Can You Really Get Your Tongue Stuck to a Metal Pole?

It’s a scene that will play on countless televisions this holiday season. Nine-year-olds Ralphie, Schwartz, and Flick are gathered outside school on a cold winter day. Flick cries out, “Are you kidding? Stick my tongue to that stupid pole? That’s dumb!” Schwartz responds, “That's ‘cause you know it’ll stick!” Eventually, Schwartz wields the triple dog dare. Flick has no choice but to press his tongue to the metal pole. It sticks, and he can’t pull himself away. The police and fire department are called in to save the poor boy’s tongue. 

But is this classic scene from 1983’s A Christmas Story just a fictionalized way for Hollywood to prove a point about the power of playground peer pressure? (Or, just how “dumb” Harry really is in Dumb and Dumber?) Unfortunately not. As many kids have learned over the years, you actually can get your tongue stuck to a cold metal object. 

When two objects touch—like a tongue and a metal pole—they work toward “thermal equilibrium,” or being the same temperature. To get there, heat must be transferred from object to object. Metal can conduct heat very quickly. When a warm tongue hits cold metal, the metal immediately starts taking heat from the appendage. The saliva from the tongue will freeze, and very quickly, leaving that tongue—and the person it belongs to—essentially glued to the metal pole. This can happen with any frozen metal and any wet body part, like a lip or a hand. 

You may have experienced a version of this phenomenon when licking ice or a popsicle that feels kind of sticky. Ice is also pretty good at conducting heat, though not as good as metal, so the end result is not as gnarly. 

Other materials don’t conduct heat that well. If Schwartz had dared Flick to lick an object made of wood or plastic, the kid would have made it back to class with the rest of his friends, his tongue still intact. 

Hopefully, that’s enough to convince you not to accept this triple dog dare anytime soon. But, if you do happen upon someone who has made this mistake, the New York-Presbyterian Hospital’s website has guidance for handling the situation. The stuck individual should not just yank their tongue off the surface. Instead, you can help them by applying warm (not hot) water or air. If that doesn’t work, it’s time to call emergency services. Any resulting injuries should be examined by a doctor. 

Thankfully, the crew of A Christmas Story knew not to mess around. The flagpole in the scene was covered in plastic and painted to look like rusty metal. The crew put a tiny hole in the plastic and used a vacuum cleaner to apply suction to the young actor’s tongue, which made it look stuck. It probably was not pleasant to film—but it was easy to pull the tongue away with no medical professionals required.

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