# Are You a Winker? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 18, 2014, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413 "2014-04-18T13:06:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413/21 "2014-04-19T10:11:58Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > I literally am not ABLE to wink at all. This bums me out, because I’d be all about doing the intentionally cheesy wink in tons of situations. > > I try and try, and the best I can do is having one eye open a teeny sliver while the other one has to be at least slightly squinched, so I look totally blotto. If you want to learn, what I did was hold one eye closed with my fingers and open the other as wide as possible. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413/22 "2014-04-19T12:24:04Z")
[Usually this](http://assets.amuniversal.com/516790509cf301311c30005056a9545d) (tho it depends on who is doing the winking)… ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413/23 "2014-04-19T14:19:11Z")
Yes, but only once if I’m driving later. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413/24 "2014-04-19T17:39:11Z")
I’m a winker. Just the quick kind; if I tried the slow sexy one my wife would roll over laughing. I use two kinds: one the clue that there’s a joke or I get the joke, but nothing need be said. The other as just a friendly sort of “hello”. I found I do it even at work, if I’m passing someone in the hall and they smile at me, I smile and quick-wink back. I do this equally to men and women; it’s not at all a sexual thing. I think I might do this a bars, too. I’m at a couple bars alone fairly frequently because I play music, or I’ll go to see friends play (and maybe sit in for a tune) even if I can’t watch the whole show. Sometimes I’ll see an attractive woman and catch her looking at me and then looking away. (Which is funny, usually both of us being well past 40, but it happens.) I’m not the kind of guy who stares at a woman, or who knows how to do the “look” and that’s fine because I’m not “looking” – I’m just looking! Anyway, later in the evening as one of us is leaving and we catch each others’ eyes I might give a quick smile and wink and move on, just to say (at least, I hope it’s what it’s saying) “Yeah, you’re cute, but I’m just here playing music and hanging with my friends.” It hasn’t caused any harm yet, in any case. ---
**Author:** ![James\_Toothpaste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@James\_Toothpaste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Toothpaste)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413/25 "2014-04-20T00:53:04Z")
Not really. I don’t really know what winking means. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413/26 "2014-04-20T00:53:40Z")
Wasn’t the Fonz a Winker? ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413/27 "2014-04-20T01:10:52Z")
I can’t wink. I don’t know if I would if I could. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413/28 "2014-04-20T01:19:46Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I don’t wink. I can’t pull it off, but I do love a well timed wink from others, especially good looking men. But it has to be right! You can’t just wink and think it works. When I wink at you, you’ll damn well know you’ve been winked at. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413/29 "2014-04-20T02:59:52Z")
I’m amazed at the number of people who use it to mean they are joking. It’s extremely rare for me to wink, and when I do it’s usually in a [“Come up and see me sometime”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJS670okmZc) context. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413/30 "2014-04-20T03:09:27Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever winked in my life. Not since I was a child and I was still exploring the intricacies of binocular vision. My wife can’t , she lacks the muscle coordination to close one eye. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413/31 "2014-04-20T03:26:41Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I don’t think I’ve ever winked in my life. Not since I was a child and I was still exploring the intricacies of binocular vision. My wife can’t , she lacks the muscle coordination to close one eye. That’s interesting. I’m sure I do it almost every day, if not every day. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413/32 "2014-04-20T03:30:20Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > My wife can’t , she lacks the muscle coordination to close one eye. Speaking of muscle coordination, just now testing I see that I can wink more skillfully with my left eye than my right. More of my face moves when I try it with my right eye. And I’m right-handed, if that matters for anything. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413/33 "2014-04-20T15:58:28Z")
I wink all the time and I didn’t even know that was unusual. I think I wink most often when I’m talking to youngish kids I don’t know very well and they look as if they can’t quite tell if I’m making a joke. That sounds creepy, so let me clarify I’m a mother with elementary school aged children so I meet their classmates and siblings pretty frequently. Yesterday, I winked at the kid in front of me at the baseball game because he was so astonished that we had the same seat number. It was cute. I will also totally wink at \*\*Learjeff \*\*if we’re ever in the same bar. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413/34 "2014-04-20T16:06:10Z")
I can’t wink elegantly, only in the broadest terms. I once knew someone who could wink so well and so frequently, it was freaky. It was like she was blinking with one eye, and it was so fast and you could hardly tell she was doing it! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413/35 "2014-04-20T16:50:06Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > I’m amazed at the number of people who use it to mean they are joking. \ I love deadpan humour; it’s funny when people get my deadpan jokes, and even funnier when they don’t. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413/36 "2014-04-21T01:25:59Z")
Only with online emoticons. I find that I communicate the emotion well enough in person not to need it. The funny ironic way of doing it hasn’t come up. I have since figured out that I do sometimes roll my eyes. It’s actually closer to the static emoticon we have here than an actual roll, though. It just goes up–it doesn’t come back down. I also on occasion will stick out my tongue. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413/37 "2014-04-21T08:55:53Z")
Is that a euphemism? ---
**Author:** ![PeacePlease](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71c47a/32.png) [@PeacePlease](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeacePlease)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413/38 "2014-04-21T09:51:13Z")
Yes, I am. But I can only do it with my right eye. And in retrospect I think I do it alot! ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413/39 "2014-04-21T17:04:56Z")
No. I’m not a winker. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413/40 "2014-04-21T19:46:24Z")
I can’t wink, but it’s actually a big turn-on when I see an attractive man do it. It’s kind of flirty and feels like you share a secret. I know, I’m a weirdo. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-winker/686413.md?page=3)