Philtrum

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, this is Kent Spielman. I’m calling from Dallas, Texas.

Hi, Kent. Welcome.

Thanks.

What’s going on?

Well, I had a story I wanted to have you comment on, because this is about a word I made up.

A word you made up?

Yeah, when I was really young, like about six or seven, with a friend of mine.

And we decided that it would be really useful to have a word for the part of your face right under your nose, that little indentation right under your nose.

And so we made up a word.

We said it was a Berber.

A Berber.

A Berber.

It had nothing to do with people called the Berbers or anything.

Just a nice little kid’s word, right?

So for some reason, when I got married, I shared that word with my wife.

Because I remembered it.

It just was useful.

It was a useful word.

And so she heard it and she thought about it.

It was kind of useful for her, too, because we didn’t know what the word for that was.

So the next thing you know is she’d come back from a shopping center or someplace where she’d gone to a makeup counter.

And the makeup, the consultant, was telling her how to put on lipstick or something around your lips.

And she was saying, now you just follow the contour of your lips around those little indentations under your nose.

And my wife just kind of, she does this kind of thing.

She says, oh, you mean around your Berber?

And the lady says, oh, yeah, your Berber, that’s right.

That’s it.

That’s the word for it.

The customer’s always right, huh?

You’re Berber this, you’re Berber that.

You know, just kept on using it as though that was the right term.

So when she came home and told me that, we just found that was hilarious.

So the woman didn’t really use the word Berber herself.

She was just nodding along with your wife.

Is that right?

Well, she started using it.

She started using the word in conversation because she continued to explain how to put on lipstick or lip liner or whatever and kept using the word as though that was the proper term for that part of your face.

Nice.

This is how words start getting spread.

And this is how lipstick gets sold.

But you know what an indentation is called otherwise, right?

You know, I did hear what it was one time because I talked to an artist, a friend of mine who was an artist, and he had a word for it.

And I said, oh, there really is a word for that.

But, you know, I can’t for the life of me remember it.

Because it’s just a really hard word to remember.

And I already had a word for it.

So what is that called?

Oh, I think we can help you out.

Was the word philtrum?

Philtrum.

I think you’re right.

P-H-I-L-T-R-U-M.

Philtrum.

Philtrum.

Wow.

Yeah, philtrum is a very sexy word.

What is not sexy is the other name for it, the infranasal depression.

Oh, really?

That’s not sexy at all.

No, not at all.

No, no, no.

But, yeah, the word philtron is very sexy.

Maybe this will help you remember it because it comes from the Greek word philtron, which means love potion.

Love potion?

Yeah.

Whoa.

Whoa.

So there’s something sexy about that?

Yeah, I guess that’s where you’re supposed to put your perfume or something.

No, I don’t know.

No, that is a possible explanation.

People have tried to figure this one out, and they haven’t been able to.

I don’t know if it was that the Greeks thought of this as a particularly erogenous zone

Or if that little dent in your upper lip looks like the little vial that you’d carry love potion in,

Or as you suggested, that maybe that’s where a little dab will do you.

Maybe. Wow.

Well, Ken, thank you for your call. I hope the word spreads.

Maybe in 10 or 20 years we’ll hear Berber everywhere and we’ll know that it was you.

Well, thank you. I’ll be very interested to see if that ever happens.

And in the meantime, use philtrum.

Okay, bye-bye.

Best of luck.

Okay, bye-bye.

Grant, we’ve talked about this before, you know, that little dent in your upper lip.

There’s a wonderful Talmudic tradition that babies have all the knowledge in the world before they’re born,

And then right before they’re born an angel taps them or somehow seals their lips right at that little point,

And that’s why you have that little dent because now you have to relearn all the stuff that you forgot once you got born.

I love that.

If you’d like to talk with us about Filtra or Berbers or any other word, give us a call.

The number is 1-877-929-9673.

Or you can email us.

The address is words@waywordradio.org.