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The 'farmer's blow' laid bare

Our readers help you breathe more easily

In last week's Vulture Central Mailbag, we asked readers if they had any further information on the 'farmer's blow', that is, the process of sealing one nostril with a finger while ejecting snot from the other.

Naturally, Register readers did not let us down in expanding on this fascinating nasal unblocking technique. Dominic Wysocki was able to clarify the name:

Get it right buddy. Over here across the Atlantic, we call those delightful gobs "Snot Rockets".

Mark Tabler was able to confirm this. In Australia, however, they have an even more delightful term, as Lachlan Robertson explains:

Here in Australia I've heard it called a few things, the main one that sticks in my mind is a "bush oyster". I'm guessing that the "bush" bit is because the nose-blowing method originated due to a lack of tissues on outback farms, and the "oyster" bit, well, I've never looked at a ball of snot in an oyster shell, but...

Andy Moran notes that in Oz it is further known as a Bushman's blow. But what about the Canadian perspective? David McLeod is our Maple-leaf mucus correspondent:

Saskatchewan Hankie/One-Gun Salute

And from the Left Coast of Canada - Hatching a Hippie, whch can refer to several body functions.

This savoury topic puts us in mind of a joke which, once heard, will haunt you for the rest of your life:

A man walks into a bar and says "I'd like a shot of whiskey but I've got no money". "Fair enough", says the barman, "just take one sip from the spitoon and you can have the whiskey on the house". The man braces himself, lifts the spitoon and slurps up the entire contents.

"Jesus Christ", says the barman, "you only had to take a sip". "Yeah I know", gags the man. "But it was all in one string."

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