The healthy human digestive system farts somewhere between 12 and 25 times a day, with many of those occasions being relatively odourless expulsions of gas from our rear ends.
However, every now and then one comes along at an inopportune moment, such as when you're packed in a lift full of people you're trying not to disappoint or your fart stinks with the putrid pungency of a corpse that's been left out in the sun for a week.
Some people find them pretty entertaining, while others very much don't see the funny side after catching a blast of a** gas in the face.
While many people won't thank you for farting, it really is a case of 'better out than in' as trying to hold one in for too long is bad for your digestive system.
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There are also times when your farts tell a story about what's happening within your body, and pharmacist Mufit Karacabeyli has provided an overview of what your farts could be telling you.
A gut feeling
If farts are the guts way of speaking, then you'd do well to figure out what they're trying to say.
Foul smelling farts can be a sign that something is up with your digestive tract and be a warning sign of a possible imbalance in the community of microbes that live in your gut.
They may have a reputation for smelling bad but if it stinks something particularly fierce that may be your gut telling you all is not well.
The pharmacist said that farting rarely could also be a sign of slow digestion, which an lead to a range of health issues to do with your gut.
What he described as 'foamy gas' we might call a 'wet fart' and it can point to a number of abdominal issues, so if it keeps happening you may wish to think whether you've been showing any other symptoms.
Should your bottom burps smell particularly milky, then you probably owe an apology to whomever caught whiff of it and you may also be lactose intolerant, according to Medical News Today.
If you're getting cramps, when you toot that could be a sign that something is up with your colon, while bouts of gas while sleeping can point towards food intolerance as undigested food sits in your gut and produces gas.
Food and farts
One of the most devastating kinds of fart is the 'silent but deadly', this comes from the hydrogen sulfide (H2S, not to be confused with HS2 which is a British rail line that keeps getting disappointingly reduced) which ASM says is a toxic product of your digestive system.
Meanwhile, Karacabeyli said that your fart smell could change a bit depending on whether you were eating too much of a certain kind of food.
There is much sympathy to be had for the people who researched this, but a sweet smelling fart (if such a thing exists) is a sign of high bloody sugar. Alterntively, if your gas stinks like it's rotting, then you could do with cutting back on the protein.
Should there be a garlic-y quality to your gaseousness then the pharmacist said that was probably due to you eating sulphurous foods like eggs, while Health.com says too much gas with each fart was the sign of a high fibre diet.
Another sign of a high fibre diet, which is normally a good and healthy thing but does have an impact on your rear end, is that your buttocks smell more of vegetables than the produce aisle in a supermarket.
The smell of sickness
Beyond the indicators of your diet or gut health is the odorous warning sign of an imminent sickness.
The NHS says that irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) can lead to lots of farting, so if you're producing a regular stream of gas out of your back slot then it could be your body telling you something more serious is wrong.
Passing the occasional warm blast of gas is not much to worry about but if it feels like your a**e is venting a furnace then it could be a sign of IBS or a bacterial infection.
Healthline says you ought to be on the lookout for other symptoms like pain, nausea, diarrhea and vomiting to figure out whether you need a doctor.
Finally, should it feel painful each time you let one rip that may be your body saying you've got some abdominal bloating, like those women in adverts for yoghurt.
The Cleveland Clinic says you should be on the lookout for other symptoms and possibly have an infection that's disrupting the numbers of your gut bacteria.
Topics: Health, Science, Food And Drink
Joe Harker