Everyone has been discussing ‘catching’ colds and sneezing, but it never fails when one of my sons yawns in front of me, I’ll yawn too.
Judy
“Um, according to who? Nothing more than a high brow troll, though occasionally the bi polar personality swung in a constructive direction on innocuous topics.” Omniscient
Try this article by Cecil.
Although he claims adults rarely catch “the yawns” from children, you might find it informational.
Damn! I yawned just reading this. I have heard you can make cats yawn—but I sat there yawning and yawning in front of my cats, and they just stared blankly at me like the fool I was.
I read a book a long time ago that tried to explain this. The pumping of oxygen to the brain principle mentioned by Cecil was mentioned.
The book described observations of tribes of baboons in Africa - when the alpha male baboon yawned the other male baboons in his vicinity also would yawn. The theory was that the boss baboon was yawning and thereby pumping up his alertness, so the lesser males, fearful of, competitive with, and respectful of the top guy, also yawned to perk themselves up to match his higher level of alertness.
Stop it! Yawning is contagious!
::Yaaawwwn:
Carpe Jugulum
I started yawning just reading my orignial question! Thanks for the link, UncleBeer,
<<<<<Adults rarely catch a case of the yawns from a child or animal, which tends to corroborate this idea. >>>>>>>
Except that I DO yawn right after the boys start yawning, which of coursecould mean, they are either MY peers, or I could be a penguin…actually ‘Anti Peng’ doesn’t sound too bad!!
Judy
“Um, according to who? Nothing more than a high brow troll, though occasionally the bi polar personality swung in a constructive direction on innocuous topics.” Omniscient