catalyst8 said:
Togs said:
[...] tongue splitting especially looks ridiculous and is pretty much a one way street to lispville and unemployable-town.
Can you support this statement? I ask because a good friend of mine bifurcated her tongue in the early '90s, prior to becoming an emergency care assistant & then a paramedic in London. As far as I'm aware she's never had a single problem with employment & is just about to qualify & practice as an emergency care practitioner.
In addition to your claim of inevitable unemployment I'm afraid I must also take issue with your insistence that bifurcation results in lisping. Sibilants are produced by the specific position of the lips & teeth, predominantly with the tongue flat. This means of course that bifurcation isn't characterized by lisped or slurred speech.
I'm curious why you'd make these assertions for any reason other than bigoted prejudice.
I can't speak for what they said about the lisp, but in the US a lot of hospitals have very, very strict codes with appearance. For instance I was told, before I even entered school for radiology, if I had any tattoos they would need to be covered at all times, my hair could not be any unrealistic colors, and any extraneous, visible piercings, other than a very conservative amount allowed in the ear, including but not limited to eyebrow, nose, and tongue, would have to be removed during working hours. I never thought of asking about such a procedure as bifurcation, since it's never came across my mind, but I assume it would fall into the same category. One can't really remove or conceal a tongue bifurcation when they're talking face to face with patients.
Of course, my clinical choices were all church affiliated hospitals and European hospitals are likely more progressive about it.
It's not uncommon in the professional world, at all, to deny employment because of tattoos and piercings. Strange body modifications undermine the customer's confidence. Is it small minded and bigoted? Sure is, thank the people who take it too far, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Also, try producing C, D, J, L, N, S, T, or Z sounds without using your tongue at all.