Perhaps it would be best to start with an explanation:
I am a mouthbreather. This is, in part, because of my perpetually clogged sinuses, and, in part, out of habit.
I’ve found that mouthbreathing is not recommended by dentists because it dries out the gums.
However, I’ve yet to find an explaination for why “mouthbreather” and “idiot” are used interchangably.
Does anyone out there know?
Many people whose intelligence is in the lower registers tend to let their mouths hang open when they are neither talking nor eating. Most people tend to close their mouths when not using them. Thus, there is a (not wholly justified, but not totally removed from reality) stereotype that people who habitually leave their mouths open are of lower intelligence.
The other pejorative phrase, based on the same observation, but quite a bit older, is “slack jawed.” I would guess that a person who simply breathes through their mouth, while holding it open just far enough to permit breathing, would be a bit less likely to be treated as suffering from mental deficiencies than a person whose jaw habitually hung slack, although the use of the phrase “mouth breather” does not make the distinction.
A curious thing I have noticed is that in some cases, it is the SMART folks who are actually the mouth-breathers, and
it the dullards (the “mouth-breathers”, paradoxically) who are too stupid to figure out why this is to their advantage.
I’m talking about when there is a foul odor in the air. Whenever this happens in a crowded area, I notice some people holding their hands or their shirt over their nose to try and filter the smell out. Anybody with half a brain knows that by simply breathing through your mouth instead of your nose you won’t smell a thing!
Some folk’ll never eat a skunk
But them again some folk’ll.
Like Cletus, the slack-jawed yokel"
tomndebb - beg your pardon here but.
do you have a cite for that?
I know what your saying here, but I think a cite is necessary for put anystock in a claim like that…
Steven Hawkings has his mouth gaping open almost all the time, and I doubt you can find anyone who would say he’s a dullard.
tomndebb - beg your pardon here but.
do you have a cite for that?
I know what your saying here, but I think a cite is necessary to put any stock in a claim like that…
Steven Hawkings has his mouth gaping open almost all the time, and I doubt you can find anyone who would say he’s a dullard.
The fact that ALS affects muscle control without affecting intelligence hardly offers any evidence that there isn’t a preponderance of the slack-jawed population who are in fact idiots. I agree he should have posted a cite for the way he worded that, but given the lack of attention in the medical literature to slack-jawed idiocy…he should instead have said something like “I’ve noticed that lots of slack-jawed people I’ve met are idiots.”
A cite? I suppose I could go look one up.
On the other hand, the phrase “many people whose intelligence” followed by “most people” was certainly no claim that there is some sort of direct correlation between open mouths and intelligence. (Which is why I further noted that the stereotype was “not wholly justified, but not totally removed from reality.”) That Dr. Hawking suffers a neurological problem just might indicate that he is not typical on any sort of generalizations.
One citation (not acceptable in this sort of discussion, of course) would be personal experience. Deb worked for over ten years for an institution serving MRDD children. It was not that diffcult, when walking into a room of older teens and their late teen caretakers to recognize who was which without knowing them, personally.
I’m not happy with all these sites, but:
A dental site that explicitly lists mouth breathing among “Dental Conditions Associated with Mental Retardation”
Discussion of mouth-breathing problems for children with Down Syndrome (half way down page)
Another site dealing with Down Syndrome kids addressing mouth breathing
I agree cooper.
totally off subject: I was fairly skilled in the cooper business whilst in graduate school. I worked in an old whaling port as a re-enactor in a museum. I could make a barrel quite well back then…mr.cooper.
Thanks Tom. I was just being nitpicky. It’s late here in CT. and I have an awefull case of insomnia. 
You must be joking.
Many people who suffer from Down’s syndrome breathe through their mouths.
I suffer from endlessly clogged sinuses, so I too am a mouth breather.
It’s all my fault. 
Well, to gape means
1 a : to open the mouth wide b : to open or part widely <holes gaped in the pavement>
2 : to gaze stupidly or in openmouthed surprise or wonder
3 : YAWN.
I suppose someone who seems to habitually gape could be considered to be in a constant state of stupidity, surprise or openmouthed wonder at pretty much everything. "Look, a pencil (mouth falls open & stays that way). Wouldn’t take long for this to mutate to mouthbreather.
As for breathing through your mouth to avoid unpleasant odors, that’s true. Just keep in mind that your nose filters that unpleasantness. Your mouth is tasting it, sans filtering.
Not joking. This really happens. I have always thought it paradoxical: The mouth-breathers are the smart ones in this situation and the so-called “mouth-breathers” are so stupid they avoid the simple thing that will eliminate the foul smell-- breathing through their mouths.
Breathing through the mouth simply results in you TASTING that which otherwise would simply be a bad smell. Thus, the truly intelligent are back to pulling our shirts over our noses:)
Hey, I Love me, Vol, I, I’m right there with you. But I have the impression that this doesn’t work for everyone. Don’t you have to ‘pull’ some inner-nose muscle to block off the nasal area from any smell-contamination? Otherwise you will still smell a little bit.
(BTW, when is vol. II coming out?)
Exactly-I found this when using the bathroom after my father, or scooping the litterbox.
And no, you don’t really TASTE it, because smell and taste are really different-taste is actually a result of smell. (Your tastebuds detect sweet, salty, bitter and sour).
Just FTR I’m a kind of switch-breather, since my teeth are too big (most people would call me bucktoothed), I look ridiculous when I close my mouth completely, so I can alternate from nose- to mouthbreathing and most people won’t notice.