The 7 year thing is a myth (http://www.snopes.com/oldwives/chewgum.asp) but this question kinda made me chuckle.

Welcome to Fluther.

Oh, I know the seven year thing is a myth, but back in the day when I was teaching and a child needed to be kept busy, I would ask them this question. Ths looks on their faces were priceless.

Glad to make you laugh as that was my real intent.

@Likeradar – I’ve know that for a little while now, but I won’t tell my kids! ;)

Welcome to the collective mystuff. It might be a good idea to read the Fluther Guidelines, particularly about asking good questions.

Haha, that’s a pretty funny question. I thought you were being serious for a moment. phew

I dont think gum has any real nutritional value as a food… so you would easily die way before the seven year mark if all you ate was gum

Someone should test this myth definitively, we can’t just assume it’s not true.

So, Marina, my question was not “good”?

I guess you need to define “good” for me because I feel there is value in humor. So, to me, making someone laugh is a good thing.

Yo! @Marina: This is a great question!

The truth is, that eating that much gum actually causes constipation for seven years. Well, maybe not seven. I think the precise number is three years, four months, two weeks and five days. So if you started in 2009, you’d pass your last hard one in, oh, 2012. Wow! I thought twenty twelve instead of two thousand and twelve.

WHich reminds me of another story. My Dad used to tell me that gum chewing girls and cud chewing cows are different, yet alike, somehow. Maybe if a girls swallowed that much gum, it would be different that a guy? But what about a cow? Didja think about that? Don’t let PETA find out about this. Too bad you can’t scrub the question from existence.

It’s here forever. Like gum. Under your foot. In the hallway. You can never get it off. Well, I know one person who could tell you how to get it off, but let’s not go there. No wait. I scrubbed it off with Windex! I mean, who spits gum on the floor? Who? Far better to swallow it. But maybe they didn’t want to lose a chance to chow down. The cow!

PS, does anyone else think that the jelly mystuff is currently using looks like a skull?

Here’s a question for you daloon: How do you know so precisely the precise number? No, wait, maybe I don’t want you to answer that.

@mystuff: well, I’m not exactly sure, but let’s just say I’m hoping the end will come sooner than that. This is totally burnin’ my ass!

I didn’t pick my jelly but, yes, it does look like a skull.

@mystuff One person’s funny is not always another’s. I am relieved to hear you were joking.

Whether I was joking or not it is still a good question—a thought provoking question. One that provided information on old wives’ tales and provided an opportunity for one to make themselves feel superior at the expense of another.

@mystuff Sorry, not my intention. I meant my welcome.

You will be free of the need to eat for a lot longer than seven years. Dead people, you see, have no use for nourishment.

I wish.

@mystuff you didnt pick your jelly but?
that sounds interesting

No, but you will be blowing bubbles from your @@@@@ , you guessed it !

That made me laugh – in the “cute question” kind of way.

@Marina
Whoawhoa.
Right when I read this question I was like “AWESOME QUESTION!”
Unlike marina, @mystuff , I say, awesome, thoughtful question.
I love it soo much.
Alright now here is my answer:
We wouldn’t get nutrients if our body could not digest it, right. It would be more suicidal-comacazzi like. Though it is a myth, as David Blaine to try it.

If anyone is wondering, yes, kamikaze I know. Joke from our school and I accidentally added it to Fluther

lurve to mystuff for sticking by the question. Welcome to Fluther!

incidentally, my boyfriend and I had a nice long car ride for Christmas Eve to get to my family gathering and it was quite an interesting conversation about how man can’t use napkins to stave off hunger until food is available.

@poofandmook. Huh? Did anyone ever suggest a napkin could stave off hunger?

@Daloon: No, but it’s along the same lines of gum being sufficient enough to not eat for 7 years if there’s enough of it. It started out as something silly someone said, and ended up being an interesting topic. Much like the wivestale about gum being enough in the right quantity, to live off of for 7 years.

Yes, welcome to Fluther.

This is a myth.

@marinelife You bastard. Fine, go ahead and ruin the little guy’s fun.

@mystuff Marinelife does have a point, though; you can’t be comical 100% of the time as a Flutherite. As long as you take serious questions and discussions, well, seriously, you’ll be fine. Excellent question, by the way.