Big Nose, Little Nose, Young Nose, Blue Nose

Noses. Where would we be without them? Well, we would breathe through slits in our faces, and if it was the norm, it wouldn’t look unusual. Otherwise, I’m sure we’d be horrified. Noses are so big a thing to the human face that there are names for the different styles of nose. And Tycho Brahe, the most famous astronomer of his day (16th century) was known to have lost the tip of his nose, from the bridge on, in a duel. To counteract the effects of a gaping hole, he constructed a realistic nose of gold and silver, and copper and wore that till the end of his days.

Cyrano de Bergerac, a 17th century playwright, was made even more famous by Rostand’s play about the character. He had a prodigious nose and was proud of it. In the 1990 movie of the same name starring Gerard Depardieu, the nose is an intriguing blend and of believable proportions. Steve Martin in Roxanne, a modern take on Cyrano, has the beginning bulge of an Arabic style nose, the ski slope dip of a pug nose, and the squared tip of yet another nose. At least, that’s what I remember. But if you look at the pictures, it’s more an exaggerated ski slope.

I found long ago that the men I was attracted to most had one thing in common: large or unusual noses. In my family we have what some have called a perfect nose; straight, not too big or too small, not upturned or knobbed. Perhaps it is the nose with no personality. My brother once proclaimed he wanted a large nose because his glasses kept slipping down his petite nose.

For me, a man who is GQ perfect looks much like every other man and you’re likely to mix them up in a crowd. It’s better to have an unusual or strong feature and I find a large nose seems to add to a personality. Now that might be odd to say considering my perfect nose but I have other features that make me individual. Of course, personality in and of itself will win every time. Still, to me, a nose is a fascinating protuberance.

The most remarkable nose I ever saw was the one I described above on a man I sat beside, flying to the US. It was absolutely amazing and somehow didn’t detract from his looks. So noses are great. One of my friends hates his slightly larger than normal nose but I love it. I think it adds character and I don’t think it makes a person ugly. Perhaps there are a few noses that could be ugly, such as too much of a piggy nose, or the aberration made of Michael Jackson’s skeletal nose from too much plastic surgery, but I think they’re rare. I’ve had friends who had bulbed noses and while one’s father had pretty much a WC Fields’ style nose, it tended to give a friendly and jovial appearance.

We judge by appearances. Always have…at least on first impressions. But if you get to know a person, handsome or ugly, short or tall, slim or fat, big nosed or small, you will learn that it’s all a covering and really it’s what’s inside that counts.

Supposedly our noses and ears are two body parts that continue to grow throughout our lives. If that is so, we’ll all end up with bigger schnozes by the time we’re old. And we’ll end up with more character. Oh, and the blue nose? The Bluenose was the name of a famous racing schooner that won the International Fisherman’s Trophy for seventeen years straight. It graces the Canadian dime to this day.