this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2026
37 points (95.1% liked)

Asklemmy

55085 readers
275 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy πŸ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 7 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I ate a too hot omelette and burnt the roof of my mouth again.

Now it feels sensitive and fragile, again.

Why did we as a species, whom are omnivores, develop such thin mouth roofs?

Hippos can crush entire watermelons with their mouths, why didn't we get a tough inner roof.

top 28 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] deranger@sh.itjust.works 43 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

It’s probably an advantage. You want your mouth to hurt so you stop there rather than damaging something more internal like your throat or stomach.

[–] doomsdayrs@lemmy.ml 7 points 4 weeks ago

☹️ I can't deny that is pretty true

[–] Bluegrass_Addict@lemmy.ca 29 points 4 weeks ago (3 children)

I'm sure the hippo wouldn't eat burning hot watermelons.

[–] agentTeiko@piefed.social 6 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Can confirm I am a hippo and burned my mouth on 13 hot pockets that were also cold in the middle.

[–] doomsdayrs@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 weeks ago

smh everyone knows you need to let them sit!

[–] doomsdayrs@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 weeks ago

I bet they're thick inner jaw lining would be less effected by it though

[–] jdr@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 weeks ago
[–] DataCrime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

When we stopped eating twigs in favor of nuts and berries.

Note: this is an entirely made up fact.

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 2 points 4 weeks ago

In nineteen-ninety...

[–] YaksDC@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Yes, but we started eating Doritoes and they will fuck you up. :)

[–] DataCrime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

You’re doing it wrong… you gotta crush up the whole bag all at once and then poke a straw in there like it’s a Capri-Sun.

[–] doomsdayrs@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 weeks ago
[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 2 points 4 weeks ago

Can confirm, way better with a spoon or straw

[–] Azzu@leminal.space 11 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Which animal ever eats something too hot that burns their mouth? How do you know they don't burn their mouths in the same way? Do you think hippos use the top of their mouth or their teeth to crush watermelons? Is your fragile mouth the only thing stopping you from crushing entire watermelons?

[–] drq@mastodon.ml 10 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

@doomsdayrs probably, to regulate brain temperature. There is a theory on yawning that its purpose may be brain cooling. So, the roof is basically a thermal interface.

[–] doomsdayrs@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

If that hypothesis is true, I'll be dammed. 😭

[–] drq@mastodon.ml 2 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

@doomsdayrs Feel the roof of your mouth with your tongue after you yawn - it will be a little bit cool to the touch, because of its thermal conductivity.

Also, if you have a yawn attack, but are not sleepy - eat something cold, like ice cream.

This is according to the University of Albany research.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGIbUK4nw00

Does the thickness skin impact it's ability to feel pain?

It doesn't. Burn a slip of paper with a lighter. Now burn an orange. Notice how the the outer layer reacts to the fire?

Your nerve endings also exist in the outer most layer (your mouth vs your deeper flesh)

Are you a mammal? Congratulations, you have TRPV1 receptors in your mucus membranes (avian supremacy ftw). They exist to keep potato brain mammals from eating hot things. These will fuck up your insides. Apparently enough of a problem that mammals needed them. Fun fact: this is enough of a problem that ancestral peppers evolved a means to exploit it and exclude mammals.

But off topic. There's no quantity of flesh that will make your mouth heat proof. Turns out first degree burns still hurt like fuck.

[–] Paper_Phrog@lemmy.world 6 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

Your body telling you something dumdum. ;)

[–] doomsdayrs@lemmy.ml 4 points 4 weeks ago
[–] victorz@lemmy.world 2 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Did people stop feeling the temperature of their food with their lips before shoveling it down their gullet? Am I super old? (Still sub 40)

[–] doomsdayrs@lemmy.ml 7 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

i was starving and that omelette was reallly fucking good (I made it)

[–] Nonconfrontational@lemmy.ml 4 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Starving = oh so hungy.

Sorry your brain betrayed you.

[–] doomsdayrs@lemmy.ml 6 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

I was not betrayed I made the terrible decision. Don't discount my terrible choices as not mine. 😀

[–] Nonconfrontational@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 weeks ago

My bad, you're right!!

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 3 points 4 weeks ago

What other animal eats hot food? Has it ever been something to select for?

Has your ability to procreate or the survival of your offspring ever been threatened by burning the roof of your mouth?

There is your answer.

[–] bradboimler@lemmy.world 1 points 4 weeks ago

Does the thinness of the roof of one's mouth keep them from propagating their thin roof genes?