20 Curious Things You Didn’t Know About Farting

Let’s get something straight: everyone farts.

It’s one of those shared human experiences, and yet, it’s cloaked in embarrassment. But here’s the truth — farting is about as ordinary as breathing, a biological function that happens to every single one of us.

Let’s drop the awkwardness and dig into some fascinating facts about farting that just might change how you think about it.

It turns out, fart humor is ancient.

Researchers from England’s University of Wolverhampton discovered that the oldest recorded joke, dating back to 1900 BCE, is a fart joke from Sumerian culture.

The line? “Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband’s lap.”

Even thousands of years ago, humor had a thing for the human body’s quirky sounds.

2. If You’re Alive, You Fart

There’s no getting around it — farting is universal.

Every person produces gas as a byproduct of digestion, thanks to swallowed air and bacteria working hard in the intestines. It’s a sign of a healthy digestive system and a completely natural outcome of food processing in the body.