What Does Your Uvula Actually Do? 🫦

Morning punching bag!

Eh, close enough.

But you know that little punching bag hanging in the back of your throat?

What’s that all about?

That’ssss my bad.

Had a lot of coffee. Got carried away.

So 1862.

This Egyptologist – Edwin Smith – travels to Luxor, Egypt.

He buys this fancy papyrus paper thing off this Egyptian dude.

Now if we look closely at it…

Yep, yep. Rightttt there:

That’s the earliest known reference to the thing in the back of your throat, the uvula.

Don’t trust me?

See?

Uvula means ‘small bunch of grapes’ in Latin, so clearly it’s been perplexing people since 1600 B.C.

But what’s it actually do?

Well, 4 things. Conveniently all starting with ‘S’.

1. Swallowing

2. Saliva

3. Speech

4. Snoring

Swallowing – The uvula swings back to stop food from going up your nose when you swallow.

Saliva – The uvula has glands that make a quick, watery saliva:

Those glands are connected to muscle fibers that release saliva when you talk or swallow:

This keeps your mouth and throat lubricated 💦

Speech – Those same uvula muscle fibers help with rapid, repetitive movements. Perfect for humans’ complex speech and singing.

Snoring – Well, an enlarged uvula might be the reason your 83 year old grandpa has a horrible snoring problem.

The more you know, I guess..

Stay Cute,
Henry & Dylan 🌈

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P.P.S Click below to watch another funky language video 👇