Bodily Oddities

Gleeking

Also called: Gleeting · Saliva jet

Shooting a thin jet of saliva from under the tongue, sometimes a metre or more. About 35% of people do it by accident now and then. Only about 1% can do it reliably on command.

Mouth and throat Trick Voluntary
Icky Try it Learnable Party trick

How common

~1% on command Uncommon · 1–10% About 35% gleek by accident while yawning or eating.

Can you do this?

These are answers from visitors, not a study.

How it works

Two pairs of salivary glands sit under the tongue. The submandibular glands lie under the jaw and drain through a pair of ducts, called Wharton’s ducts, that open on two small bumps just behind the lower front teeth3. The sublingual glands lie in the floor of the mouth and drain nearby2.

Saliva collects in the ducts. Pressing the tongue hard against the roof of the mouth and pushing forward squeezes the floor of the mouth. The saliva is forced out through the small openings as a fine jet1. The jet can travel a metre or more1.

About 35% of people gleek by accident, usually during a yawn or a bite of sour food1. Only about 1% can do it on purpose every time1. Sour food helps, because it makes the glands fill fast.

Try it

Do this away from other people and their food.

  1. Suck on a sour sweet or a slice of lemon for a minute. Do not swallow all the saliva.
  2. Press the tip of your tongue against the back of your top front teeth.
  3. Push the flat of your tongue up hard against the roof of your mouth.
  4. At the same time, push your lower jaw forward and open your mouth a little.
  5. Look for a fine spray from under the tongue. Yawning while doing steps 2 to 4 helps some people.

Most people who learn it need many tries. Once found, it is easy to repeat.

History and culture

The word gleek appears in Shakespeare, but there it means to joke or to mock, not to spit1. The modern meaning is recent. Short videos of the trick are popular on TikTok and YouTube4.

Sources and further material

  1. Encyclopedia Gleeking The mechanism, prevalence, and the history of the word.
  2. Encyclopedia Sublingual gland One of the two glands under the tongue.
  3. Encyclopedia Submandibular duct The duct, also called Wharton's duct, that the jet comes out of.
  4. Video Gleeking demonstration and tutorial YouTube search.
Mouth Trick

Tongue rolling

Between 65% and 84% of people can curl the sides of the tongue up into a tube. For decades it was taught as a simple one-gene trait. It is not.

65–84% of people
Organs Trick

Voluntary burping

Swallowing air on purpose and letting it back up as a belch. Most people can learn it. The loudest recorded burp is louder than a motorcycle.

Most people can learn it
Mouth Reflex

Gag reflex

Touch the back of the tongue or the soft palate and the throat clamps shut. It keeps things out of the airway. Up to a third of healthy people barely have it, and that is normal.

Present in about 2 of 3 people, weak or absent in 10–37%