DARE TO ASK: Let's try not to pick on picky people

By PHILLIP MILANO, The Times-Union

Question, Part 1

I notice sometimes when I'm driving or going for a walk that white people dig in their noses. Why do they do this?

Simone, 20, black female, White Plains, N.Y.

Question, Part 2

I've noticed a few co-workers, particularly of Asian descent, feeling quite comfortable picking their noses in plain sight. Is this common?

J.H., 40, black male, Hayward, Calif.

Replies

My grown sister does this all the time. It's just a bad habit. I did have a white junior high teacher who was known for picking her nose; pretty nasty. I've also seen people dig up their ears and other things, but you and I both know it's not a cultural thing.

Lisa, black, Gaithersburg, Md.

What do you do with your boogers? Put them in a crystal case and mail them to the Queen of England?

Justin, white, Chicago

I think it's just lax standards in the workplace. My very Caucasian boss not only picks his nose, he scratches his crotch and butt, and generally behaves in a manner I would normally associate with a high school dropout or truck driver.

Ann, 38, white, Kansas City, Mo.

Maybe [Asian picking is] just something there's less taboo about. On the other hand, eating with your fingers revolts many Chinese.

Adrian, 36, white, Hong Kong

Experts say

We found experts on white culture and Asian culture. We found experts on nose-picking. But we couldn't find any on white or Asian nose-picking.

Garden variety nose-picking hasn't been studied much. But rhinotillexomania, or compulsive nose-picking, that's another story. (We won't get into mucophagy. Thank us.)

James Jefferson and Trent Thompson of the University of Wisconsin Medical School surveyed people about their nose-picking and published the results in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatryin 1995.

Let's drill down into the numbers, shall we?

Of 254 respondents, 91 percent were classified (using technical jargon) as "current nose-pickers." Thus apparently all races and ethnicities are welcome to the club.

8.7 percent said they never picked their nose. That is, they were "Big Liars."

About one in four pick daily. Half spend one to five minutes per day doing it; 83 percent go mining to "unclog the nasal passages." And 2 percent do it just for fun.

The researchers' conclusion?

"This first population survey of nose-picking suggests it is an almost universal practice in adults, but one that should not be considered pathologic for most."

As for Asians in particular, C.N. Le, Asian studies professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, theorizes that some people still perceive Asians as "perpetual foreigners" who will never be "real Americans," thus making it easier to tag them with nasty stereotypes.

"I'm not aware of any social norm in any Asian culture that says it's perfectly fine to pick your nose in public," he said.

Phillip Milano, author of I Can't Believe You Asked That! (Perigee), moderates cross-cultural dialogue at Y? The National Forum on People's Differences. Visit www.yforum.com to submit questions and answers, or mail to Phillip Milano, c/o The Florida Times-Union, P.O. Box 1949, Jacksonville, FL 32231. Include contact information.