Tongue splitting latest piercing rage
CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) — Ears with two, three, even five piercings are ancient history. Studs in tongues and navels are, for many, no big deal. And who doesn’t have a tattoo? These days, the attention-grabbing look is tongue-splitting: cutting the tongue to make it forked.
Those who’ve had their tongues split call it a body modification, and see it as an enhancement.
A few do it for shock value. Others describe the experience as spiritual. And many say they simply like how it looks and feels.
“When I first saw it, I thought tongue-splitting was the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in my life,” says James Keen, a 19-year-old from Scottsville, Kentucky, who got his tongue cut by a local body piercer in December after a surgeon declined to do it.
Keen, who now speaks with a slight lisp, says most people don’t know he’s had it done unless he shows them.
When he does, he demonstrates how both forks of his tongue can move independently. And it’s a plus, he says, when it comes to kissing.
“People are very curious about how it feels,” says Keen, whose parents gave him their blessing — and the $500 it took to do it.
Ummmm, spiritual?? Can anyone say scary religious symbolism??
