We're used to strange correspondence down here at the Vulture Central Mailbag, but Tim Rushing has set a new standard:

My question has nothing to do with computers, technology or anything that really matters, which, of course, is why I thought of writing to The Register.

A few weeks ago, my wife and I were out hiking in the woods. I needed to blow my nose and not having a tissue, I covered the unplugged nostril, leaned my head over and blew mightily out of the blocked nostril. A nice gob of snot went flying out. My wife asked what I called blowing my nose that way. I told her I called it a farmer's blow.

You see, my wife was raised in Chicago and claimed she had never seen anyone blow their nose that way until a few years ago. A friend of her's called it a farmer's wife, but had no explanation for that terminology. I opined that perhaps it was because the farmer's wife was the person who gave the farmer his blow.

So, I did a nice informal survey of some friends here in the states and came up with a snot shot and a racial slur (Jewish handkerchief). This led me to wonder what terms other English speaking countries used for this.

I actually went on the web and found a cheap international rate (I can call London for less per minute than it costs me to call my wife at work in Chicago 25 miles away!) and went online to try to find the numbers of pubs in small towns in England and Ireland. Unfortunately, that got me nowhere. (Perhaps I should have called a bit later than 5pm your time.)

Anyway, this question has been bugging me for some time. I was hoping that you might be able to help. I'll even promise a round of drinks for the staff the next time I'm in London. (Realize, the last and only time I was there was in 1985, but. . . .)

Ok. Any readers out there prepared to admit to an expertise in this area?