Adano Ley (Swami Nitty-Gritty) associated the nose with “jumping the gun.”

He often recited a poem about such mistiming …

Nose, nose, leader of the race,
Tries to get ahead of the face.

The nose also has obvious sexual connotations.

Havelock Ellis (The Psychology of Sex, Vol. IV: Sexual Selection in Man, 1905, 1929) wrote …

“Bleeding of the nose is specially apt to occur at puberty and during adolescence, while in women it may take the place of menstruation and is sometimes more apt to occur at the menstrual periods; disorders of the nose have also been found to be aggravated at these periods. It has even been possible to control bleeding of the nose, both in men and women, by applying ice to the sexual regions. In both men and women, again, cases have been recorded in which sexual excitement, whether of coitus or masturbation, has been followed by bleeding of the nose. In numerous cases it is followed by slight congestive conditions of the nasal passages and especially by sneezing. Various authors have referred to this phenomenon; I am acquainted with a lady in whom it is fairly constant. Fere records the case of a lady, a nervous subject, who began to experience intense spontaneous sexual excitement shortly after marriage, accompanied by much secretion from the nose. J.N. Mackenzie is acquainted with a number of such cases, and he considers that the popular expression ‘bride’s cold’ indicates that this effect is widely recognized.”

Gerald H.J. Pearson, M.D. (“Some Psychological Aspects of Inflammatory Skin Lesions,” Psychosomatic Medicine, Jan. 1940) wrote …

“He [an 11-year-old boy] said he picked his nose for fear that the mucus running down the back of his throat and into his stomach would cause his death. He associated nasal and genital secretions, urine and semen. Unless he removed manually these genital secretions from his own body, i.e., his sexual desires, he would be punished through death. This was corroborated by his further statement that his nose picking would injure his looks and, as a result, no girl would fall in love with him. Here, the underlying fantasy was one of self-injury in order to protect himself from the greater danger of being a sexual person. This fantasy is a common accompaniment of masturbation. If a person masturbates, he can quiet his sexual desires, i.e., castrate himself and thus his sexual desires towards girls will not get him into trouble.”