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Hiccups, Sneezes, and Tiger Bread

September 27, 2008 By Jeff 60 Comments

I was listening to Clive Bull at work a few nights ago, and he was talking about something called “tiger bread.”  Apparently it’s a loaf of bread that’s been smeared with olive oil (or something) before baking, which creates a design on top of the loaf that sorta resembles a tiger’s coat.

Never heard of it, but that’s not really the point of this quickie update…  One of his callers said she rarely eats bread, because it gives her the hiccups.  Bread!

The weird thing: Toney suffers under the exact same curious curse.  Perhaps there’s one on every continent?  I don’t know.  But Toney can’t take a bite of a dinner roll, slice of toast, or piece of white bread, without hiccuping for the next 45 minutes.  It’s an amazing thing to behold.

The only time I get the hiccups is when I have one too many beers.  But I’m so “accomplished” at this point, one too many exists only as an abstract theory.  And there are no foods that trigger ’em, or weather conditions, or colors, or moods. 

So I rarely get the hiccups.  However, I know how to get rid of them, when I do…  My grandfather, on my dad’s side, died in 1974.  But even though I was fairly young then, I remember the never-fails hiccup cure he taught me, and have been using it most of my life.

You take nine sips of water, you see, without breathing in between.  Nine tiny sips, right after the other.  Then, when you’re finished, you just continue breathing normally. 

That’s the key:  controlling your breathing after all the sipping.  Instincts tell you to take in a big lungful of air at the end, but that’ll defeat the purpose.  You’ve got to make an effort to just breathe normally, and the hiccups will go away.  And I ain’t shittin’ ya, it never fails.

I’ve tried to teach the Secrets how to do this, and Toney too, but they always gasp for air at the end, and proclaim the technique “stupid.”  It’s all in the breathing though, and recalibrating the rhythm.

Is there anything that always makes you hiccup?  And do you know any never-fails cures?  What about hiccupping’s distant cousin, sneezing?  I knew a guy who would sneeze in bright sunlight.  WTF??

Use the comments link, if you’ve got anything to say about hiccupping or sneezing.  And also tiger bread, if you know anything about that weirdness…

And I’ll be back with a full-length update on Monday.

See ya then.

Now playing in the bunker.

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Comments

  1. GNDtn says

    September 29, 2008 at 6:44 pm

    My hiccup cure is to take a deep, deep belly-breath, slowly and so much that you can feel your diaphragm and stomach muscles stretching out. Hold it for 10 seconds, then slowly release. It stretches out the diaphragm (as I already mentioned), and since irritation of the diaphragm is what causes hiccups, problem solved. I had no idea I would ever use the word “diaphragm” so many times.

    Reply
  2. Niel says

    September 30, 2008 at 1:07 pm

    Hiccup cure – put a kitchen knife in a glass full of water, lean the knife against your forehead, and drink half the glass. Taught this trick to my wife and daughter, and never fails.

    Reply
  3. Deb says

    April 29, 2009 at 5:51 am

    I can’t eat white bread without getting the hiccups either. It doesn’t matter what brand of white bread it is, it all has the same effect. I can however eat any other variety of bread – Tiger Bread, Wholemeal or Grain bread etc. – with no side effects. Go figure!

    Reply
  4. drama queen says

    May 21, 2009 at 5:26 am

    Every time i eat raw carrot i grt hiccups. a few minutes ago this was the case, and i was so frustrated i googled “hiccups + carrots” to see if any thing would come up. you can imagine my surprise when i found at least 20 sites with people who had similar experiences! does any one know why it’s ALWAYS raw carrots? is it just a state of mind thing now?

    Reply
  5. Carole Blake says

    June 27, 2009 at 4:17 am

    Wholemeal bread, or wholemeal toast,cause both my son and I to start with the hiccups. Not every single time, but more often than not. So it’s not just Toney!

    I think the toast might be worse actually.

    Reply
  6. Jerold says

    July 6, 2009 at 9:12 am

    I also get hiccups from raw carrots. I also get the strangest indigestion with a watery mouth and an odd sensation in my chest for a few minutes when I eat them on an empty stomach. does anyone else get this too. It is only on an empty stomach and usually in the evening. This is the ONLY food that does this

    Reply
  7. Gary says

    September 7, 2009 at 1:29 am

    I dont get hiccups very often, but when I do I have them for hours on up to a couple of days. My dad had them for a week once. No meds or trick helped.
    As far as sneezing goes, 99.9% of the time I sneeze twice. Which is my reason for searching sneezes. I just sneezed three or four times in a row. Most I think Ive ever sneezed at once. Bright light makes me sneeze too. Walking outside on a bright sunny day almost always gets a sneeze out of me. Or if I feel I have to sneeze Ill look into a light to help it out. And for whatever reason, I dont know why, eatting peanut butter makes me sneeze! Only once though and then Im fine. Its not the smell of it, I can take a big whiff of it no problem. But once I eat a bite I know its coming.

    Reply
  8. Gary says

    September 7, 2009 at 1:33 am

    On another subject here… Can anyone else make thierselves get goose bumps? Without being cold or thinking about fingers on a chalk board? Like totally upon request?

    Reply
  9. Lynette355 says

    July 10, 2010 at 2:42 pm

    Bread of any kind make me hiccup, painfully hiccup. White, wheat, whole…rolls, bisquits, pizza, buns, cake or muffins. If it is a bread product I hiccup.

    What I want to know is WHY? Any clues?

    Reply
  10. summer says

    September 27, 2012 at 8:16 am

    always get hiccups as soon as i take a bit of tiger bread, guaranteed everytime. so weird.

    Reply
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