An American lawyer was once so secretive about her extraordinary tongue that she wouldn't even give it a second glance from her law firm colleagues. But she overcame her shyness and used her prodigious tongue to set a Guinness World Record.
Brittany Lacayo of Houston, Texas, was named “the woman with the widest tongue in the world” by the organization after she had a tongue wider than a hockey puck and almost as wide as a credit card.
In a recent article on its website, Guinness World Records said Lacayo's tongue measured 7.90 centimetres (3.11 inches) at its widest point – exactly the same length as the average full female tongue, from the epiglottis to the tip.
Lacayo told Guinness that she knew her tongue was special from an early age because her family always teased her about it. She told Guinness that her tongue is wider than it is long, and people who see it for the first time react with “shock” or “curiosity.” Guinness is known for having a database of about 40,000 world records.
When a close friend sent her a video of Emily Schlenker, she began to wonder if her tongue might be the widest of anyone alive. Schlenker held the Guinness World Record for the widest tongue by a woman for nearly a decade, measuring 7.33 centimeters (2.89 inches) wide. Schlenker's father, Byron, also once held the record for the widest tongue by a man.
Still, Lacayo had a hunch that her tongue might be wider than Emily Schlenker's, so she submitted the prescribed measurements to Guinness, which recognized her as the new record holder in February, by 0.57 centimeters (0.22 inches).
Lacayo knew she could no longer keep quiet about the size of her tongue if she successfully attempted the record set by Schlenker in 2015. Her criminal lawyer said she used to be very private about her tongue, and was careful never to let her colleagues see it.
Still, she was leaning towards the recognition that comes with receiving certification from Guinness World Records, which is often covered in media around the world.
“It's lovely,” she told Guinness, “and kind of funny.”
