus, it’s too visible to be successfully concealed in any social situation where you might not want everyone to know your tongue is pierced.
Anyway, like I said, I don’t care for 'em. Just get a tattoo in a semi-secret location, that should satisfy your need for self-expression through body modification.
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### Author:  [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2000, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032/3 "2000-09-21T19:20:59Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Max Torque \*
> \*\*it makes you talk funny. Plus, it’s too visible to be successfully concealed in any social situation where you might not want everyone to know your tongue is pierced.
> \*\*
Wrong and wronger.
It all depends on the person, MT. My girlfriend has one. Her talking did not change one bit. She’s had it done for four years, and there are still people she sees on a very regular basis who don’t know that she has it.
Now, I know there are some people who can’t keep their fucking mouth shut, always biting it, playing with it, etc. Thats very annoying.
Now, for the OP,
Quite sexy and quite the turn on if you know how to use it. 😉
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### Author:  [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2000, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032/4 "2000-09-21T19:22:05Z")
I think they’re sexy on women. On guys? Kinda prissy. But, in when it comes to practical applications for them – like getting that dream job, winning over your BF/GF’s parents, or licking a frog’s ass – that’s where they really lose points.
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2000, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032/5 "2000-09-21T19:24:01Z")
When you talk, they bump against your teeth and
can chip enamel. My dentist says “NO.”
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### Author:  [@Stella\_Fantasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stella_Fantasia)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2000, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032/6 "2000-09-21T19:29:51Z")
Boring!
Figure out an ORIGINAL way to piss off your parents. This one’s been done to death.
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### Author:  [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2000, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032/7 "2000-09-21T19:36:24Z")
To paraphrase George Carlin -
People used to get ear rings to piss off the squares. Now guess what? The squares are wearing ear rings. It is not cool anymore.
He said that about 10 years ago. The same applies to tongue rings today (and eyebrows, and noses, and belly buttons…)
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### Author:  [@relic\_11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/relic_11)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2000, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032/8 "2000-09-21T19:38:08Z")
Thanks Stella, but despite the fact that we ARE teenagers (18 to be exact), we CAN make decisions based on reasons other than pissing off our parents.
:::mad:Grumbles about goddamm people sterotyping teenagers as bags of shit:mad::: ::brightens, and starts a pit thread (in general, not towards you personaly, Stella, I am not a sterotypical bag of shit)::
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### Author:  [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2000, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032/9 "2000-09-21T19:40:42Z")
xizor and annie xmas,
I agree, if you are doing it “bacuse it’s the cool thing to do”.
I disagree in that unlike a earring, nosering, or BB ring, a tongue stud can MAJORLY enhance sexual pleasure for a partner.
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### Author:  [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2000, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032/10 "2000-09-22T01:57:48Z")
If a girl has a pierced tongue, she’ll probably suck your dick.
If a guy has a pierced tongue, he’ll probably suck your dick.
* * *
Yer pal,
Satan - Commissioner, [The Teeming Minions](http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/full/show?lid=39428&page=leaguehome)
\*TIME ELAPSED SINCE I QUIT SMOKING:
Five months, one week, five days, 23 hours, 57 minutes and 41 seconds.
6639 cigarettes not smoked, saving $829.99.
Extra time with Drain Bead: 3 weeks, 2 days, 1 hour, 15 minutes.
\***“I’m a big Genesis fan.”-David B. _(Amen, brother!)_**
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### Author:  [@Profane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profane)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2000, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032/11 "2000-09-22T04:39:55Z")
**Max Torque** , no one can tell I have my toungue pierced. It hasn’t affected my speech, and you can’t see it unless I let you.
**Annie-Xmas** , I have had my toungue pierced for 6 years and I have yet to bang it on my teeth while talking. You would have to stick your toungue all the way out to accomplish this.
**relic\_11** , it didn’t hurt at all when it was pierced, but eating afterwards did. You must take care of it properly-lots of listerine & glyoxide every day. Please find someone reputable & _clean_. Make sure they autoclave all equipment and use new needles. Have fun and good luck!
P.S. Be warned that piercings (like tattoos) may become addictive. The rush you get is amazing.
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### Author:  [@flikker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flikker)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2000, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032/12 "2000-09-22T07:04:37Z")
i got my tongue pierced about 3 weeks ago…it didn’t hurt…until a few hours after…it wasn’t what i’d call pain…just discomfort. The only reason it can make u talk funny is because when it is first done your tongue swells up, i did have a bit of a lisp at first but once u get used to it, u talk normally.
ok…chipping of teeth…this can be a problem with the large barbell in when eating…my friend has experieced this…there shouldn’t be much of a problem if u change to a smaller barbell…
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### Author:  [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2000, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032/13 "2000-09-22T17:13:43Z")
Satan isn’t too far wrong. A tongue piercing does enhance oral sex technique.
I had mine pierced in 1994 for an article I was writing on body piercing. I didn’t want to be pedestrian and just write about what other people thought of it, I also wanted a sidebar on being pierced. No one else would do it. So… I did it. As Madonna said in ‘Human Nature’: absolutely no regrets.
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### Author:  [@Stella\_Fantasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stella_Fantasia)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2000, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032/14 "2000-09-22T17:23:21Z")
Sorry for generalizing. It’s just that I can’t think of another reason to get one’s tongue pierced. It certainly isn’t very attractive.
BTW, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with doing things just to piss off one’s parents. It’s a bad idea to make it your life’s work, but it’s a fun thing to do at a certain point in your life.
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### Author:  [@hypergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hypergirl)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2000, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032/15 "2000-09-23T15:32:19Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Satan \*
> \*\*If a girl has a pierced tongue, she’ll probably suck your dick.
>
> If a guy has a pierced tongue, he’ll probably suck your dick.\*\*
You should probably give credit where credit is due. That’s from Chris Rock’s “No Sex in the Champagne Room”.
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### Author:  [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2000, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032/16 "2000-09-23T18:38:09Z")
Ugh! Gross! Personally, I prefer women who don’t mutilate themselves.
I don’t know for sure about the oral sex thing, but I think the only thing the tongue ring would do is creep the hell out of me.
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### Author:  [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2000, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032/17 "2000-09-23T18:40:01Z")
Once you get pierced, the hole is there to stay. It may “close up,” but it won’t necessarily completely close. You are still vulnerable to infections. (I recently got a nasty infection in my earlobe in an earring hole that I hadn’t used for 10 years!)
So before you get a piercing, remember that you are doing something permanent to your body.
Good luck and enjoy.
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### Author:  [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2000, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032/18 "2000-09-24T02:15:01Z")
A friend of mine was drinking a canned Coke and got his tongue barbell caught in the opening of the can…damn near ripped his tongue apart trying to get it out. Funny to watch, though. 😃 😛
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### Author:  [@Medea\_s\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medea_s_Child)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2000, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032/19 "2000-09-24T02:28:11Z")
I never knew how much of a sadist I was until my SO got a tongue ring.
I knew I was a tease, and very playful, but that little sliver ball…in his mouth… The greatest things happen when I’d hold on to it with my teeth. Its not like he was going to be able to get away. \ The idea of it makes me want to pounce on something.
Other than that, I thought it was pretty darn stupid. Not cute, distracting, but not really cute. But it did make him docile real quick.
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### Author:  [@Mamapotomus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mamapotomus)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2000, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tongue-rings/34032/20 "2000-09-24T02:29:11Z")
I had mine pierced for about four years. Why’d I get rid of it?-
If one more asshole said, “Hey, you got one of those things in your tongue? Stick it out. Heh Heh. I bet your boyfriend/girlfriend likes that, huh?” I was going to beat the shit out of someone.
People pierce themselves for countless personal reasons. Unfortunately, the tongue ring is usually regarded as sexual and you’ll soon cease to be amazed by the stupid things people feel free to say to you.
Don’t get me wrong, go ahead as long as you make sure the piercer is reputable and **STERILE**. Make sure you follow all of his/her directions **PRECISELY**.
Good Luck!
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