The other day my husband decided that it was time to make the 7th and 8th grade choir students aware of their soft palates. First he explained to them that the whole purpose of the soft palate is to create a seal so that when one swallows his food, or Sprite, or milk, it does not exit out his nose, but down his throat. We've all known someone whose soft palate had a peculiar tendency to raise during laughing/milk ingestion, and then had milk squirting out his nose. (We used to try to get my niece to do this when she drank Sprite at holiday dinners, and more often than not, we were successful.) Anyway . . . .
So, in order to make them more aware of their soft palates so that when they are older they can keep them raised when they sing, he had them go to their respective bathrooms, find their uvulas in the mirror, (the uvula is the most visual and most obvious part of the soft palate) and attempt to raise the things.
This is where it gets weird. After the experiment was done and they had returned from their respective rest rooms, one girl's hand went up. She asked, "Is it okay if I touched my uvula?"
My husband was a little surprised and somewhat grossed out, but he said something like, "Um . . . yea . . . that should be fine." Now, what he was thinking was, That is really weird. Why would you want to touch your uvula?
Singing is great. Funny 7th grade girls are great. Uvulas and soft palates are great. Touching your uvula with your finger is weird.
This is where it gets weird. After the experiment was done and they had returned from their respective rest rooms, one girl's hand went up. She asked, "Is it okay if I touched my uvula?"
My husband was a little surprised and somewhat grossed out, but he said something like, "Um . . . yea . . . that should be fine." Now, what he was thinking was, That is really weird. Why would you want to touch your uvula?
Singing is great. Funny 7th grade girls are great. Uvulas and soft palates are great. Touching your uvula with your finger is weird.