Wednesday, March 23, 2011

A new non-verbal thing to look for!

So I'm sitting in the coffee shop today (as I usually do after class) and I hear the people at the table near me talking in what sounds very much like English, but sounded nothing like anything I recognized. Words and phrases were being used in odd combinations that I'm not used to hearing. I'm not sure what to call it, other than "business English", an almost incomprehensible way of talking to convey the fact that I'm smarter than you, I guess.

After listening in for a few minutes, I figured out it was some sort of interview for a local media outlet (I think). I feel bad for the poor guy, because one of the two interviewers was and condescending bitch who seemed to be going out of her way to make herself seem superior. That in itself wasnt what was interesting, her body language is what intrigued me.


Last night I spent some time at Barnes & Noble looking for some sort of "Writing For Dummies" book, but they didnt have anything like that. I instead ended in the psych section thumbing through a few things (bought "Lateral Thinking" by Edwardo de Bono) but a body language book caught my eye. It wasnt interesting enough to buy (it was also pricey for a small short book), but one thing I read I just saw firsthand.

In the maybe 45 minutes these people were interview this guy, I noticed what seemed like one genuine smile from this woman. I supposed she could have had a crapload of botox to prevent this from happening, but according to the book, if someone is genuinely happy, their smile will cause them to have "crows feet" at the edges of their eyes - and that this isnt something one can conciously fake.

I didnt catch what was said, but looked up as all three of them had a laugh. That was the *only* time I noticed this woman genuinely smile. Maybe she was just too tired to really smile from her neck being tired of nodding *constantly*? I'm not really sure what was going on, but it was interesting to see that in action right in front of me. I'm not sure how long it will take to recognize that instantly, but I will be aware of it... "moving forward" (one of the catch phrases I keep hearing that sound smart but don't really mean much).

1 comment:

  1. Some people smile with their eyes and some dont.Interesting, becacuse after watching youtube videos on people with AS, the very thing that caught my attention was that its like this "either, or" thing where they either smile with just their mouth but nose and up looks kinda stale OR they have a TON of facial expressions going on.Im like the later.Ive seen myself on video and thought I looked nervous.It was horrible.
    Ofcourse, Im not saying SHE was AS, she was probably just bored out of her mind, lol...but it made me think of that one thing now that I read this.

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