the.com/epiglottis
the bouncer of your throat, deciding what's air and what's lunch.
means The small flap of cartilage at the base of your tongue that folds down over the windpipe when you swallow, steering food toward the stomach and away from the lungs.
from From Greek epiglottis, built from epi- 'upon, over' and glottis 'mouth of the windpipe' — itself from glotta, an Ionic form of glossa, 'tongue.' So quite literally 'the thing upon the tongue': the lid sitting over the voice-box, named by Greek physicians who looked down a throat and described exactly what they saw.
- daily reps
- flips shut thousands of times as you swallow
- job description
- keeps food out of your windpipe
- made of
- flexible elastic cartilage, not bone
- failure mode
- when it lags, you choke or cough
- swallow trigger
- acts automatically the instant you gulp