ANSWERS: 5
  • It is your philtrum.
  • The vertical groove on the upper lip is known as the philtrum.
  • Philtrum
  • As provided by Cecil from The Straight Dope The ridges protect a particular sensitive spot in the skull where three bones meet, two from the sides and one from the top (the last being the device that keeps your nostrils separate). Almost every animal has them, all the way down to lizards. In humans, the ridges develop after fourteen weeks of gestation. If they fail to appear, the child is born with an unfortunate condition known as "cleft lip." The ridges themselves aren't graced with a name, but the depression between them is. It's a cute one: philtrum, from the Greek philtron, meaning "love charm." The ancient Greeks, who liked their whimsy as much as the next civilization, thought the lips resembled the shape of Cupid's bow; the philtrum, then, metaphorically represented the grip, the center of Cupid's power. Or so it says here. To me, the philtrum looks more like it ought to be the arrow, but I suppose it's a little late to start criticizing. http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_078a.html
  • The philtrum.

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