Tongue

The first thing my mother did when she saw me was to cut my tongue.
»Why did you do that to me, Mother?«
»I told you.«
»Tell me again.«
»I cut it so that you would not be tongue-tied. Your tongue would be able to move in any language. You´ll be able to speak languages that are completely different from one another. You´ll be able to pronounce anything. Your frenum looked too tight to do those things, so I cut it.«
»But isn´t ´a ready tongue an evil?«

*

»Why didn´t you cut my brothers´ and sisters´ tongues?«
»They didn´t need it.«
»Why not? Were theirs longer than mine?«
»Why don´t you quit blabbering and get to work?«

Tongue – a language or a muscle? How strong is the tongue in either context? If the capabilities of a language influence our culture, do the capabilities of the tongue muscle also influence it?

The tongue is a two edged sword
With one edge you smite your enemy
With the other you smite your self
Far better it is to hold the sword in its scabbord
Than to unsheath it with an unskilled hand.

ever think about how your tongue is really a lot like a big, muscular, slug that writhes around in your mouth?

The first time I thought about that, it grossed me out too. (the first time I thought about it was when Linus mentioned the very same thing to Lucy in an old Peanuts comic strip)

it amazes me how we can make our tongues move and just sit there motionless, our tongues moving which ever way we impulse them to. I sit at the mirror all the time. it starts to scare you after a while.

I'm going to cut off my tongue to spite my nose.