# Toothpick in the mouth. A cinema trope **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 29, 2020, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toothpick-in-the-mouth-a-cinema-trope/850606 "2020-03-29T18:09:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toothpick-in-the-mouth-a-cinema-trope/850606/41 "2020-03-31T11:52:34Z")
Just saw the Star Trek TOS episode “A Piece of the Action” last night and couldn’t help but notice crime boss Bela Oxmyx chewing on a toothpick, thanks to this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toothpick-in-the-mouth-a-cinema-trope/850606/42 "2020-03-31T14:03:58Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I knew several cowboys and men in related professions who did this. Younger men. Maybe they got it from the movies. > [@nightshadea](#): > > I remember they used to have flavored toothpicks just for people like that I was always told it was a cowboy thing you either smoked or had a toothpick habit … although in some places it used to be an old-style match stick > > But for some reason in the 30s, it also became a thing in gangster movies … > [@Personal](#): > > As teens in the eighties kids at our school used to flavor our own toothpicks with cinnamon oil and walk around with them hanging out of our mouths. I can’t recall why we did this/where we picked it up. I graduated high school in 1980 in rural Oklahoma (a whole town of cowboys). We all did the cinnamon toothpick in oil thing. They “why” is easy. we weren’t allowed to have candy in class, but it was OK to have a toothpick. Plus we probably thought it looked cool. 🙂 It was briefly mentioned above, but the next stage of toothpick in the mouth, of course the matchstick in the mouth. For me personally, it was most famously done by Lt. Marion “Cobra” Cobretti (Sylvester Stallone) in the movie Cobra! [Check this out!](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Cobra_movie_poster.jpg) And remember… Crime is the disease, meet the cure! ---
**Author:** ![Nansbread1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Nansbread1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nansbread1)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toothpick-in-the-mouth-a-cinema-trope/850606/43 "2020-03-31T14:52:37Z")
So no one can ever remember any actress trying this on. Leads me to have you seen any female do it in real life. Or do females have a similar trope in cinema. Something that replaces a toothpick. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toothpick-in-the-mouth-a-cinema-trope/850606/44 "2020-03-31T15:35:07Z")
> [@Nansbread1](#): > > So no one can ever remember any actress trying this on. > Leads me to have you seen any female do it in real life. > > Or do females have a similar trope in cinema. Something that replaces a toothpick. [Gina Carano as Angel Dust](https://gamespot1.cbsistatic.com/uploads/scale_super/1549/15494192/2917353-deadpoolangeldust.jpg)in the first Deadpool movie always had a matchstick in her mouth. It was even a plot point in the move. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toothpick-in-the-mouth-a-cinema-trope/850606/45 "2020-03-31T20:04:29Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Kojak’s toothpick was his lollipop. Was THAT ever a thing for any other grown up? Rick self-confidently brandishes or sucks on a lollipop in several scenes of the recent _Rick and Morty_ episode where they (hilariously) spoof heist movies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toothpick-in-the-mouth-a-cinema-trope/850606.md?page=2)