Consider for a moment that the words we use say more than we realize.

In northern Canada, back in 1978 -- stay with me -- a Soviet radar satellite equipped with a nuclear reactor crashed & spread radioactive debris across a snow and ice covered 61,000 square miles. Officials made efforts to communicate with the native population, but were hampered by the fact that, while the indigenous people had 15 or 20 different words for snow, they had no word at all for 'radiation'.

Well, an article on the etiquette of vomiting brought to mind (aside from my college years) the sheer volume of words and phrases we use to describe, well, puking. What does this say about our society, our values, our goals in life? And, more importantly, why is it that I still find puke stories painfully funny, decades after my elementary school years?

Apart from these important questions, I submit for your consideration:

-float a biscuit
-liquid laugh
-technicolor yawn
-toss cookies
-blow lunch
-blow chunks
-barf
-hurl
-spew
-retch
-ralph
-drive the porcelain bus
-pray to the porcelain god
-yak
-chunder
and my personal favorite, upchuck

Almost gives you a new appreciation for America's twist on the English language.