# What's the technical term for eye boogers?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-technical-term-for-eye-boogers/514413>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 20, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-technical-term-for-eye-boogers/514413 "2009-10-20T00:02:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-technical-term-for-eye-boogers/514413/1 "2009-10-20T00:02:20Z")

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You know, that dried snot that comes out of your tear ducts while you are sleeping.

I’ve asked before and the answers I’ve heard are:  
Sand  
Sleep

but both of these appear to be regional slang rather than a dictionary definition.

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**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-technical-term-for-eye-boogers/514413/2 "2009-10-20T00:03:52Z")

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[Rheum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_crust).

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**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-technical-term-for-eye-boogers/514413/3 "2009-10-20T00:06:24Z")

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Rock, thanks! 🙂

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-technical-term-for-eye-boogers/514413/4 "2009-10-20T00:09:06Z")

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> [@Ludovic](#):
>
> [Rheum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_crust).

This is an excellent Scrabble word.

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**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-technical-term-for-eye-boogers/514413/5 "2009-10-20T00:12:41Z")

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Or, as [Granny](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beverly_Hillbillies) might have said: “rheum, it is.”