Caitlin, I’m here to ask you about gleeking. I’ve never heard of it. Can you explain it to me?
Consider yourself blessed. I’m sorry to say gleeking has nothing to do with the hit early 2000s musical comedy TV series Glee. It’s much more disgusting.
Basically, gleeking has been around for some time, as a natural phenomenon, but has gone extremely viral on social media in recent weeks.
It involves people projecting saliva from salivary glands under their tongue, like a spitting cobra.
TikTok users have been racking up millions of views sharing themselves gleeking and offering tips on how to try it at home.
I don’t know if I feel blessed. I am a little grossed out. But I guess my next question is – why?
I wish I had the answer to that. Because it’s disgusting? Because it’s fun?
On TikTok, where gleeking has really been having its moment, users have professed to being “addicted” to their newfound ability to gleek, or using the weird talent to annoy/repel their siblings.
Apparently, a small percentage of the population do it, embarrassingly, by accident, typically when they’re yawning. But anyone can learn how to gleek if they put in enough effort.
In the words of one social media user: “My friends call it a free water gun.”
I don’t really know if I want to know more … But tell me, how do you do it?
Well, if you’d like to try it at home, there are a few essential steps.
According to one YouTuber whose video on how to gleek has amassed more than 7m views, the first thing you need to do is bite your tongue. “Not hard, but hard enough to where your eyes maybe water a little bit.”
Next, you put your tongue to the roof of your mouth and slide your jaw forward. If you really want to get your saliva pumping, experts advise drinking lots of water and eating something sour – like vinegar or confectionary – to get a decent spray.
Have you tried it?
I tried it in the mirror this morning and just gave myself a series of weird facial expressions and made my jaw sore.
Luckily, I’m not the only one. According to experts, about 35% of the population gleek accidentally, but only 1% of the population can do it on command.
I’m optimistic about my chances though. Good things take time.
