Frivolous Facts: Borborygmi? Pardon Me...

Saturday, April 04, 2009      |     Frivolous Facts
The other day as I was sitting in a very quiet conference room for a deposition, my stomach began to growl. The witness looked over at me and smiled. I smiled back, just a tad embarrassed. Stomach growls are nothing new to me and seem to manifest themselves, without fail, in very quiet situations. I usually eat a light breakfast (I'm not the pancakes-and-sausage type so early in the morning), so by midmorning, my stomach's got a mind of its own.

After so many years of suffering through my troublesome tum, I decided to search the internet for answers. Can one who suffers from this problem do anything about it? I wondered if drinking water helps or exacerbates the situation. While I didn't find any concrete answers to that rumbling problem, I did find some creative suggestions for dealing with it such as slouching; the theory behind this being that the fold of stomach fat will help muffle the rumble noises. (I love that one.)

So there weren't any sure-fire cures for digestive rumbling. Most of what I found were explanations for stomach noise, some of them having to do with digestion problems. I did, however, find that there's the most interesting word for stomach rumbling: borborygmi. So now you know. And if anyone out there knows of a trick to quell borborygmi, I'd be forever in you're debt.

The definition of borborygmi according to MedicineNet.com:

Borborygmi: Rumbling sounds caused by gas moving through the intestines (stomach "growling"). Pronounced BOR-boh-RIG-mee. The singular is borborygmus.

I really love this new-to-me word. I think I'll say it at least once a day.

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