Don’t Pee on the Worm

wormOne day back when my son was a toddler we were taking a stroll around a hilly lake with my in-laws. It was slow going as he had short little legs and we were all enjoying the flowers and water and the lovely spring weather.

Halfway through our walk my son stopped and pointed.

“A worm!”

Indeed right there crawling across the trail was a dirty, fat earthworm.

I was just about to join in his excitement when my mother-in-law grabbed his hand and pulled him away.

“Don’t pee on it!”

Don’t pee on it? I don’t know about her kids, but mine doesn’t usually drop trou and whiz on any little thing that comes across his path.

After some questioning and eyebrow raising she finally explained to me that back in her day boys often peed on worms. But when they did, their private parts would swell up and become painful and itchy.

Ooookay.

Needless to say I had never heard of such and thing and found it a bit hard to believe. I chalked it up to being one of those old wives’ tales told to keep kids from doing naughty things.

It wasn’t until years later that I caught a TV show about Japanese superstitions, and this one came up. The “reporters” did some research and it was revealed that indeed there is a type of worm that when frightened shoots out a kind of poison that then travels up the urine stream and causes swelling and itchiness and pain.  Whaddaya know.

That’s when I did some searching of my own. I found quite a few sites (in Japanese) and blog posts with explanations or testimonies from men unfortunate enough to have had this happen to them. One guy suffered the same fate when he peed on a frog.

What I find even more amazing than the fact that this actually happens — that worms evidently can shoot poison up a stream of pee –is that throughout the ages enough guys have actually done this to make it kind of folk tale. At least here they have.

19 responses to “Don’t Pee on the Worm”

  1. BlackGaryOak Avatar
    BlackGaryOak

    let me guess gintama

    1. Koichi Avatar
      Koichi

      OMG I LOOKED THIS UP BECAUSE OF GINTAMA TOO

      1. Ayumi Avatar
        Ayumi

        ME TOO LOL AHHAHAHAHA

    2. Tomplexthis Avatar
      Tomplexthis

      Tome tome…..
      Episode 43…

    3. Tomplexthis Avatar

      Tome tome
      Gintama san 43

    4. Kageshi Avatar
      Kageshi

      Nah, came from Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls XD

  2. PrifitusMaximus Avatar
    PrifitusMaximus

    ME TOO????????????????

  3. Armando Avatar
    Armando

    Pretty sure everyone who looked this up came from Gintama.

  4. mousepotat0 Avatar
    mousepotat0

    i looked this up because of gintama too!

  5. mousepotat0 Avatar
    mousepotat0

    came here from gintama XD

  6. eily Avatar
    eily

    yeah 😀 love gintama

  7. Jessie Avatar
    Jessie

    Wow. I thought I was the only one!

  8. Friend indeed Avatar
    Friend indeed

    Gintama it is!

    21.08.2019
    Germany

  9. Left-handed Samurai Avatar
    Left-handed Samurai

    Im here right now because of Gintama lol!

  10. Fruit salad samurai Avatar
    Fruit salad samurai

    I’m here from gintama too look at us all have watched or watching gintama how cute

  11. Fruit punch samurai Avatar
    Fruit punch samurai

    gintama brought us all together

    1. kagura Avatar
      kagura

      Yep, also here from gintama. Finished the episode and thought, “huh”?

  12. aku Avatar
    aku

    haha yes even i had to google this due to gin tama … ep 42
    2020 21 of may

  13. Maurice Avatar
    Maurice

    I deadass stopped the Gintama episode to look this up and I am distraught at the actual truth ????????

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