Why Does Ear Wax Taste Bitter? | Notes And Queries | .uk

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Tim Albrecht, Chicago, USA

• Because you're not supposed to eat it.

  Gareth Graham, Bristol UK

• Probably to stop you from eating any more of it.

  Daniel Owen, London, UK

• I think BA Baracus might have phrased it "'Cos you ain't supposed to eat it, fool!"

  Sean Doherty, Derry, Ireland

• It helps blind people to find their way when they are first learning about French kissing.

  Brian Lightfoot, Whyalla, Australia

• To stop us eating it.

  Peter Brooke, By Kinmuck Scotland

• Hmmmm ... does someone ask this question based on personal experience? For my part, I have never tasted ear wax, and I'm not about to begin experimenting with it! However, if it does have a bitter taste it is likely that this is because the secretion may be slightly acidic.

  Doug Bates, Woking, England

• "Because you're not supposed to eat it" rather presupposes a teleological basis for evolution. By that rationale, semen must taste salty in order to encourage fellatio.

  John Bennett, Glasgow, Scotland

• Try first dipping your finger in some honey - delicious...

  John Dunford, Boldon, England

• Dear friend, your question suggests that at some point of time in life you did the mischief of tasting earwax. Earwax medically termed ‘cerumen’ is a yellowish waxy substance secreted in the ear canal, of animals including human being, responsible for protecting the skin of ear canal. It also helps in cleaning and lubrication and protects ear to some extent from bacteria, fungi, insects, water, and dirt. But excessive presence of earwax in one’s ear canal blocks the passage of sound, which may result in hearing loss. Study reveals that everything discharged from human or animal body is unpleasant in taste unlike snot which every human being obviously tastes in childhood

  Biswanath Bhattacharjee, Bhadreshwar, Hooghly, West Bengal. India