# What is at the bottom (snicker) of different types of fart noises? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 12, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-at-the-bottom-snicker-of-different-types-of-fart-noises/433282 "2008-01-12T14:45:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-at-the-bottom-snicker-of-different-types-of-fart-noises/433282/1 "2008-01-12T14:45:29Z")
I’m serious. I don’t want this thread to be the butt (snicker) of any jokes. What causes the different types of fart noises? Some are like a pop, some like a toot, and some like a train whistle. And some of course are silent but deadly. Why is that? ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-at-the-bottom-snicker-of-different-types-of-fart-noises/433282/2 "2008-01-12T15:08:29Z")
Seeing how farts are caused by air taken into your gullet when you eat, drink or talk I’d think it has something to do with what that air comes in contact with as it passes through your intestines, and the quantity of it therein. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-at-the-bottom-snicker-of-different-types-of-fart-noises/433282/3 "2008-01-12T15:13:28Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] I’m serious. I don’t want this thread to be the butt (snicker) of any jokes. What causes the different types of fart noises? Some are like a pop, some like a toot, and some like a train whistle. And some of course are silent but deadly. Why is that? [/QUOTE] Assuming you are talking about variety within the same individual: The difference in deadliness is caused by different bacteria acting on different substrates producing different quantities and types of gases (plus some residual aromas from any undigested but aromatic foods). The difference in sounds is caused by different amounts of air being vibrated in different ways by different tensions in the anal sphincters and different velocities of the air related to the force of expulsion, as well as different appositions of the buttocks (which changes the passageway for the air from the rectum to the outside). We may not all be LePetomane, but we all sing more than one note. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-at-the-bottom-snicker-of-different-types-of-fart-noises/433282/4 "2008-01-12T15:14:35Z")
[QUOTE=Phlosphr] Seeing how farts are caused by air taken into your gullet when you eat, drink or talk I’d think it has something to do with what that air comes in contact with as it passes through your intestines, and the quantity of it therein. [/QUOTE] Most intestinal gas is a byproduct of digestion and not swallowed air. Most burps tend to be swallowed air. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-at-the-bottom-snicker-of-different-types-of-fart-noises/433282/5 "2008-01-12T15:34:26Z")
Fart is technically explained as vapour lock ! While cooking in a pressure cooker ,vapour escapes in a uniform fashion whistling … so do farts … When there is pressure build up beyond the allowable limit, the saftey fuse blows in the pressure cooker and there is pop… When you remove the cooker from the fire and allow it to cool , though there is vapour production, will escape gradually without much noise… ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-at-the-bottom-snicker-of-different-types-of-fart-noises/433282/6 "2008-01-12T15:36:01Z")
what ?? 😃 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-at-the-bottom-snicker-of-different-types-of-fart-noises/433282/7 "2008-01-12T15:47:23Z")
As my brother used to tell me, there are six kinds of farts: the ‘fizz’, the ‘fuzz’, the ‘fizzy-fuzz’, the ‘rip-shit’, the ‘tear-ass’, and the kind that go ‘pooh’. And what **Chief Pedant** said. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-at-the-bottom-snicker-of-different-types-of-fart-noises/433282/8 "2008-01-12T16:16:20Z")
[QUOTE=Chief Pedant] Most intestinal gas is a byproduct of digestion and not swallowed air. Most burps tend to be swallowed air. [/QUOTE] ::crumples grant proposal:: ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-at-the-bottom-snicker-of-different-types-of-fart-noises/433282/9 "2008-01-12T17:01:25Z")
[QUOTE=Gfactor] ::crumples grant proposal:: [/QUOTE] ?? (system will not allow only a single question mark) ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-at-the-bottom-snicker-of-different-types-of-fart-noises/433282/10 "2008-01-12T17:11:51Z")
The following, um, passage used to be in the _Merck Medical Manual_. (Oh, that gastroenterologist humor!) I think it’s been deleted from more recent editions: Flatulence, which can cause great psychosocial distress, is unofficially described according to its salient characteristics: (1) the “slider” (crowded elevator type), which is released slowly and noiselessly, sometimes with devastating effect; (2) the open sphincter, or “pooh” type, which is said to be of higher temperature and more aromatic; (3) the staccato or drumbeat type, pleasantly passed in privacy; and (4) the “bark” type (described in a personal communication) is characterized by a sharp exclamatory eruption that effectively interrupts (and often concludes) conversation. Aromaticity is not a prominent feature. Rarely, this usually distressing symptom has been turned to advantage, as with a Frenchman referred to as “Le Petomane,” who became affluent as an effluent performer who played tunes with the gas from his rectum on the Moulin Rouge stage. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-at-the-bottom-snicker-of-different-types-of-fart-noises/433282/11 "2008-01-12T17:20:19Z")
[QUOTE=Chief Pedant] ?? [/QUOTE] Twas a joke, of sorts. As if I’d been working on a proposal for a grant to research the issue, only to discover that it’s fairly well-settled. It’s a shame, really. I had an awesome title picked out for the article: “Burp and Taste of Fart and Waste? The Debate Revisited.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-at-the-bottom-snicker-of-different-types-of-fart-noises/433282/12 "2008-01-12T17:26:00Z")
[QUOTE=Chefguy] As my brother used to tell me, there are six kinds of farts: the ‘fizz’, the ‘fuzz’, the ‘fizzy-fuzz’, the ‘rip-shit’, the ‘tear-ass’, and the kind that go ‘pooh’. And what **Chief Pedant** said. [/QUOTE] What about the dreaded _follow through_ :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-at-the-bottom-snicker-of-different-types-of-fart-noises/433282/13 "2008-01-12T19:53:16Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] What about the dreaded _follow through_ :eek: [/QUOTE] And let us not forget the famed _Triple Flutter Blaster_! :eek: :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-at-the-bottom-snicker-of-different-types-of-fart-noises/433282/14 "2008-01-12T23:54:19Z")
Growing up in Wisconsin, we were told how the pioneers arived upon promising land “What sould we name this place?” Before he could speak, the group’s leader broke wind “Therefore we shall call our new town **Beloit**!”