lessons

Here is a sagittal view of the human vocal apparatus:

via

As you can see, the part labeled "e" in the diagram corresponds to your alveolar ridge, that bump you can feel if you run your tongue across the roof of your mouth from back to front, and where most American English speakers pronounce their t's, d's, and n's.

During our lesson on articulators, my linguistics professor blithely mentioned that "I once had a girlfriend who had no alveolar ridge." This statement was followed by a moment of profound silence before tittering broke out, and someone asked, "How did you know?" More tittering ensued, but before our filthy minds could scramble all the way to the gutter, he responded, "How did I know? She told me!"

Childish? Completely.

But that's how I roll.