Tuesday, May 1, 2012

The Woman with a Lump in her Tongue

Story

[Taken from [1]:]
A woman was working in a post office. She was supposed to use a sponge to seal the envelopes but one day she didn't. She used her tongue instead. Days after , she noticed that her tongue had a strange lump in it. It got so big that she was having a hard time eating or talking. That was when she decided to see a doctor. He cut open the lump and a live roach crawled out! Turns out, there were roach eggs on the envelope flap and they hatched in her tongue!

Foreign Counterpart

Actually, this urban legend originated from U.S.A.
[Taken from [2]:]
A California woman who worked in a post office decided one day that she would lick some envelopes instead of using a moist sponge for that purpose. In the process, she accidentally cut her tongue. Later, she noticed a swelling in her tongue, but a doctor could not find anything wrong. It finally got so bad that she was having trouble eating, so she want back to the doctor. He did some tests, found a lump on her tongue, and did surgery. During the surgery, he cut open the lump and a live cockroach crawled out. It was determined that she got cockroach eggs in her tongue from the envelope that caused the cut and they incubated there.
A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:

If you lick your envelopes...You won't anymore!!!!
A woman was working in a post office in California, one day she licked the envelopes and postage stamps instead of using a sponge. That very day the lady cut her tongue on the envelope.
A week later, she noticed an abnormal swelling of her tongue.
She went to the doctor, and they found nothing wrong. Her tongue was not sore or anything.
A couple of days later, her tongue started to swell more, and it began to get really sore, so sore, that she could not eat.
She went back to the hospital, and demanded something be done.
The doctor, took an x-ray of her tongue, and noticed a lump. He prepared her for minor surgery. When the doctor cut her tongue open, a live roach crawled out.
There were roach eggs on the seal of the envelope. The egg was able to hatch inside of her tongue, because of her saliva. It was warm and moist.
This is a true story reported on CNN.
Andy Hume wrote: "Hey, I used to work in an envelope factory. You wouldn't believe the..... things that float around in those gum applicator trays. I haven't licked an envelope for years."

That's the whole story of this legend.
Sources:
[1]http://spoonlagoon.blogspot.com/2008/09/pinoy-urban-legends-10.html
[2]http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/e/enveloperoaches.htm

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