Gordaen's Blog

7 Responses to “Biting Lips”

1. 1 Robert Stone Jun 17th, 2008 at 9:49 pm

   Ian,

   I didn’t remember ever hearing the expression “biting our own lips” so I Googled it. Google already had this post but only three other pages with that exact expression. One was a very fascinating poem titled “Savour.”

   Evolution is a theory.
   Living our own life is a theory perhaps
   but we don’t get to test any alternatives.

   Robert

2. 2 Ian Clifton Jun 17th, 2008 at 10:14 pm

   Wow, thanks for sharing, Robert; I didn’t realize Google was watching so closely over my shoulder! That poem is interesting indeed.

3. 3 Luke Maciak Jun 18th, 2008 at 8:48 am

   I don’t get it. Why wouldn’t we bite our own lips? What does that have to do with propagation of favorable genetic mutations via natural selection?

   First, is biting your own lips a genetic trait or a learned behavior? I’m really not sure it can be attributed to genes alone.

   Second, if biting your lips is genetic, then we have to examine how it affects mating, survival and fertility and whether or not it is linked to other genetic traits that may in some way inhibit ones ability to reproduce and pass on genetic material.

   If it does not, then evolution never even comes into play, no?

   Or are we attributing “purpose” or “direction” to evolution as a joke poking fan at anti-evolutionist activism and I just missed the punchline?

4. 4 Ian Clifton Jun 18th, 2008 at 9:19 am

   Haha, you’re looking at it too seriously, Luke. Life requires sarcasm. This uses “logic” along the same lines as those who say, “It was chilly today; that means global warming is fake.” More importantly, the image of God/a god laughing at humanity every time we bite our own lips is much more amusing than the precursors of humanity biting their lips and successfully mating (though biting their own lips while mating is also entertaining).

   The second part of this was “Besides, God told me Darwin isn’t real,” but I’m trying to make my Random Thought posts as short as possible; essentially, they”ll be like Twitter but without the lag or the extra effort on my part

5. 5 Robert Stone Jun 18th, 2008 at 3:08 pm

   Luke and Ian,

   I read “if evolution were real” as a subjunctive statement leading to a flight of fantasy. I haven’t met you, Ian, face to face but I have this notion that you are capable of flights of fancy.

   Of course if one is serious, then we have to ask “how hard can the biting be?” and “what does the biting do to us mentally and physically?” Romantically it might seem that bringing blood might correspond with bringing new life. Realistically I suspect getting there first with the most is the key.

   Biting our own lips
   brings blood, a self sacrifice
   to spur future life.

   Another haiku for the ages there. If I evolved I might write longer poems.

   Robert

6. 6 John-Paul Jun 18th, 2008 at 8:00 pm

   What about biting your tongue?

7. 7 Ian Clifton Jun 18th, 2008 at 9:16 pm

   Robert, you’re definitely right that might mind takes me on all kinds of adventures. I love to think, but that seems to be a hobby that is largely unheard of today. Great haiku there.

   John-Paul, that’s a good question. It also makes me wonder why biting your tongue or the inside of your cheek creates a minor injury that seems to take about half a lifetime to heal.

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (required - will not be published)

Website (leave blank if none)

Comment (required)

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail

---

---