How did the Jamaican grow a Jewish nose?

A Jamaican fellow came across my blog, apparently having searched for nose+growth+reasons. So today's post shall be in his honour. Incidentally, today I happen to be 19 years and 8 months and 8 days precisely.

There are a number of reasons for nose growth. As you have probably already read in Pinocchio, it can grow from lying:

At this third lie, his nose became longer than ever, so long that he could not even turn around. If he turned to the right, he knocked it against the bed or into the windowpanes; if he turned to the left, he struck the walls or the door; if he raised it a bit, he almost put the Fairy's eyes out.

Whether this is true for people or not, I leave for you to decide. I can only tell you that this blog is named after the famous wooden puppet for a reason. I can also say that my nose is a rather prominent feature on my face. From the side, due to a lack of endowment in the vitally important region below my face, one might even say I looked like a nose on a stick. Again, I won't state explicitly whether I'm the lying sort, but there certainly do seem to be a lot of posts on the subject. Anyway, my nose has certainly grown bigger over time.

Since I will not disclose further details on my habits in deception, I shall suggest a number of other reasons, which I shall claim to be closer to the truth.

The first reason is genetics. Obviously, your parents' appearances and the genes which code for them will play a part in determining what you will look like. Genes also play a part in determining how you will grow. As a friend of mine who's studying optometry claims, you can't really help how you grow. Whether you become short-sighted or long-sighted depends on the depth of your eyeball, and that depends to a large extent on your genes. Similarly, whether your nose grows disproportionately larger as you grow older and bigger, as mine has, also depends on whether your parents have been kind enough to endow you with the best of both genes (in my case it was the worst).

The second reason is muscle activation. There are two kinds. One is active, or unassisted, where you use your nose muscles alone to move your nose. You can move your nose up and down, bunny-style, wrinkle your nose, or isolate movement of your left and right nostrils. You may also flare your nostrils. I have yet to discover and master more nose movement, although there have been reports of people who can perform feats such as nose-wriggling. Such movements will result in the building of the muscles of the nose and a resulting increase in size.

The other is passive, or assisted, where you use other parts of your body, such as your hands, to pull at or move your nose. The act of pulling one's nose also stimulates circulation to the area. Supplied with more blood, it is likely to promote healthy, and sometimes vigorous, tissue growth. Repeated contact with your nose if you wash your face too frequently may also result in over-stimulation and growth.

The third reason is injury or illness. If you are injured, or if you have sinuses or a blocked nose, inflammation is a likely result that will temporarily increase the size of your nose. Alternatively, a broken nose that is poorly healed may result in a misshapen and enlarged nose.

In short, who nose how your nose will grow? I might be pulling your leg, or lengthening my nose, but as I have mentioned before, a good lie is always based on observed fact.