Mouth Trick
Cloverleaf tongue
Folding the tongue into three lobes, like a clover leaf. Between 10% and 15% of people in Western samples can do it. It is usually called the hardest tongue shape.
10–15% (Western samples)
Party trick
Good for showing off.
19 oddities.
Spiritual 6Icky 4Not an emergency 20Get it checked 14Try it 62Learnable 20Party trick 19Vestigial 7Genetic 35Sleep 6Illusion 21Childhood 10Debunked myth 11Community 13Famous people 14Record 7
Eyes Trick
Crossing your eyes
Turning both eyes inward toward the nose on purpose. Nearly everyone with normal two-eyed vision can do it. Your eyes will not get stuck that way.
Nearly everyone
Ears Trick
Ear rumbling
About half of all people can make a low roar inside their own head by tensing a tiny muscle in the middle ear.
43–55% of people
Ears Trick
Ear wiggling
Moving the outer ears using three small muscles that most mammals use to point their ears at sounds. Between 10% and 22% of people can wiggle at least one ear. Many more can learn.
10–22% (one ear)
Eyes Trick
Eyelid flipping
Turning the upper eyelid inside out so the pink inner surface shows. Most people with reasonably loose lids can learn it. Eye doctors do it to patients to look for grit.
No formal count Icky
Muscle Trick
Flaring your nostrils
Widening the nostrils on purpose. About 30% of people can do it on command. Everyone does it without thinking during hard breathing and strong emotion.
~30% on command
Mouth Trick
Gleeking
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.
~1% on command Icky
Mouth Trick
Gorlin's sign
Touching the tip of your nose with your tongue. About 10% of people can do it. About half of people with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome can, so doctors use it as a quick check for stretchy connective tissue.
~10% of people
Eyes Trick
Independent eye movement
Moving one eye while the other stays still, or moving the two eyes in different directions. Very rare in humans. Chameleons do it all day.
Very rare; no formal count
Bones Variation
Joint hypermobility
About 1 in 5 people have joints that bend further than usual, measured with a nine-point test called the Beighton score. For most people it causes no trouble.
10–25% of people
Muscle Trick
Platysma display
Tensing the thin sheet of muscle under the skin of the neck so that cords stand out from jaw to collarbone. Everyone has the muscle. Isolated control of it is uncommon.
No formal count
Mouth Trick
Pointed tongue
Making the tip of the tongue narrow and sharp, like a pencil point. About 55% of people can do it. After rolling, it is the most common tongue trick.
~55%
Muscle Trick
Raising one eyebrow
Lifting a single eyebrow while the other stays down. Between 30% and 35% of people can do it without training. Most of the rest can learn it in front of a mirror.
30–35%
Mouth Trick
Tongue folding
Folding the tip of the tongue backward over itself inside the mouth. Between 14% and 27.5% of people can do it.
14–27.5%
Mouth Trick
Tongue twisting
Turning the tongue on its side so the edges face up and down, or all the way over. Between 12% and 36% of people can twist it at least halfway.
12–36%
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
Bones Trick
Voluntary joint dislocation
Pushing a joint partly or fully out of its socket on purpose, then back in. About 20% of people have some joint hypermobility. True voluntary dislocation is much rarer and often linked to a connective tissue disorder.
Rare; no formal count Icky
Eyes Trick
Voluntary nystagmus
Between 5% and 8% of people can make both eyes shake rapidly from side to side on command. It looks alarming and is harmless. It is tiring and lasts only seconds.
5–8% of people
Eyes Trick
Wall-eyed divergence
Turning both eyes outward, away from the nose, on purpose. It is much rarer than crossing the eyes. Most people can learn a mild version through Magic Eye pictures.
Rarer than crossing; no formal count