Haw? No. Haw is the nictitating membrane found in lizards, birds, etc.
Eye boogers are 'rheum', the eyes' natural mucus discharge. Tears and blinking normally wash it away, except at night.
2.) Sheldonista A.R. informs me that there is actually a name for the eye-boogers that form during the night: "Haw". I don't have a suitably sized Oxford English Dictionary next to me, but the professors among us can perhaps look it up and give us the exact definition in the comments, below.
3.) Sheldon reader Andria S writes in with this:
I happen to teach Physics at a community college, and one of the most useful tools I teach is the Order of Magnitude calculation, also called a back of the envelope calculation. If you're unfamiliar with this, it's a way to get a rough estimate of any calculate-able quantity just by making some reasonable estimates to start. Regarding your eye crud strip on August 2, 2009, I made what I feel are reasonable estimates that a bit of eye crud is a small cube with sides of 1mm; that you either get crud every night of your life in only one eye, or else in both eyes but every other night of your life; and that you live 80 years. These estimates get you around 6 teaspoons (2 tablespoons) of crud in a human life time, and I could easily see getting 1 teaspoon instead with slightly different input guesses.
So Sheldon got it right - though on a test I'd dock him points for not showing his work. ;) .
Haw? No. Haw is the nictitating membrane found in lizards, birds, etc.
Eye boogers are 'rheum', the eyes' natural mucus discharge. Tears and blinking normally wash it away, except at night.
OED to the rescue! :)
The third noun definition of haw does indeed define it as a "nictitating membrane" -- but the second sense under this entry claims that it can, by transference, be "applied to an excresence in the human eye"; however, this is obsolete. The earliest reference to this usage is from ~1450! Now, personally this is all more reason to use the term haw....
Rheum, on the other hand, is "now archaic" rather than obsolete, and defined primarily as "Watery matter secreted by the mucous glands or membranes, such as collects in or drops from the nose, eyes, and mouth, etc., and which, when abnormal, was supposed to cause disease; hence, an excessive or morbid 'defluxion' of any kind."
When I was a kid my grandma told me it was the Sandman's Sand.
Actually, the first thing I noticed about Sunday's strip was the colour. I thought it was beautifully done - like you said, Dave, "golden, Autumn feel" is just what came to mind. Extra points and a free latte to Cari! ^_^
Unless you fall asleep with your contacts in. Then the amount increases to enough to gross out your wife when you get up in the morning.
Now this is a far more better idea. This way I can live longer! Thanks!
Resveratrol [ezinearticles.com]