The first time I read the term “hiney tingles” I knew exactly what the author meant.

You see, I’ve experienced these phenomena. Oh yes. I HAVE experienced them.

I think they started in junior high when Nathan Johns asked me if I would “walk him off the football field after the game.”

What he meant by that was,

“Will you jump the fence with fifty other girls, grab my sweaty arm, stand with me while we thank God for winning the game under the Friday night lights, put up with my sweaty body while I pause during our walk, take my helmet off, shake out my sweaty dark curls, finish walking me to the edge of the locker room entrance and then just prior to me going inside to hear from the coach get your first kiss from me?”

Oh, I’ll walk you off the field, baby.  Heck yeah, I’ll walk you off.  Me and my hiney tingles will do you proud…

I’m sorry, where was I? Ah, yes. Hiney tingles.

For those of you who are familiar with Ree Drummond’s “Pioneer Woman” blog and her “Black Heels to Tractor  Wheels” story, then you know the source of my writing inspiration.

For those of you who don’t read P-Dub’s work, or who are unfamiliar with the term “hiney tingles,” allow me to link you to the highly academic source for all pop-culture answers: the Urban Dictionary definition.

So, assuming that hiney tingles are some sort of electrified sensations felt involuntarily when stimulated by the sight or presence of a romantic prospect, I’m wondering…have YOU experienced them?  And, if so, under what conditions?

I did a little research and found that there is actually a blog with the term in its name.  Something to do with Edward Cullen?

I know a Twitter-Tweep of mine , who immediately went into hiney tingle overdrive when she recently passed by a cowboy and sent this message out to the world:

“GIIIIRRRRL them steer rasslers make me all tingly!”

Then we started talking hiney tingles, then several others jumped in on the conversation and I’m not sure exactly what happened next…but I think some sort of watch-society was created to spot men in tight jeans and also Carhartt/hoodie combinations.  It was one of those “you had to have been there” discussions, but it made sense at the time.

Clearly this is a phenomenon worth serious consideration. Perhaps more field testing is needed on my part. Hmm.

But I’m also convinced there’s another kind of “hiney tingle” that has nothing to do with an attraction to the opposite sex.  THAT hiney tingle happens in the form of sympathy pains.  It’s a twinge, or a rushing surge of electric tingles experienced when someone you love has cut their finger and you see them bleeding.  Some people don’t have to witness the trauma, they only have to hear about it.  Here’s what Heather at “Life of a Passeri” has to say about sympathy pains “in her booty”:

I’ve realized a strange and disturbing thing about myself; I feel sympathy pains in my booty. Whenever I hear a painful story, or see someone get hurt in a movie, I get butt tingles. Weirdest thing, because I am fairly certain people don’t have pain centers in the butt. Except maybe for me. Which means I’m a mutant. Does that make me an X-Man? 

I really, really hope so. 

Oh, Heather.  Heather, Heather, Heather.  If you only knew that perhaps hundreds, thousands or maybe millions also experience “butt tingle sympathy pains!”  I know I do.

Oops, I just DID!  I just now thought about the time my daughter had to get an IV while prepping for appendix surgery.  She was shaking because she fears needles and when the nurse put the line in, I got butt tingle sympathy pains.  And just now, I experienced secondary writing butt tingle trauma because I re-thought my thought! Eek…note to self – stop this!

If you read Heather’s post comments, you might have noticed that another person experienced sympathy pains (or tingles?) behind her knees.  I wonder if that’s anything like the tingles Chris Matthews had running up his leg when he was covering the Obama campaign?  Of course, Matthews’ tingle was a positive reaction to excitement about a presidential candidate. Something like a person might feel when they see, or think about, someone or something exhilarating. So perhaps there are three: amorous, sympathy pains, and “rock-star-ish” tingles?

But whether the “tingle” is amorously influenced and emitting from your pelvic-slash-buttock area, or it is sympathy pain-induced and rushing around on your body somewhere below your waist, there seems to be merit that this phenomenon exists. It happens.

It’s an empathetically-based nervous system reaction to some sort of stimuli, and it can be a reaction to something really awesome or really horrific.

So my question to you is simple.  Exactly HOW pervasive is this phenomenon? And, what’s your greatest (or creepiest) hiney tingle moment ever in the world?

I look forward to hearing your responses.  I think.

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