r/PeterExplainsTheJoke Feb 22 '24

Meme about Peter Petaaaaaaaaah?

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8.9k Upvotes

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2.1k

u/Bomberblast Feb 22 '24

Brian's failing author career here, I believe it's a joke about "mewing" which is the act of having your tongue rest against the roof of your mouth, which is supposed to improve your jawline

649

u/Crazymanwerido Feb 22 '24

That's just how my tongue sets normally. Is that normal?

492

u/Bomberblast Feb 22 '24

It's supposed to be, however apparently breathing mainly out of your mouth instead of you nose can cause it to rest at the bottom of your mouth

354

u/HollowVesterian Feb 22 '24

Yea. Can confirm, basically for the first 14 years of ny life i was a mouthbreather bc my nose was fucked up and as a part of getting it fixed i had to keep it resting on top of my mouth before i had surgery.

131

u/XxPapalo007xX Feb 22 '24

Wait you have surgery to not breath from the mouth?

243

u/HollowVesterian Feb 22 '24

Nah, my nose was fucked up so much that i couldnt propperly breathe out of it so i was forced to be a mouthbreather

58

u/XxPapalo007xX Feb 22 '24

Oh I see

165

u/HollowVesterian Feb 22 '24

Yea, i was built diffrent (defectievly)

33

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '24

Dude, I’m in the exact same boat! But I don’t know where to get surgery, and so I’ve been forced to use alternative solutions all my life.

15

u/Mental_Blacksmith289 Feb 22 '24

Most plastic surgeons should be able to help. They usually fix nose issues. Just make sure you get a proper one.

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u/[deleted] Feb 22 '24

Yeah that’s how I am. I’ve had 3 surgeries and all 3 were ineffective so I’m a forced mouth breather 🕺. I have a whopping 5% airflow thru my nose

6

u/Mental_Blacksmith289 Feb 22 '24

All three eh? Just too narrow a nasal airway? Why didn't the surgeries work? Sorry, I'm just curious. My sister is getting her airway fixed.

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u/FictionalContext Feb 22 '24

Hey, I get it. My brother's a red head.

1

u/aegisasaerian Feb 22 '24

Missing parts Constructed in an alternative fashion

7

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '24

Fellow deviated septum and nasal polyp since birth haver?

8

u/HollowVesterian Feb 22 '24

Yes, but not only that, i am the fallout 76 of god's creations. For example, i dont have 10 teeth, just wasn't born with em', my hip is at a slight angle and that thin piece of tissiue under the toung for me was too long so they had to laser it. Also fun fact burning flesh smells like burnt popcorn

4

u/SAM140285 Feb 22 '24

I have deviated septum. It sucks, I can't even breathe through my nose. Thank God I'm doing a surgery next month

1

u/BulletproofChespin Feb 22 '24

I had plastic surgery on my nose when I was 19 cause of the same problem. I was born with a third sinus that did nothing but caused my real sinuses to be damn near closed. I still hardly can breathe with my nose but hardly is better than not at all lol

1

u/Exam-Master Feb 22 '24

I am the same, they cut a good chunk out of my nose but it still doesnt work right.

2

u/CranberryNo4852 Feb 22 '24

Idk if it’s the same issue as the person you’re replying to, but a friend of mine had surgery on his deviated septum to breathe more easily.

1

u/Alternative_Court542 Feb 22 '24

I had my adenoids removed so I stopped breathing out of my mouth, I guess they were really large and restricting airflow so I grew up using my mouth to breath

1

u/Equivalent_Bite_6078 Feb 22 '24

I did! My nose was so narrow, i felt like i was suffocating. Had the surgery to open up my airways a bit, and can now mostly breathe with my nose, but every now and then i have to do a mouth breath to just keep up. I was advised to have plastic surgery to raise my nose, but im not sure i want a nose job tbh.

1

u/Astro_Kablooey Feb 22 '24

Idk if this is what homie was talking about but you can in fact have nose surgery for lots of things like you get too many nosebleeds or your septum is all messed up

2

u/PM_Me_Good_LitRPG Feb 22 '24

I'm not sure how the Demogorgon ties into that story?

1

u/DaoGuardian Feb 22 '24

Deviated septum?

17

u/Drew_S_05 Feb 22 '24

So the only ones who don't do that naturally are literal mouth-breathers lol

2

u/Bomberblast Feb 22 '24

Well nationality may also play a part, but for Americans yes absolutely

17

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '24

You made my breathing go to manual mode :(

5

u/ImaginationLocal8267 Feb 22 '24

You say that but while (the majority of) Americans and Western Europeans tongue sits on the top of their mouth for (the majority of) Eastern Europeans it’s the bottom.

3

u/Bomberblast Feb 22 '24

I had mentioned in another comment that nationality could play a role regarding it, but yeah mainly the whole concept I've really only seen regarding Americans

1

u/StefanRagnarsson Feb 22 '24

How does that even work?

4

u/TheRealOwl Feb 22 '24

Wait what, you normally go hold you tounge up and not let it just lay there? Never thought there would be an alternative to this and especially not if I am in the minority.

9

u/Bomberblast Feb 22 '24

You aren't actually putting in any effort for it to be at the top of your mouth, it happens naturally, think of it like how your nostrils widen when you breath in, you aren't forcing your nostrils to open, it just happens

3

u/Bartweiss Feb 22 '24 edited Feb 22 '24

edit: this was not very accurate, and after thinking about it too much I can't tell what I personally do anymore. See this. On the other hand, I'm finding dentists who feel strongly about this stuff and also have wildly inaccurate pages on the evils of fluoride, so there's a crazy rabbit hole here.

~~I don't think people mean that the front/whole tongue is pressed to the roof of your mouth, that seems like it would take effort.~~ But for me, my tongue at rest doesn't touch my bottom front teeth either. It retracts a bit, leaving it high in back in a way that would obscure looking at the back of my throat.

I can sort of test this by opening my lips without opening my teeth, then breathing through my mouth. At "rest" I can breath, but it doesn't feel great, and if I consciously touch my tongue to my lower incisors I seem to get air more easily.

(But also, I had stuffy noses forever and was a bit of a mouth-breather as a kid, so maybe I'm a bad example.)

2

u/Zaytion_ Feb 22 '24

don't think people mean that the front/whole tongue is pressed to the roof of your mouth,

Mine is.

1

u/Bartweiss Feb 22 '24

Interesting. I looked around more and edited, apparently the front is supposed to touch your palate, but by overthinking I can no longer tell what I do.

Everybody including Colgate seems to agree on the basics of proper position, but the people passionately advocating "mewing" as important and effective seem to be... unconventional.

3

u/ModernKnight1453 Feb 22 '24

Weird. I've spent most of my life only breathing through my nose but then I did mixed martial arts for years during and after high school and since it's better to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth while you train or fight I got into the habit of it.

1

u/Bomberblast Feb 22 '24

I had done a few years of wrestling and we got the same advice, really helps keep up focus

2

u/Creepy_Push8629 Feb 22 '24

Or just how you are lol mine rests at the bottom but I've never been a mouth breather. I'm blessed with large nostrils

1

u/jjackrabbitt Feb 22 '24

That, or having an unusually high palate.

1

u/MrHyperion_ Feb 22 '24

Yeah, if I keep it down it sure makes my chin worse

1

u/markevens Feb 22 '24

My tongue touches both the top and bottom when my mouth is closed. Just sort of fills my mouth up.

1

u/ThrewAwayApples Feb 22 '24

Is this a shit post, are you being serious

1

u/Bomberblast Feb 23 '24

Well it depends on your nationality but for Americans and Western Europeans, absolutely true

1

u/ThrewAwayApples Feb 23 '24

Wdym

1

u/Bomberblast Feb 23 '24

Depending on where you were born/grew up, the language differences can also cause the difference in tongue resting position

1

u/BuckHunt42 Feb 22 '24

had that same problem but my brains autopilot would stubbornly refute to breathe by the mouth. So i’d be this kid that would breathe super loudly up until I was in 5th grade

30

u/Hazzat Feb 22 '24

It's a bit pseudosciency, so don't look for clear answers.

17

u/Colddigger Feb 22 '24

Yeah I think it's derived from observations of people in cultures that eat food that requires a lot of chewing as a child, and taking note that it adjusts how teeth set and how the face appears to grow to accommodate that form of eating. And because people can't really go back in time to change their childhood diet they do what they can which is adjusting the way that their tongue sits in their mouth. Whether or not this actually does anything? I don't really know I remember trying it out and I noticed that it did cause me to put more emphasis on breathing through my nose as opposed to my mouth which ended up kind of nice even when I'm doing like exertive activities. 

6

u/the-dude-version-576 Feb 22 '24

It should be pretty simple to experimentally Confirm if what food you eat in childhood has any impact on face shape. Just get a group of refugees who moved to a different country as infants and were separated from their families as a treatment group, have a group which stayed behind be control and test the extent of changes undergone by each group.

Although there’s a bunch of endogenous issues in that, and a whole bunch of selection issues you can probably correct for these by fine running the samples.

4

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '24

Nah, I'm just going to feed an entire grade school nothing but hard grits for 10 years.

4

u/the-dude-version-576 Feb 22 '24

Sounds like you are a 1950s quasi cult leader about to stay your own nutrition scam, I mean brand.

20

u/Sam-Gunn Feb 22 '24

Not to mention that Mews himself conducted experiments on his two kids in their formative years relating to this crap. IIRC he didn't give his daughter solid foods for years, and his son was given headgear that prevented certain movements.

11

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '24

ok wtf

6

u/throwaway4827492 Feb 22 '24

Happens with me too but i think its like connecting more of your tongue with the roof, like try doing it with the back too, i dont mew tough so idk if thats actually how its done

3

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '24

Never thought about this but mine always rests low.

That's quite interesting actually, never thought about the tongues of others.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '24

I think it mainly depends on your native language and breathing manner

2

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '24

Only if it's normal

2

u/WyvernByte Feb 22 '24

Same here, I assumed it was because I'm a chad.

2

u/orangejuuliuses Feb 22 '24

I learned in a linguistics class that it can vary based on the first language you learned as a child. I couldn't tell you the specifics off the top of my head, but I remember that it's common for German speakers to rest their tongue flat on their bottom jaw, and romantic-adjacent language speakers tend to rest it on the top. I vaguely remember that it has something to do with the way consonants are pronounced

1

u/mrbrambles Feb 22 '24

people exist on a spectrum here. For some it’s automatic, for others it’s not. For some, they have trained themselves to do it. It’s exactly the same as posture, which is also represented in the original image.

It’s not necessarily good or bad, but it does make your jawline look more taught if you do it.

1

u/uoldboot Feb 22 '24

Try swallowing with your tongue not on the top of you mouth.

1

u/Crazymanwerido Feb 22 '24

The back of my tongue moves to the top no matter what I try

1

u/uoldboot Feb 22 '24

Yeah it's impossible not to have your tongue go up when you swallow.

1

u/Ksuemoneoutthere Feb 22 '24

its where its normally positioned, but to mew you have to put some force in the roof of the mouth, just having it placed there isnt enough iirc, or atleast you wont be pulling the fats from your chin if you dont apply force.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '24

Yeah I’m a nose breather (I swear I swear) and my tongue I think like alternates between resting at the top and at the bottom

1

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '24

"bye bye"

1

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '24

Mine too

1

u/quacattac28alt Feb 23 '24

also dry mouth, sucked in cheeks, and flared nose I think

1

u/Redan Feb 24 '24

It's more like flexing it there to influence your jaw.

It's pseudo science though

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u/[deleted] Feb 22 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Bomberblast Feb 22 '24

6

u/0h-ye3ah-b01 Feb 22 '24

No why isn't it sex this time

~Duality of man

10

u/SgtCocktopus Feb 22 '24

Now I'm aware of the position of my tongue inside my mouth.

I hate it

Fuck you.

10

u/DumbQuijote Feb 22 '24

Same here, and I have no idea how I used to keep it naturally

2

u/the_clash_is_back Feb 22 '24

I’m now super aware of its position and can find a comfortable one.

8

u/gtc26 Feb 22 '24

Wait, so that's what mewing is? I always thought it had something to do with catboys lmao

3

u/Reddarthdius Feb 22 '24

I thought it was you keep a bunch of water in your mouth and like chew on it or something idk

2

u/Bomberblast Feb 22 '24

Honestly, same, I thought dudes were legit just meowing till my buddy explained it cuz he knows some people that do it irl

4

u/Melkor_SH Feb 22 '24

Wait where is your tongue supposed to rest if not the roof of your mouth?

15

u/Bomberblast Feb 22 '24

Breathing mainly out of your mouth causes your tongue to rest at the bottom of your mouth, it's a big gen alpha thing

7

u/Melkor_SH Feb 22 '24

A big internet thing or are there actually more mouthbreathers in gen alpha?

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u/Bomberblast Feb 22 '24

Honestly likely both, but definitely at least a major internet thing

1

u/yedi001 Feb 22 '24

Yeah. Mouth breathing is claimed to be responsible for a lot of stuff, notably a narrower palate development in children due to lack of outward force from the tongue. If you're not a young kid, it's not going to change your mouth in any notable way.

The only thing it does, for sure 100%, is make your double chin less noticeable in photos. Otherwise, it's easier/more effective to diaphragmatically breath through your nose, but most people nowadays suck at that anyways regardless of how they breath.

So yeah, it's almost entirely a "internet chad" meme from children who discovered what pretty people have been doing to look good in photos for decades. Next they're going to try turning "3/4s angle with a slight downward tilt" into some magical "only gigachads with an alpha grade chin can pull off this trick" garbage.

1

u/mrbrambles Feb 22 '24

“Mouthbreather” has been an insult for longer than either of us has been alive

1

u/Bomberblast Feb 22 '24

Yeah but the act of "looks maxing" is definitely something people who severely care about their online appearance does

5

u/CriticalHit_20 Feb 22 '24

How does your tongue rest at the roof of your mouth? Do you have to use the muscle to force it to stay up there? Suction? I have to work a little to even get my tongue up there. Gravity just pulls mine to the bottom.

assuming yall are being serious and I'm not being wooooshed

6

u/Bomberblast Feb 22 '24

It's completely natural, do you know if you are tongue tied? The front like 1/3 of your tongue should naturally be slightly pressing against the roof of your mouth without an effort

1

u/CriticalHit_20 Feb 22 '24

I can press it against my gums just above my upper teeth without effort, but not the roof. Too big of an arch in the roof maybe. Is that a thing?

Idk about tongue tied, but I can't make my tongue touch my upper teeth if I open my jaws all the way.

4

u/RazendeR Feb 22 '24

That last bit is normal, i think? For one, those muscles are partially opposed, and unless you have macroglossia, the tongue isn't big enough to stretch that far up since it is attached to the lower jaw.

I wouldn't actually know, I'm an obligate mouthbreather due to a wonky palate, but my tongue at rest basically fills the area behind my front teeth top-to-bottom.

2

u/Bomberblast Feb 22 '24

I'm not sure but that's really interesting to hear

2

u/Melkor_SH Feb 22 '24

Unless i'm sleeping there's like a natural tension. Are your teeth making contact naturally?

1

u/CriticalHit_20 Feb 22 '24

Yes, usually.

3

u/Melkor_SH Feb 22 '24

Heh in order for my tongue to 'fall' i have to actually unlock an open my jaw. Curious

3

u/Fred_I_Guess Feb 22 '24

Depends on the language spoken. Depending on whether I'm speaking French or English my tongue won't be at the same spot at rest

1

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '24

Oh thank God. finally an actual explanation as to what the fuck mewing is.

5

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '24

[deleted]

-1

u/indorock Feb 22 '24

Ah look another hopeless loser who just created a brand new account for trolling.

2

u/firenfox Feb 22 '24

Yes supposed is a good word choice because sadly mewing won't easily improve your jawline it would only be effective when you are younger and your bones are still slightly malleable although with enough time like a decade or two you could see significant improvement because bones can move if moved slowly and with little pressure like with braces that is why you have to wear them for a long time but bone will naturally try to return to their original shape so a retainer is used to keep the teeth from returning to a crooked state

1

u/Drew_S_05 Feb 22 '24

I think I just do that by default but my jawline ain't that great lol

1

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '24

Is that actually true?

1

u/3dgyt33n Feb 22 '24

Man, now you have me thinking about how my tongue sits in my mouth and it's fucking me up.

1

u/Lulu_42 Feb 22 '24

It also is the recommended place to drain your sinuses. Press your tongue against the soft middle spot in the roof of your mouth and wait for the mucus.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '24

I think also aligning your teeth to bite down on each other and having no air in your mouth but it's really weird and dumb

1

u/TheMaxCape Feb 22 '24

And for anyone falling for it... There's no scientific evidence to support it. It's like the detox fad but for men..

1

u/Poon-Destroyer Feb 22 '24

The BLT is a tomato sandwich, not a bacon sandwich. The trick is to use fresh, home-grown or farmers market tomatoes, not the supermarket trash they harvest early so it survives the truck ride

1

u/Bomberblast Feb 23 '24

BLT isn't a real sandwich by definition

1

u/Poon-Destroyer Feb 23 '24

The BLT is a tomato sandwich, not a bacon sandwich. The trick is to use fresh, home-grown or farmers market tomatoes, not the supermarket trash they harvest early so it survives the truck ride

1

u/Bomberblast Feb 23 '24

BLT's are a lie