When I was about 3 or 4, I was sitting in my mom's room picking my nose and eating my boogers. Well, my mom came up and said "Don't you know that if you pick your nose and eat your boogers, they collect in your stomach and sooner or later a big green worm will crawl out of your mouth?"
I still pick my nose (who doesn't) but that scared me into not eating them, that's for sure.

Anna

I was always tolded that there was a little man in your nose that would bite your finger off if you picked your nose. In kindergarten, all my little friends would pick their noses and I would freak out!!!!

boogie man lady

my brother used to believe that if he continued picking & eating his boogers.. they would go into his stomach and grow into worms.

Anon

My brother used to believe that dried out boogers were actually "paving" the inside of your nose.

sm

someone told me the expression "got any bats in the cave?" i really did think there were bats in my nose so i never picked my nose again.

patrick stone

My sister always had one finger up her nose as a child. I told her that the 'bogies' were bits of dried brain she was picking out and if she didn't stop she would die. She believed me, but it didn't stop her nose picking habits.

Anon

I used to believe that if you picked your nose long enough you would touch your brain. That is what stopped me from picking my nose.

Nose-Picker

When I was little I thought if I picked my nose I would poke my eye out.


Mary

Anon

My grandparents always told me that if I picked my nose too much, my nose would get bigger.

The Mortal Elf

my mom has always told me that picking your nose makes big rings grow around your eyes and the only way to remove them is laser surgery. (which i believe is what happened to her!!) -& i've never picked boogers ever since.

rhinotillexomaniac

if you pick your nose your brains will fall out!

Anon

My Uncle told me when I was little that there was a snail that lived in your nose and if you picked your boogers it would it bite them OFF!! I've used this one myself on all the little ones in our family that came after me!

Dawn

My mother told me that when I sniffed up to clear my nose, the snots went down the back of my throat and would stick to my chest, making me ill. When I asked how things that I ate, which went down my throat, didn't stick to my chest I was told that "that's different and doesn't make people ill". I was certainly more careful not to sniff up, but thought it perfectly acceptable after that to pick my nose and eat it!

Anon

somehow i came to believe that snot was a finite resource and that
eventually one would run out. and since i realized that boogers
were concentrated snot, i very conscientiously re-cycled my boogers
per oral until my emasculating older sisters reminded me what a fat
head i possessed. after that i became a picker-flicker and nose-
blower, hoping my hat size would be reduced thereby. it worked,
but probably because the salt reduction reduced edema.

beershay

i belied for several years that if you picked your nose too much the buggers turned to glue and your finger would get stuck, and need to be cut of.

Anon

When I was little my mum used to shout at me for picking my nose and eating it, but my big cousin told me that it was ok to eat your snot cos it just went back up your nose again, so that is what I kept telling my mum when she shouted at me.

Suzanne

when i was a kid , i told my little sister one day as she picked her nose THAT the more she picked out the boogahs ,....the FASTER new ones would grow ,...and eventually she would have to be pickin' her nose as a full time job just to keep breathing !

evilbrother

I was afraid of picking my nose, because I believed (and vaguely recall being told) that snot was fly poop. Because, (of course!) when flies shat in the air or in our vicinity, it somehow got ingested through our nostrils. :S

Aleia

i used to think that if i didnt pick my nose before bed the booger man would eat me. ahhh hes behind me!!!!!!!!!!!

giant moo

My boyfriend told his little brother that snot was actually dead parts of your brain. He believed until in his early twenties!

Karen