evidence: Share this Story : The tongue: an indicator of stroke? [...] Article content "Ask the person to stick out his tongue…if it is crooked, if it goes to one side or another, that is also an indicator of a stroke," the circulating email states. It also mentions that bystanders can recognize a stroke by asking three questions of someone suspected of having a stroke. [...] The "stick out the tongue" manoeuvre is, in my view, not a useful assessment for the lay public. In major strokes, the tongue may be deviated but usually this is in patients with obvious major strokes with a hemiplegia and facial weakness. Isolated tongue deviation is a very uncommon stroke presentation and is often difficult for the lay public to assess and interpret. I would not want a bunch of patients arriving by ambulance because their tongue was deviated.