Talk:Crayon-eating Marine trope

How bad is it to eat crayons?
I know it's well understood you shouldn't eat crayons, but given that the meme/trope relies on the fact that eating crayons is bad, it would be nice if there was a sentence or two explaining why or how bad it is. I was pretty surprised to read, "Eating crayons has become a humorous tradition for Marines at graduations..." - like, if they actually eat them at celebrations, is eating them actually not that bad?

Anyways, great article, loved the DYK hook. Legoktm (talk) 17:09, 29 October 2023 (UTC)


 * @Legoktm: Missed this 7 months ago! Most crayons are non-toxic, but, like most non-nutritive objects, they'll still cause GI issues if you eat more than a small amount. The sources don't discuss whether the Marines wind up with diarrhea a few hours after graduation. If there were WP:MEDRS on the topic it might be worth mentioning in a footnote or something, but I'm actually not seeing any. Might be too simple a topic for anyone to have ever written a paper on it. -- Tamzin  &#91;cetacean needed&#93; (they&#124;xe) 03:37, 17 May 2024 (UTC)

Explaining the link between crayon eating and low intelligence
It would be helpful to explain for people who wouldn't have the context that the stereotype of someone eating a crayon or glue comes from young children doing arts and crafts, and the adult supervising them having to be watchful that they don't consume the materials. 2600:4040:40DD:F300:99D7:85B9:5DE0:9858 (talk) 17:23, 29 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Well...the context is that it's about marines, so we wouldn't want to be redundant. /ducks Corundum Conundrum  (CC) 17:40, 8 November 2023 (UTC)