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The Lounge => Media and Inspiration => Topic started by: Narf the Mouse on August 11, 2008, 09:55:39 PM

Title: ...'Mouth-breathers'?
Post by: Narf the Mouse on August 11, 2008, 09:55:39 PM
So I encountered the term today, didn't recognize it and looked it up in the Urban Dictionary.

Wow. Big problem for me.

See, my nasel passeges are too narrow. I try breathing through them, especially if walking and it feels like I'm slowly suffocating.

And now I find I may well have been classed with 'Uncivilized louts' because I don't want brain damage - Or at least, to not feel like I'm being strangled. :(

Doesn't help that I may be autistic to a certain extent.
Title: ...'Mouth-breathers'?
Post by: Ian Absentia on August 11, 2008, 11:39:58 PM
No, no.  Don't worry.  The term really doesn't apply to people who have to breathe through their mouths out of necessity.  It's intended to apply do it absent-mindedly due to a lack of composure.  A parallel term is "slack-jaw".

As someone who has suffered chronic sinusitis most of my life, I feel for you.  But let it go.

!i!
Title: ...'Mouth-breathers'?
Post by: Narf the Mouse on August 11, 2008, 11:43:54 PM
Ah, ok. Was having flashbacks to hell...School for a bit there. Which largely consisted of being put down for things I knew not why.

Thanks. :)
Title: ...'Mouth-breathers'?
Post by: Ian Absentia on August 12, 2008, 12:05:55 AM
A good friend of mine -- brilliant fellow -- says he's never breathed through both nostrils at once in his life.  He apparently also dug up a study somewhere that correlated restricted nasal passages with higher tested intelligence.  No, really, I couldn't make this stuff up.

Now, on the other hand, if your knuckles drag on the ground when you walk, I'm going to call you a...well, a knuckle-dragger.

!i!
Title: ...'Mouth-breathers'?
Post by: Aos on August 12, 2008, 12:09:59 AM
Actually, when used to aid locomotion, the don't really drag...
Title: ...'Mouth-breathers'?
Post by: Narf the Mouse on August 12, 2008, 12:11:37 AM
Quote from: Ian Absentia;234706A good friend of mine -- brilliant fellow -- says he's never breathed through both nostrils at once in his life.  He apparently also dug up a study somewhere that correlated restricted nasal passages with higher tested intelligence.  No, really, I couldn't make this stuff up.
.../me is going to call everyone who only breaths through their nose a 'stupid nose-breather!' :D

(No, not really)
Title: ...'Mouth-breathers'?
Post by: pathar on August 12, 2008, 03:50:39 AM
Quote from: Ian Absentia;234696As someone who has suffered chronic sinusitis most of my life, I feel for you.  But let it go.

Yeah, man, take a breath!

Er, wait.
Title: ...'Mouth-breathers'?
Post by: Jackalope on August 12, 2008, 04:16:37 AM
Yeah, as a chronic allergy sufferer whose nose is usually clogged, I used to not get that one either.  I was like "Wait, so I'm dumb because by sinus are too stuffed up to breathe through my nose?"
Title: ...'Mouth-breathers'?
Post by: Joey2k on August 12, 2008, 09:03:54 AM
Quote from: Ian Absentia;234696A parallel term is "slack-jaw".

Quote from: Ian Absentia;234706Now, on the other hand, if your knuckles drag on the ground when you walk, I'm going to call you a...well, a knuckle-dragger.

As someone with both jaw muscles that are weaker than normal and overly long arms, I am deeply offended.  You, sir, are an insensitive jerk!
Title: ...'Mouth-breathers'?
Post by: shewolf on August 12, 2008, 09:27:40 AM
Take it tangency, nancy-boy!

;)
Title: ...'Mouth-breathers'?
Post by: Ian Absentia on August 12, 2008, 11:26:10 AM
Quote from: Technomancer;234811As someone with both jaw muscles that are weaker than normal and overly long arms, I am deeply offended.  You, sir, are an insensitive jerk!
Mouse-breeder.

!i!
Title: ...'Mouth-breathers'?
Post by: Joey2k on August 12, 2008, 12:51:15 PM
Quote from: Ian Absentia;234836Mouse-breeder.

!i!

That's better.
Title: ...'Mouth-breathers'?
Post by: Leo Knight on August 13, 2008, 01:41:30 PM
Long ago, in the '70s, there was a TV show called "The Streets of San Francisco", starring Karl Malden, and a young Michael Douglas. I still remember Douglas' character dismissing someone as a "mouth-breather". It bothered me then, and no Google to figure it out. My library's "Dictionary of Modern Slang" topped out at about 1965. I'm glad to learn I'm not the only one confused by the phrase.
Title: ...'Mouth-breathers'?
Post by: KrakaJak on August 13, 2008, 09:37:07 PM
I have NEVER breathed through both of my nostrils. However, which nostril I can breath through changes a couple times every day.

I've never bothered to find out why :D
Title: ...'Mouth-breathers'?
Post by: TheShadow on August 14, 2008, 01:26:21 AM
Quote from: KrakaJak;235267I have NEVER breathed through both of my nostrils. However, which nostril I can breath through changes a couple times every day.

I've never bothered to find out why :D

Apparently, all of us (apart from mouth-breathers, presumably) breathe through one primary nostril, which alternates at regular intervals during the day. This according to some Indian yogic breathing stuff I read, and confirmed in my own case by desultory observation. So you're not alone.
Title: ...'Mouth-breathers'?
Post by: Kyle Aaron on August 14, 2008, 02:01:16 AM
Quote from: Narf the Mouse;234677And now I find I may well have been classed with 'Uncivilized louts' because I don't want brain damage - Or at least, to not feel like I'm being strangled. :(
That is your misfortune. Nonetheless, people will be disturbed by and mock you. Likewise, with people who stutter, boys who still live with their mums at thirty, and people with glandular problems.

The world needs someone to laugh at. Sorry.

Quote from: Narf the MouseDoesn't help that I may be autistic to a certain extent.
See above.
Title: ...'Mouth-breathers'?
Post by: Jackalope on August 14, 2008, 03:59:22 AM
Quote from: KrakaJak;235267I have NEVER breathed through both of my nostrils. However, which nostril I can breath through changes a couple times every day.

I've never bothered to find out why :D

You have a deviated septum.  It's pretty common.  I've been the same way ever since I broke my nose when I was 16.
Title: ...'Mouth-breathers'?
Post by: Aos on August 14, 2008, 08:54:37 AM
Quote from: Kyle Aaron;235308That is your misfortune. Nonetheless, people will be disturbed by and mock you. Likewise, with people who stutter, boys who still live with their mums at thirty, and people with glandular problems.

The world needs someone to laugh at. Sorry.



We'll always have you Kyle.
Title: ...'Mouth-breathers'?
Post by: droog on August 14, 2008, 04:23:40 PM
Get some surgery, mouth-breathers.
Title: ...'Mouth-breathers'?
Post by: KenHR on August 14, 2008, 05:36:17 PM
Ah, well, Narf, it's not so bad.  I've got a deviated septum that prevents me from breathing through the nose, as well.  Insurance won't cover an operation to correct it, though; in my case they say it would be "cosmetic," no matter that I sound like I'm always sick.

But seriously, if people have to resort to the internet to make fun of others...well, they've probably got issues that go a lot deeper than being called a mouth breather. :)
Title: ...'Mouth-breathers'?
Post by: shalvayez on August 17, 2008, 05:42:36 PM
I associate with a fuckton of mouthbreathers everytime I log on.