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This has bothered me for a long time,and tonight I decided to see if someone has a viable answer to my question.
When women are surprised, or are overjoyed at receiving a gift, or have some unexpected occasion, why do they ALWAYS cover their mouth with their hands?
I just finished watching wheel of fortune, and the women contestant won a great deal of money.
The first thing she did was to cover her mouth with her hands.
Why do women do this?
Men never do.
Bob.
Many of us were raised that it's considered really bad manners to show the world the inside of your mouth. Covering your mouth while yawning is also a thing I was taught to do.
Many of us were raised that it's considered really bad manners to show the world the inside of your mouth. Covering your mouth while yawning is also a thing I was taught to do.
This. If men don't cover their mouths when they're wide open, I guess it's because they're boors?
I wouldn't say women "always" do this, but yes, women seem to do it often.
I guess it was basic manners we were taught as little girls, like keeping our knees together when we sit or not farting in front of others. If you have to open your mouth wide for some reason, best to cover it so no one has to look inside. But I was also taught to keep my hands away from my face as good manners too.
But I personally never had the reaction of opening my mouth really wide when surprised or excited, so I really don't do the covering-my-mouth thing. I tend to react to surprise by opening my eyes really wide, and since it doesn't seem to be bad manners to open your eyes wide, I don't cover them.
It also see people, usually women, covering their mouth in reaction to something, but without the open-mouth thing. It's usually with some kind of embarassment, or when talking about someone who did something wrong. I'm not sure how that starts. I remember as a little kid, if someone did something wrong or said a "curse word" we would cover our mouths and say "ummmmmm you're in trou-ble." so maybe it hangs over from childhood. But I wonder how it starts. It reminds me of that "speak no evil" monkey.
The thing that LOTS of women do today that I completely DON'T get, is they fan themselves with their hands in a mocking attempt to prevent themselves from crying. It's really annoying. I first saw people on TV do it (on things like home improvement or makeover shows when they have the "reveal"). Then a few years ago, I started seeing women in real life do it. Now I'm a person whose eyes tear-up rather easily in response to something touching or emotional, but fanning my face with my hands would not have any effect on it. If anything it would draw attention to the fact that I have tears in my eyes, something I'd rather hide and get under control, maybe by blinking and swallowing. So the fanning thing seems to be a strange attention-seeking affectation. Maybe it's the same women who open their mouths wide in surprise and then cover them?
Added: I just google-image-searched "expressions of surprise" and you can see a bunch of open mouth people, and people with closed mouths but wide open eyes (like me) and some with hands on their faces. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&s...mg.Br3qf_EZvtA
probably they saw it on Friends... like air kissing, false hugs and fanning their faces with their hands...like their having a Victorian swoon....
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