# Do people from other cultures roll their eyes when annoyed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 18, 2015, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337 "2015-03-18T23:30:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337/1 "2015-03-18T23:30:04Z")
Or is that just an American phenomenon? Also, when and why did eye rolling become a way to express irritation? ---
**Author:** ![get\_lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@get\_lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/get_lives)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337/2 "2015-03-18T23:54:44Z")
Most facial expressions are cross-cultural, if not all. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337/3 "2015-03-19T00:02:43Z")
Probably not what you are looking for, but among the Woodabe in Niger, eye rolling is used in male beauty pageants (from which young women pick out temporary husbands) to demonstrate health and virility. Repeated exposure to malaria (and no doubt other diseases) can cause they eyes to yellow, so clear white eyes signal health. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337/4 "2015-03-19T03:38:03Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Probably not what you are looking for, but among the Woodabe in Niger, eye rolling is used in male beauty pageants (from which young women pick out temporary husbands) to demonstrate health and virility. Repeated exposure to malaria (and no doubt other diseases) can cause they eyes to yellow, so clear white eyes signal health. Well that right there shows that eye rolling as a show of annoyance is not universal --so facial expressions are not 100% cross cultural. I’d love to hear some other non American examples. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337/5 "2015-03-19T03:42:59Z")
In Taiwan - possibly China and maybe other Asian countries as well - it is indeed an expression of exasperation or sarcasm, like in America. It’s referred to in Taiwan as _fan bai yen_, “flipping white eyes” (or “flipping eye whites,” perhaps a better way to interpret it.) ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337/6 "2015-03-19T03:53:00Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > In Taiwan - possibly China and maybe other Asian countries as well - it is indeed an expression of exasperation or sarcasm, like in America. It’s referred to in Taiwan as _fan bai yen_, “flipping white eyes” (or “flipping eye whites,” perhaps a better way to interpret it.) Interesting! Do you know when this practice started in Taiwan? My elderly mother (American) does not recall anyone rolling their eyes when she was young. She thinks it became a thing when we (her children) were kids. She says that in her day & when her mother (my grandmother) was a child, people stuck out their tongue to show annoyance. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337/7 "2015-03-19T03:59:08Z")
> [@Enola\_Gay](#): > > Interesting! Do you know when this practice started in Taiwan? My elderly mother (American) does not recall anyone rolling their eyes when she was young. She thinks it became a thing when we (her children) were kids. She says that in her day & when her mother (my grandmother) was a child, people stuck out their tongue to show annoyance. I don’t know, unfortunately, and I can’t recall at the moment actually seeing someone do it, but I know a Taiwanese family member of mine did it, and the eye-rolling expression was well known enough that it had its own moniker (the “flipping white eyes” term.) ---
**Author:** ![Saturn\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Saturn\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saturn_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337/8 "2015-03-19T04:44:26Z")
Not done in Japan. Can’t think of an equivalent. ---
**Author:** ![jezzaOZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@jezzaOZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jezzaOZ)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337/9 "2015-03-19T04:53:12Z")
> [@get\_lives](#): > > Most facial expressions are cross-cultural, if not all. Head nodding and shaking certainly aren’t. In some Western culture a shake is no and a nod is yes. In other Western cultures such as Greek, a Nod is definitely no. (Actually more of a head-toss). This is very distinct in Italy where the former Greek colony in the South has the nod no and the North has the nod yes. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337/10 "2015-03-19T05:00:12Z")
The closest version in Spain would be looking askew at someone; when the someone is God in Heaven, in a “grant me patience before I kill this moron” expression, you may get something similar to a rolleye (the expression [this baby](http://imagenesdedios.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Im%C3%A1genes-de-Dios-Dame-Paciencia-14.jpg) has, minus the hands, is the next step; add the hands and you have the ultimate expression of silent annoyance). You don’t roll your eyes at people. ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337/11 "2015-03-19T12:25:16Z")
according to [this slate article](http://www.slate.com/articles/life/explainer/2013/01/eye_rolling_why_do_people_roll_their_eyes_when_they_re_annoyed.html) : > [@](#): > > Just in the last few decades. In previous centuries, it often meant the opposite—a look of passion and lust. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, people have been “rolling their eyes” since at least the 15th century. In Shakespeare’s narrative poem The Rape of Lucrece, he describes the rapist Sextus Tarquinius as looking hungrily upon Lucrece’s bed and “rolling his greedy eyeballs in his head.” ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337/12 "2015-03-19T13:01:45Z")
Aaaaargh goddamnit **YamatoTwinkie** , _I_ wanted to link to that article. ---
**Author:** ![Doughbag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Doughbag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doughbag)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337/13 "2015-03-19T14:11:29Z")
Yes!! Using my German emoticon :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![iljitsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/77aa72/32.png) [@iljitsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iljitsch)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337/14 "2015-03-19T16:24:31Z")
How much actual rolling is involved in American eye rolling? I don’t think it happens here in Holland, although looking up at the sky/ceiling can express a similar sentiment. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337/15 "2015-03-19T16:56:09Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > In Taiwan - possibly China and maybe other Asian countries as well - it is indeed an expression of exasperation or sarcasm, like in America. It’s referred to in Taiwan as _fan bai yen_, “flipping white eyes” (or “flipping eye whites,” perhaps a better way to interpret it.) I live on the mainland and I don’t think it’s well-known here, though I will see if anyone recognizes fan bai yan. The most popular messaging app – WeChat – has a pretty big set of smileys built in, but no rolleyes\*. When I’ve queried this with friends, they’ve said they had never heard of such an expression, but maybe the way I acted it out was weird? - Meanwhile a lot of the smileys don’t map to things we do in the West. For example, the stick out tongue emoticon is simultaneously winking. There’s a few different kinds of nervous, a picking nose smiley (not that we don’t do that in the west, but what does it mean as a smiley?) etc ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337/16 "2015-03-19T16:59:27Z")
> [@iljitsch](#): > > How much actual rolling is involved in American eye rolling? > > I don’t think it happens here in Holland, although looking up at the sky/ceiling can express a similar sentiment. Some American teenagers can roll their eyes so severely that you can barely see the iris. It’s incredibly annoying & I hope this practice does not invade your non-eye-rolling country. Here is a [mild example](http://cdn.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Eye-rolling1.png). ---
**Author:** ![iljitsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/77aa72/32.png) [@iljitsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iljitsch)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337/17 "2015-03-19T17:25:30Z")
Hm, wait: I always assumed eye rolling meant a circular motion. But this is simply looking up. But it occurs to me the rolling part could simply be rolling **up** rather than in a circle. ---
**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:** [March 19, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337/18 "2015-03-19T18:36:02Z")
> [@iljitsch](#): > > How much actual rolling is involved in American eye rolling? > > I don’t think it happens here in Holland, although looking up at the sky/ceiling can express a similar sentiment. > [@iljitsch](#): > > Hm, wait: I always assumed eye rolling meant a circular motion. But this is simply looking up. But it occurs to me the rolling part could simply be rolling **up** rather than in a circle. In my experience it is generally an arc, usually from the roller’s right, then up and left. My daughter does so exactly like her father, and from such a very young age, that I am really tempted to think its genetic. LOL! [Here’s a really over the top example.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plteXDmbA2I) ---
**Author:** ![get\_lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@get\_lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/get_lives)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337/19 "2015-03-19T20:32:28Z")
> [@jezzaOZ](#): > > Head nodding and shaking certainly aren’t. In some Western culture a shake is no and a nod is yes. > > In other Western cultures such as Greek, a Nod is definitely no. (Actually more of a head-toss). This is very distinct in Italy where the former Greek colony in the South has the nod no and the North has the nod yes. Nodding for yes is actually the norm in the vast majority of cultures all over the world. That’s a gesture, though, not an expression. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337/20 "2015-03-19T20:54:18Z")
> [@get\_lives](#): > > Most facial expressions are cross-cultural, if not all. This [article](http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2011/09/facial-expressions.aspx) from the American Psychological Association says differently: > [@](#): > > An illustration from the study reveals the difference between how Western Caucasians (WC) and East Asians (EA) perceive the six basic facial expressions of emotion. (see article for illustration) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-from-other-cultures-roll-their-eyes-when-annoyed/715337.md?page=2)