# Can You Pull Off a Wink? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 18, 2020, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094 "2020-02-18T00:03:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094/21 "2020-02-18T04:38:04Z")
I can wink but it comes off as disingenuous. Too much wink and too little smile. So, no. Maybe if I do finger guns at the same time? Or a vocal “snick”. Am I over-thinking this? ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094/22 "2020-02-18T04:56:58Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Are you left or right handed? If you’re both right-handed (I’m left-handed) I wonder why it’d be easier with the non-dominant eye. One’s dominant eye is independent of right or left handed, a fact I learned when I took archery in high school and it was more important to match the dominant eye than the hand. I can wink, but only rarely try to use it to convey information. I had a Japanese boss who once winked at me in a meeting to get me to shut up. However, he could only blink with both eyes. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094/23 "2020-02-18T05:16:52Z")
Yes, and I get my cheek involved to give it more panache. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094/24 "2020-02-18T05:19:30Z")
Yes. Both eyes independently. Both eyebrows can Spock. I can also wiggle my ears and nostrils. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094/25 "2020-02-18T05:36:28Z")
Wink both sides. I think I could wink with my right eye first. Spock eyebrow, only on the right side. Mostly right-handed, with ambidextrous tendencies. Left eye dominant. Makes shooting with a rifle (anything which is supposed to rest against the shoulder) extremely annoying. Started whistling with Elvis Presley’s “All Shook Up” while sitting in the center seat of a rented VW Rabbit while in California\*, approximately 8 years old. I was very excited. Or maybe it was Florida. There was Disney involved. ---
**Author:** ![sjankis630](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@sjankis630](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjankis630)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094/26 "2020-02-18T06:08:23Z")
No. I could never wink - except constantly that time back as a freshman in college - but no. I am also an older - 54 - year old man so I am not allowed to wink. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094/27 "2020-02-18T06:35:21Z")
I can. So good, they go unacknowledged. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094/28 "2020-02-18T13:58:29Z")
Once at work I was talking with a couple. As I spoke, my gaze alternated between Mr and Ms. Then, out of nowhere, Ms winked at me. I stumbled in my speaking for a second, then concentrated on looking at Mr. Eventually I looked back at Ms and she immediately winked. She was kind of cute, and I was kind of (?)flattered, but it was awkward as hell. Over the next five minutes there were several more winks. I later found out the winks were unintentional. She’d gone through a windshield, had some facial scars she hid with her hair, and periodically winked. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094/29 "2020-02-18T14:39:58Z")
I don’t look like I make jokes. It doesn’t help that in person I have a very dry sense of humor. If you don’t know me and have to spend any amount of time with me at all, you might think I’m insane because you won’t be thinking joke when I make one. There is a look that translates roughly into, “You don’t seem dangerous, but I think you might be a bit addled.” That look is met with a fast wink and the thinnest smile, and the conspiracy is sealed. And that’s how I make friends. I haven’t had anyone run off screaming or react negatively. But then, I don’t do it often, and only to people who don’t bore me. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094/30 "2020-02-18T15:02:19Z")
😉 Yep. ---
**Author:** ![Kovitlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kovitlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kovitlac)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094/31 "2020-02-18T15:16:43Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > I’ve always found winking very easy, even as a child. To make up for it though, I cannot roll my tongue or whistle. It seems like a fair trade. Same! I can wink perfectly fine, but am incapable of whistling. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094/32 "2020-02-18T15:26:18Z")
When I saw the thread title I did one and it was a good one. But if I think about it and “try” then it sucks. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094/33 "2020-02-18T15:35:36Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Are you left or right handed? If you’re both right-handed (I’m left-handed) I wonder why it’d be easier with the non-dominant eye. Right handed and right eye dominant. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094/34 "2020-02-18T15:43:42Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Yes, and I get my cheek involved to give it more panache. Hey, leave me out of your cheeks! ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094/35 "2020-02-18T15:59:29Z")
There’s an interesting secondary question here, because it’s a form of communication - that’s why “wink” and “sly” are often paired. But that’s in the culture I’m familiar with. What about, say, East Asians - is it used in the same way? Or closer by - Germans, Scandinavians? (Just thinking who’s on the board). Example: I’m talking to friends A and B; and B is somewhat credulous. I say, whilst looking at B, “I just cycled past the reservoir, and the water level looked quite low, but only at the East end” - and then I turn to A, just as you would in conversation, but I give A that fast sly wink that says: _Don’t you say I word, I want to see if he bites._ Would that be interpreted in the same way elsewhere? BTW, both eyes, but I do the fast sly better with my left (and I’m right handed). I can whistle, but I never really have understood what is meant by rolling your tongue: north-south or east-west? (I can do both, I think). Nothing with eyebrows and definitely no ear waggling. As if I would! j ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094/36 "2020-02-18T16:05:35Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Without a problem. Either eye, one at a time, alternating, can even do them both at once. > > However, I can only raise (independently) my left eyebrow. Same here, but I can arch either eyebrow independently or both together. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094/37 "2020-02-18T18:52:38Z")
I can wink with either eye, but the left one is faster. I can do it without really thinking about it and maintain my facial expression. Right side, I have to grimace a little or REALLY think about closing that eyelid. In high school, I learned to whistle with my fingers. Holy hell, I’m louder than God’s own alarm clock. Comes in handy sometimes. Sometimes I can whistle a tune, but other days, not. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094/38 "2020-02-18T20:25:34Z")
Very well (I like to think). It’s the kind of thing that really only works with strangers though.Once you know someone, you really have to do the exaggerated, open mouth, slow deliberate wink with your head turned so the winking eye is facing them. I can pull off a Rock-like brow raise with the right but can’t work the left one independently, wiggle both ears and wiggle my nose. Goldarn if I can whistle though ☹ Oh, I can also do the upper lip sneer but only on the left side. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094/39 "2020-02-18T20:47:25Z")
I can wink with either eye and raise both eyebrows separately, but I can raise the left eyebrow a bit higher than the right. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094/40 "2020-02-19T02:43:14Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Without a problem. Either eye, one at a time, alternating, can even do them both at once. > > However, I can only raise (independently) my left eyebrow. Hey, me too with the winks and left eyebrow. Separated at birth? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pull-off-a-wink/848094.md?page=3)