Michigan Man's Unique Tongue Lands Him Guinness Record

Dante Barnes of Battle Creek, Michigan summed it up best, "My tongue is a gift". Well, that's according to him, and now according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

It's not the length of his tongue that scored him the top slot with Guinness, but the thickness so to speak. Barnes was awarded a Guinness World Record when the circumference of his tongue was officially measured at 4.8 inches. The record was officially in the books as of December 24, 2021.

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So how exactly does the whole "big tongue" thing work with Dante's day-to-day life? Well, he really didn't know he was a bit of an anomaly until he saw a video on the internet of people showing off their unique tongues. It was only when he posted on himself he realized his tongue was on the unusual side.

“I have not had an actual medical person tell me what it is that I can do or what it’s called but I have had people make videos about my tongue and they say it’s called macroglossia", he told Guinness. “I just kind of have fun with it. I have fun with people, entertain people, and I can just shrink it back down to a normal tongue whenever I want to do normal things."

According to Guinness, Dante's tongue has a circumference of 12.19 cm (4.80 in). That makes it about equal to the diameter of a ping pong ball. When it's expanded, Dante’s tongue reaches roughly 42 mm (1.65 in) in height and 40 mm (1.57 in) in width.

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Just in case you are one of those wondering how the lady in Dante's life feels about the extraordinary, flexible tongue and all the tricks it can do, she's not impressed. According to Dante, “My girlfriend hates when I do it. She thinks it’s disgusting".

And there ya go.

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