Excerpt from The Truth about Tongues
Todd Cotterman

1Most people don't think about the tongue very often, but the tongue has many important jobs. Without the tongue, people wouldn't be able to sing songs, talk to friends, or even taste their food!

2The tongue is an organ inside the mouth that can move around in many directions. This helps the tongue with its many jobs. The tongue moves a lot when a person talks, sings, or shouts. The tongue helps form certain sounds, such as the "k" sound in kite and the "g" sound in goat. To make these sounds, the tongue touches the top part of the mouth. The tongue moves around the inside of the mouth to help people make different sounds when they speak.

3This organ also helps people when they are eating. The tongue directs foods into the mouth, and it helps move food around the mouth as a person chews. Once all the food is chewed, the tongue moves the food to the back of the throat as a person swallows.

4Of course, most people know that the tongue helps them taste the foods they eat. The tongue has tiny bumps all over it called taste buds. These tiny bumps tell a person when a food tastes sour, sweet, or salty. The taste buds can also tell a person when a food is no longer good to eat or when a food is too hot or too cold.

5People are born with about 10,000 taste buds, but some taste buds may die over time. This may be why some people think certain foods do not taste the same as they get older. The tiny bumps on the tongue are not alone in helping people taste food. The nose also plays a big part in the taste of food. The smell of a food reaches people first, and this helps them taste what they are eating.

6Some people might be surprised to learn that the tongue also helps keep out germs, which can make people sick. At the base of the tongue are organs called tonsils. The job of the tonsils is to help keep germs from passing from the mouth to the rest of the body.

7The tongue is busy all the time, and that's why it's important to take care of this organ. People take care of their teeth brushing them. This helps keep germs away, which is important. People usually clean their tongues in the same way. After all, the tongue does a lot of work every day!
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