Tongue

"It's right there on the tip of my… what's that?" (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth ^[+]Loading...["The Woman Who Fell to Earth (TV story)"])

The tongue was a body part used for tasting and communication. According to the Sixth Doctor, the tongue contained 10,000 sensory receptors, greatly dwarfing the nose's 400. (AUDIO: The Carrionite Curse ^[+]Loading...["The Carrionite Curse (audio story)"])

Agamemnon ordered Odysseus to have Steven Taylor's tongue cut out for insolence before ending him, but the First Doctor stopped this from happening. (TV: The Myth Makers ^[+]Loading...["The Myth Makers (TV story)"])

After finding and taking a black orchid while on an expedition in the Amazon, botanist George Cranleigh was captured by the Kojabe tribe. Believing the orchid sacred, they mutilated Cranleigh and cut out his tongue for the crime of theft. (TV: Black Orchid ^[+]Loading...["Black Orchid (TV story)"])

Some Time Lords could determine what was in a substance by touching it to their tongue. Romana II tasted a mineral with her tongue on Skaro to guess its composition. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks) The Tenth Doctor was able to tell not only that the Sycorax were using blood control, but what blood type they were using by tasting it. (TV: The Christmas Invasion ^[+]Loading...["The Christmas Invasion (TV story)"]) While visiting Queen Victoria, he could tell there was mistletoe oil on some woodwork by licking it. (TV: Tooth and Claw ^[+]Loading...["Tooth and Claw (TV story)"]) Similarly, the Eleventh and Thirteenth Doctors also determined geographic location of Earth, among other things, by tasting grass and soil. (TV: The Hungry Earth ^[+]Loading...["The Hungry Earth (TV story)"], It Takes You Away ^[+]Loading...["It Takes You Away (TV story)"]) While visiting Villa Diodati in June 1816, the Thirteenth Doctor tasted the powdery remains of a bony hand in order to determine its origin. (TV: The Haunting of Villa Diodati ^[+]Loading...["The Haunting of Villa Diodati (TV story)"])

Certain species could use their tongues as weapons. Tetraps had a forked tongue which could inject a paralysing poison. (PROSE: Time and the Rani ^[+]Loading...["Time and the Rani (novelisation)"]) One tribe of Silurians encountered in Wales had long tongues which they could flick to inject a venom, which was mutagenic to humans. (TV: The Hungry Earth ^[+]Loading...["The Hungry Earth (TV story)"]/Cold Blood ^[+]Loading...["Cold Blood (TV story)"]) Zygons had venom sacs in their tongues. (TV: The Day of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (TV story)"])

After the Thirteenth Doctor's regenerated into the Fourteenth Doctor, he ran his tongue over his teeth, realising they were the same teeth as of a previous incarnation. (TV: The Power of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"], PROSE: A Letter from the Doctor 2024 ^[+]Loading...{"page":"6","1":"A Letter from the Doctor (DWAN 2024 short story)"})

The Second Doctor, when wondering if Lesterson would listen to his warnings about the Daleks, remarked that repeating the phrase "Lesterson listen" exercised the tongue. (TV: The Power of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["The Power of the Daleks (TV story)"])

On Gallifrey, fish tongues were eaten as part of tradition in celebration of Otherstide. (PROSE: Lungbarrow ^[+]Loading...["Lungbarrow (novel)"])

"The sharpness of the tongue defeats the sharpness of the warrior" in Gallifreyan. (GAME: Gallifreyan Translator ^[+]Loading...["Gallifreyan Translator (video game)"])

"The sharpness of the tongue defeats the sharpness of the warrior" was an old Rwandan proverb. (PROSE: Sonic Screwdriver ^[+]Loading...["Sonic Screwdriver (feature)"])

Saying that something was "on the tip of [one's] tongue" was another common phrase. The Thirteenth Doctor, mildly amnesiac from regeneration, said that her name was "on the tip of [her]…", before pointing to her own tongue and asking Ryan Sinclair what it was called. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth ^[+]Loading...["The Woman Who Fell to Earth (TV story)"])

Similarly, to "hold" or "bite [one's] tongue" was a phrase meaning to remain silent. (TV: The War Games ^[+]Loading...["The War Games (TV story)"], PROSE: Interesting Times ^[+]Loading...["Interesting Times (short story)"]) As Sarah Jane Smith entered the Continental Palace Hotel in Saigon, she expected to find journalists arguing about Richard Nixon and Kissinger. Sarah knew she had to "bite her tongue" to prevent giving too much away about their future. (PROSE: Interesting Times ^[+]Loading...["Interesting Times (short story)"])