• Question: Why do you say oww when you are hert?

    Asked by cdtg to Andrew, Emma, Marianne on 15 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Andrew Maynard

      Andrew Maynard answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      Hi cdtg,

      I really don’t know. You’d probably need an expert in human evolution to answer that one – I can only have a guess.

      Here are some possible reasons though:

      1. When we were evolving, a sudden loud sound made when we were hurt might have scared off a predator.

      2. Pain causes a number of involuntary reactions that might have helped avoid danger in the past – including making one of the simplest sounds possible (“aah” or “oww” don’t seem to use that many mouth muscles or movements from what I can tell).

      3. It’s politer than a lot of the alternatives 🙂

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      So, you have to sense pain to keep your body safe from damage and injury. There’s lots of different ways of sensing different types of pain. If you put your hand down on a drawing pin you will move it away before a pain signal even has time to reach your brain. Pain travels up nerve fibres and if you need to act quickly there’s a circuit that just goes to your spinal cord (rather than your brain) and makes your hand/foot move away from the painful object (this is a reflex). It’s a lot quicker than having to stop and think ‘gosh that’s sore’ and helps to limit the damage done.

      As to the saying ‘Ow’ bit. Different people say different things. i remember when my wife was givving birth she used a lot of words I’d never heard her say before. I think making a noise or even swearing helps relieve the pain. Whether it just distracts your senses from the pain or if there’s something more to it I don’t know. I’m glad you just say ‘ow’ you’re obviously a very decent person. See this article: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-do-we-swear

      Did you see the episode of house with the wee girl who couldn’t feel pain? There’s also a book out at the moment with a character who doesn’t feel pain (The Girl with the dragon tattoo). This is a real condition (Congenital insensitivity to pain) where the sufferer can’t send pain signals up their nerves. Guess they never say ‘Ow!’

    • Photo: Marianne Baker

      Marianne Baker answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      Well it’s ‘oww’ in English but in some other languages, you might make a different noise when you’re hurt!

      Perhaps it’s to alert others of a potential danger, if we’re thinking evolutionarily. It seems to be a fairly automatic, almost reflex, reaction, so it’s probably important (reflexes are usually reserved for necessary actions, like jerking your hand away from something really really hot).

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