Once is funny, twice is hilarious, and anything more than that is usually just annoying. We’ve all had them, but do you actually know where they come from? They’re hiccups, and they’re the strange little sounds that can escape from your mouth without warning.

Hiccups start much lower in your body, though -- in the diaphragm, the dome-shaped muscle between your lungs and stomach. Normally, the diaphragm pulls down when you inhale to let air into your lungs, and then relaxes when you exhale so air can flow back out of your lungs to exit your nose and mouth.

But if something irritates your diaphragm, it can spasm, forcing you to suddenly suck air into your throat, where it hits your voice box. That makes your vocal cords suddenly close, creating the distinct “hic!” sound.