# I Notice the Way People Walk - Weird? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 4, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303 "2009-03-04T18:58:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hobscrk777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a6a055/32.png) [@hobscrk777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hobscrk777)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303/1 "2009-03-04T18:58:06Z")
I sometimes find myself paying close attention to the way people walk. Some people have a gliding walk, moving without hardly disturbing their upper body. Some people have a really energetic stride. Some people walk in what I would call a “normal” way, but they have peculiar movements at the knee that catch my attention. Just yesterday I was walking to class and saw someone from afar. Like everyone else outside, he was bundled up in a heavy jacket and hat. However, I recognized this guy’s walk and called his name. This was someone I haven’t seen or spoken to in months. We were both heading in the same direction, but I was about 15 feet behind him, so there’s no way I could have recognized his facial features or anything like that. I recognized him solely because of his stride. Does this seem really weird to anyone? ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303/2 "2009-03-04T21:58:11Z")
I don’t think that’s weird. I do it too. I can usually tell who’s coming without looking by the way their walk sounds. Shufflers and heel-draggers really bug me. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303/3 "2009-03-04T22:21:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Does this seem really weird to anyone? No. Maybe a little Silly. You could start your own Ministry. ---
**Author:** ![bink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/439d5e/32.png) [@bink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bink)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303/4 "2009-03-04T23:19:34Z")
I do that too. I think it’s because I am really nearsighted but didn’t wear glasses for years. I recognized people by their walk and general posture rather than their faces. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303/5 "2009-03-05T00:08:36Z")
When I was a kid, I could always tell who had entered the house by the sound of their footsteps. I guess I don’t notice walks as much, but after reading this I’m going to start paying note more often. ---
**Author:** ![Algorithm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/algorithm/32/12204_2.png) [@Algorithm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algorithm)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303/6 "2009-03-05T00:18:41Z")
It’s one of the best ways to uniquely identify someone. You can cut your hair, change your clothes, put on make up…but it’s quite difficult to consistently change the way you walk. I worked in a building (well, trailer) where I could hear footsteps coming down the hallway before people reached my office. When the guy I replaced came back to visit several months after he quit, I knew it was him the second I heard his feet on the floor. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303/7 "2009-03-05T00:28:35Z")
I don’t consciously notice walks, and I don’t think I could describe another person’s walk unless it were really odd. However, when I’m home for the holidays I can recognize members of my family just by the sound of their different walks. In college I had a friend “Anne” who had told me her younger sister “Betty” would be entering the same school as a freshman the following year. That fall I was walking down a long hallway on campus and saw a girl way up ahead of me and recognized her walk as being the same as Anne’s. I couldn’t say how, and I didn’t think of Anne as having a particularly distinct way of walking, but my immediate thought when I saw this girl was “She walks just like Anne, but it’s obviously not Anne, so it must be Betty!” I’d never even met Betty before then, but I was right! ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303/8 "2009-03-05T00:53:10Z")
It’s what animators do. When I took anim classes, we had to make walk cycles for different types of personalities. For example: angry, stomping walk drunken walk seductive walk confident walk tentative walk, like you’re lost and looking for familiar signs sneaky walk, which I used for my serial killer model The instructors recommended watching other people walk, or doing the walks ourselves and paying attention to the tweens (motions between key frames). ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303/9 "2009-03-05T08:38:36Z")
No, I can tell people by their walks. I have a distinctive walk, and people can usually tell it’s me before they can see my face. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303/10 "2009-03-05T10:12:15Z")
I recognise someone’s posture before their walk, but they are related. I saw someone today whose feet were splayed at more than a 90 degree angle, not just when standing, but when he walked, which I thought was quite a rare situation. Unfortunately, I couldn’t help thinking it made him look less intelligent, even though it’s almost certainly unrelated. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303/11 "2009-03-05T16:29:25Z")
> [@bink](#): > > I do that too. I think it’s because I am really nearsighted but didn’t wear glasses for years. I recognized people by their walk and general posture rather than their faces. Me exactly! On a number of occasions I have been able to recognize people standing with the sun at their back or in dim light when others had no idea who the individual was. I used to try and explain how I knew, but now I just say, “It’s a sixth sense I have.” It is usually more impressive than, “I have really lousy eyesight, and I have had to resort to recognizing people’s movements and body language.” ---
**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:** [March 5, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303/12 "2009-03-05T17:13:40Z")
Not to me. That may be due to the fact that I work in a clean room environment where everybody is covered from head to toe in a smock. In order to recognize people you have to pick up on other cues such a walking. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303/13 "2009-03-05T18:45:25Z")
> [@Mudshark](#): > > No, I can tell people by their walks. I have a distinctive walk, and people can usually tell it’s me before they can see my face. Yep. I have a shoulders forward, head down kind of a walk, as if I’m wearing a heavy backpack all the time. People can spot me in the fog or at night or with a hat shading my face all the time. > [@bink](#): > > I do that too. I think it’s because I am really nearsighted but didn’t wear glasses for years. I recognized people by their walk and general posture rather than their faces. Likewise. Learning individuals’ body language is a good way to compensate for bad eyesight. ---
**Author:** ![Myrrajh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/87869e/32.png) [@Myrrajh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrrajh)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303/14 "2009-03-05T18:47:36Z")
I notice, but only because I took a kinesiology course during my massage therapy training that had us observe and analyze different gaits, like how you can tell if the quadriceps in one leg is a little tighter than the other, that kind of thing. Plus I just kind of enjoy people-watching. I haven’t noticed that I identify people by their walk, but I’m pretty sure I do it subconsciously with my family. ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303/15 "2009-03-05T19:01:58Z")
I walk 15 minutes each way to and from work on crowded narrow city sidewalks when some of us are rushing to catch a train and others are moseying along. So yeah, I’ve made some mental observations. One thing I notice is people who have a big arm swing, often observed when the other arm is anchored by a heavy handbag or briefcase. The swinging arm extends beyond normal personal space which, given the crowds and the limited room, makes it difficult to pass these people without taking the chance of getting hit. And by “getting hit” I mean even being grazed by their hand, which would be awkward given the region of my body that is at swinging-hand level. ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303/16 "2009-03-05T19:33:56Z")
I love watching people walk. The best place to be is several stories above them. Almost everyone’s walk looks awkward and bizarre, seen from above. Another fun thing to do is to hum a bouncy little tune like the Alfred Hitchcock theme in time to a person’s walk. No, I don’t think you’re weird at all. ---
**Author:** ![hobscrk777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a6a055/32.png) [@hobscrk777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hobscrk777)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303/17 "2009-03-05T20:36:47Z")
The connection to poor eyesight is an insightful one, and I hadn’t considered it before. I, too, am somewhat nearsighted, but I didn’t get glasses until I was in high school. For my first 14 years or so I was wandering around in a blurry world; perhaps I unconsciously picked up my “walk-observation habit” in this time period. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303/18 "2009-03-05T21:19:46Z")
[Do they have a Silly Walk?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wippooDL6WE) You should apply at the [Ministry of Silly Walks.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Silly_Walks) ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2009, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303/19 "2009-03-06T04:57:23Z")
> [@hobscrk777](#): > > Just yesterday I was walking to class and saw someone from afar. Like everyone else outside, he was bundled up in a heavy jacket and hat. However, I recognized this guy’s walk and called his name. This was someone I haven’t seen or spoken to in months. We were both heading in the same direction, but I was about 15 feet behind him, so there’s no way I could have recognized his facial features or anything like that. I recognized him solely because of his stride. > > Does this seem really weird to anyone? Not at all. I have great difficulty recognising people if I don’t see them near-daily or over long periods to get their features fixed in my brain. But I’m remarkably good at recognising someone at a distance from their gait or stance. I think I may possibly be a little bit brain-damaged in whatever area of the brain holds facial information. Seriously, it takes me ages to recognise people and to put names to faces. There are three people who shared an open-plan office (with half-height cubicles) with me for 4 years and I still don’t know their names. ---
**Author:** ![Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crocodiles_And_Boulevards)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2009, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303/20 "2009-03-06T06:42:14Z")
I walk on the front part of my feet. The back of my foot barely touches the ground. I don’t know why, it’s just what I’ve always done. Does it look funny when people walk like that? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-notice-the-way-people-walk-weird/488303.md?page=2)