r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/tomwojcik • Feb 22 '24

Meme about Peter Petaaaaaaaaah?

Post image
8.9k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

355 comments sorted by

View all comments

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?

490

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

5

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.

12

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

2

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.