#216 Putting your ear on someone’s stomach and hearing all the gurgling

It’s the sound of life.

Listening to the sound of a stomach chowing down on a greasy hot dog is listening to the sound of a body filling up with energy. Ketchup, mustard, pickles — they’re all magically getting transmogrified into molecules of you and molecules of poo. Amen, sing it to your mama.

Putting your ear on someone’s stomach and hearing all the tiny fizzpops and spin-gurgles having a blast on the inside is a strangely beautiful moment of intimacy and an ear-twinkling moment of

AWESOME!

Photos from: here

63 thoughts to “#216 Putting your ear on someone’s stomach and hearing all the gurgling”

  1. I loved doing this when I was little! Both ways — listening to my mom’s belly and making her listen to mine and “guess what I ate for lunch” … even though I was like four and my mom had just prepared the lunch I ate and knew good and well what it was. :)

        1. To the Ryhming Med Student:

          When you’re in your first med school class,
          And the patients complain of gas,
          Don’t put your ear to their tummy,
          They’ll find that quite funny,
          And the Prof. might decide you don’t pass!

          1. I can see where you’re goin’ with this poem
            but we hear gastric juices flowing
            with stethoscopes between ear and belly
            and if a doctor comes more near you can tell he
            either skipped an important class and should be left well alone
            or else perhaps just left his stethoscope bell at home.
            :)

              1. I was actually going to defend you and say, “Seasoned-I know this is a true story,” but fun had to be had and wasn’t it fun…
                btw. did you know real bearded Santa’s ROCK;)

                1. And Freddo does write a good poem.

                  I was Santa on very short notice that year (ie, I was the closest male at the time). I think I’d need at least a month for a beard worthy of #971 – perhaps I should grow a just-in-case beard this November…

                  1. Wow…while driving home from the valley in the sunshine, we were caught in a wild rain/hail storm…prognosis: “scattered showers for the rest of my life!” Anyhow, on topic~ I think anybody who jumps at the opportunity to be Santa and make hearts smile eternally is AWESOME!
                    All the best in med school…there’s always room for more caring and compassionate medical professionals with big jolly smiles like yours;o)

  2. Precious picture!
    Love the words.
    At times it’s very embarrassing, as much as I love food, not too many foods agree with me. I have worried and even some, having seriously the gurgliest, thunderous stomach in the world!
    Still, it can be very much laughter and intimate fun, if you’re in the right company=)

    1. *awake now*~”I have worried and even scared some people,”
      is what it was supposed to say!

  3. BAHAH I don’t know why, but the second paragraph made me laugh! One of these really awesome and funny Awesomes that the blog is famous for :D

  4. Ahh, I loved doing this to my mom when I was little!

    Also, I’ve been reading some Calvin & Hobbes lately, so I laughed at the fact you used the word “transmogrified” :)

    1. Calvin and Hobbes had some serious vocab! ” What if someone calls us a pair o’ pathetic peripatetics?” Still sends me to the dictionary…

      1. Yay, Calvin and Hobbes! You are so right about the serious vocab, but funny enough, the word I always associate with C & H is a short one: “loot”.

        eg. Calvin’s family is hanging Christmas stockings.
        Calvin: Where is Hobbes stocking?
        Calvin’s mom: Hobbes’ stocking??”
        Calvin: Yeah, where is Santa going to put Hobbes’ loot?
        Calvin’s mom: Hobbes’ loot?!?

  5. i find that a bit weird : ) but i can see how it is intimate and fun.
    i guess i prefer the heartbeat though. : )

  6. when i was just a kid and cuddled with my mom, i would often hear her stomach gurgle haha. but i didn’t think it was weird…it’s like when you put your ear down on a table and the noises take another dimension (more echo)…i liked listening to the funny noises :D

    1. I always loved that too! Also listening to sound of your toes cracking while underwater. :)

  7. My daughter did this a lot while I was pregnant. She thought that the noises were the baby talking to her. It was so cute.
    I lay my head on hubby’s tummy sometimes, and I gotta tell ya, sometime I swear his stomach is angry. It just sounds so…angry. I’ll ask him, “What did you eat?” or “What did you do to your stomach?” Its like his tummy is yelling instead of gurgling

    1. Was it a burrito? When my stomach is angry, it’s usually because I ate a burrito.

      But my wife and I do this a lot.. I’m a particularly big fan of this when I drink a whole lot of liquids (but haven’t had much else), and I can make really loud sloshing noises by expanding and contracting my stomach.. It sort of freaks my wife out, but it’s good fun.

      1. Thanks for admitting you and your wife do this. Most posters remembered doing it to their mom as a tot, but I do this all the time to my partner and it sends me into giggles every time! It’s just too hilarious! I push down with my head and it makes it gurgle more/louder and I laugh even harder! Talk about simple fun.

        P.S. The poem was outrageously good! Big belly laugh! Methinks a resident Chaucer has been discovered!

        1. Thanks, Kathy!

          And I totally agree about trying to entice more gurgles with the odd poke and prod.. plus, if the one who’s stomach is being listened to starts laughing as well, that is sure to lead to more belly rumblings.. Great stuff!

          Another area this comes into play in our relationship is the “phantom growl”.. sometimes we’ll be somewhere quite – like lying in bed at night – and we’ll hear a loud stomach growl.. and both of us will SWEAR that it came from the other one’s belly.. it’s really quite weird when we can’t identify it.. so, the most obvious explanation is we have a ghost living in our room, and he is VERY hungry..

  8. I wonder what % of my food turns into “molecules of me” vs. “molecules of poo”. And does it vary depending on the type of food?

    Never mind – I have a feeling this topic will go off the rails pretty quickly, and I’m going to regret I ever asked.

    1. It depends on how much your body needs to replace what you’ve metabolized. Just keeping it simple. I could make it go off the rails quite easily.

      1. Lara – thanks for that reasonable and very un-scatalogical response.

        I must say, I think we are collectively maturing as a comment thread. :)

        1. Hmm. I don’t know if that’s a good thing. I need a place where it’s ok to revert to my 10-year-old self where poop and fart jokes are the funniest thing ever.

        1. oh crap, for some reason the 2 keeps shrinking when transferred over???!
          google this for your answer on you tube:
          Japanese researcher turns feces into food

    1. this is Gary in need of a flag…3 tries-“help old people on their computer”…please Freddo

  9. Mine always gurgles during a lecture and always seems to be the loudest then, too. My stomach thinks it’s a comedian or something.

    1. I hate when that happens. Also, when we’re doing studying/reading a book, and it growls loud. I just look all awkward, and pretend nothing ever happened. But, it does happen to everyone, in some point. 8|

  10. I think this is adorable. I don’t know how you manage to hit on these teensie things that are actually quite special. I love doing this, and the heartbeat thing, with my little sister whose more than 10 years younger and elementary school age. There’s something incredibly sweet & intimate & hilarious about it :) Usually comes up when we’re chilling on the couch talking or in bed about to sleep … so thanks :)

  11. This is so ironic because me and my boyfriend had just got done eating and we were laying in bed. He put his head on my stomach and was talking about how he could hear it. I was so embarrassed only cause I know it sounds funny. Seeing this post made me smile and tell him. Now I know to appreciate my gurgling tummy. Thanks

  12. I used to do this to my mom all the time. some times it was so loud i didn’t ever need to put my ear on her belly to hear the noises :)

  13. #216 Putting your ear on someone’s stomach and hearing all the gurgling | 1000 Awesome Things I was suggested this web site by my cousin. I am not sure whether this post is written by him as no one else know such detailed about my trouble. You’re amazing! Thanks! your article about #216 Putting your ear on someone’s stomach and hearing all the gurgling | 1000 Awesome Things Best Regards Veronica Lisa

  14. You know what’s even better? Putting your hand on your moms/co-workers pregnant belly and feeling the baby kick. Sooooo awesome!!!!!

  15. Aw, I always listen to my boyfriends belly right after he eats c: The noises that his belly makes are relaxing to me.

  16. with my boyfriend i always listen to his belly right after he eats cause i love the sounds stomach’s makes and i love listening to people’s stomach’s!

  17. Last night I was a sleepy and my gf was sleeping and all of a sudden my ear was on her tummy

  18. When I was little like 5 are 6 I listen to my moms stomach while I was sleeping I use her stomach as I pillow. Mostly sounds that I can hear are popping bubbles. Sometime her stomach sounds like water moving around inside her stomach non stop lol.

  19. Hi my name is shaw I’m 10 years old. Sometime when my mom comes back from work she’s starving she sits on the couch I just lie down on her lap and hear her stomach make all kinds of noises. Sometime she lets me put my ear on top of her stomach to hear the noises lol. I sometime record her stomach with out letting her know. Lol

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