# What does sticking your tongue out at someone mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 20, 2006, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-sticking-your-tongue-out-at-someone-mean/384895 "2006-12-20T06:02:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-sticking-your-tongue-out-at-someone-mean/384895/21 "2006-12-20T18:33:16Z")
> [@](#): > > I think the OP was going for the “why” of the tongue, rather than say, that hand on the crook of the elbow thing which seems to convey the same meaning? > > (“Nuts to you”, I mean) Go to Desmond Morris for this one. He sees it as a literal “Fuck You!” gesture (The arm is a super-phallus that it being forced into some aperture until stopped by the edge, indicated by the other arm stopping it at the elbow). Makes sense to me. And, if true, a very different sort of comment than the stuck-out tongue. The tongue is a childish and not very serious little rejection. The arm-and-fist is a serious, adult, violent insult. Even if done in a kidding way between friends it undeniably packs more of a punch, which is understandable if the Morris explanation is true. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-sticking-your-tongue-out-at-someone-mean/384895/22 "2006-12-20T18:52:48Z")
[QUOTE=saoirse] Just goes to show: If you want to say “Nuts to you” without speaking, there’s only one way to do it. [/QUOTE] Followed by an unzip and an awkward scamper over to press your sack on someone’s thigh. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-sticking-your-tongue-out-at-someone-mean/384895/23 "2006-12-20T19:11:34Z")
[QUOTE=Least Original User Name Ever] Followed by an unzip and an awkward scamper over to press your sack on someone’s thigh. [/QUOTE] Thigh? Oh, yes, I guess that would be a little less offensive. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-sticking-your-tongue-out-at-someone-mean/384895/24 "2006-12-21T02:14:32Z")
I remembered that it was a Tibetan custom to stick out one’s tongue as a greeting, and googled about as to why. My first rather wiseass simple thought was that it would be an extreme sign of respect to stick your tongue out in that sort of freezing cold environment. But, I was on the wrong track: From [this site](http://www.khandro.net/LangnLit_toc.htm) : > [@](#): > > Sticking out the tongue was once a common form of formal Tibetan greeting which has not yet completely disappeared: > > “In 1727, when Tibet was invaded by Dzungars, the practice of Bon was again prohibited. Many Bon Lamas were executed at this time, and the Nyingmapas were persecuted as well. When meeting, the Dzungars would force the Tibetans to show their tongues. They thought that if the tongue was a light color, it proved that the person was neither a Bonpo nor a Nyingmapa. It was believed that the tongues of these peoples had turned black or brown due to numerous recitations of mantras.” So, that custom would be tongue as passport, rather than an emotional reaction. Though, I remember reading previously that the tongue was displayed as a symbol of life force, which makes sense, as Tibetan and other Asian medicine tradition makes use of tongue diagnosis for state of health. (So do Westerners, in a less specific manner; “Say Ahhhhh”) Anyone else know about this tradition, somewhat at odds with the basic explainations in this thread? ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-sticking-your-tongue-out-at-someone-mean/384895/25 "2006-12-21T02:33:55Z")
Another “tongue custom”: Laying the blade of a hot knife on a suspect’s tongue to prove honesty. The logic was if you were lying, your mouth would be so dry your tongue wouldn’t be protected by enough saliva to keep it from burning you. Q ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-sticking-your-tongue-out-at-someone-mean/384895/26 "2006-12-21T12:36:42Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] \ He suggests that the sticking-the-tongue-out gesture that acts as a juvenile rejection taunt is basically the same motion used by an infant rejecting food being forced in by its mother (in pre-tech societies, this wouldn’t be Gerber Strained Whatever, but food chewed up by Mom and essentially spit into the baby’s mouth. In other words, it’s an infantile rejection sign, and the one used by older kids is the same rejection mechanism used in more general circumstances. \ [/QUOTE] I seem to recall a similar theory regarding the universal head jesture meaning ‘no’. The theory was that the head shake came from the infant turning his head away from the breast when he did not wish to eat. However, it has been so long since I read that, I have no idea \*where \*I read it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-sticking-your-tongue-out-at-someone-mean/384895.md?page=1)