# Non-verbal communication in Movies and TV shows and do people really do that? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2015, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-verbal-communication-in-movies-and-tv-shows-and-do-people-really-do-that/710322 "2015-01-19T22:45:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-verbal-communication-in-movies-and-tv-shows-and-do-people-really-do-that/710322/21 "2015-01-22T16:15:45Z")
> [@Saturn\_Dreams](#): > > Um, yeah? There’s a big scam based on this where the caller says “It’s me” and the receiver mistakenly thinks it’s someone they know and they get a big sob story that requires sending the caller a huge wad of cash to get them out of a jam. I also remember reading an article about a thief who used this technique to get into apartment buildings. Just kept pushing buttons saying “it’s me” and someone would eventually buzz him in. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-verbal-communication-in-movies-and-tv-shows-and-do-people-really-do-that/710322/22 "2015-01-22T16:51:37Z")
> [@janeslogin](#): > > In movies and TV shows, after emotional, frightening, frustrating or stressful scenes a character often washes , or at least splashes, water on their face. > > In real life do real people really do that? Yes. Right before they _punch the mirror_! ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-verbal-communication-in-movies-and-tv-shows-and-do-people-really-do-that/710322/23 "2015-01-22T16:57:01Z")
I want to know if anyone really gets slapped in the face and says “thanks, I needed that”. ---
**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:** [January 22, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-verbal-communication-in-movies-and-tv-shows-and-do-people-really-do-that/710322/24 "2015-01-22T17:34:26Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > How about people who react to bad news by immediately vomiting? Gotta say that’s never happened to me, nor to anyone of my acquaintance. This is the first thing that came to my mind. **SeaDragonTattoo’s** experience notwithstanding, I’ve never encountered it IRL. That’s why I’ve never been able to figure out why that’s become such a popular way to convey a character’s emotional distress and I think it’s really just a way to provide some shock / gross out value. I’ve been noticing for a long time that the de facto way for a character to begin a dramatic statement is with an emphatic “_Look_”. My mother and I used to make fun of this all the time. She: “_Look_”; I just really need to know what you want to do about dinner". Me: “_Look_”; I need more time to think about it. ---
**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:** [January 22, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-verbal-communication-in-movies-and-tv-shows-and-do-people-really-do-that/710322/25 "2015-01-22T17:38:10Z")
Annnnnnd I just realized that the OP asked about non-verbal communication :smack: Sorry. So, how \*about \*:smack: You see it referenced in writing but I’ve never done it or seen anyone do it. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-verbal-communication-in-movies-and-tv-shows-and-do-people-really-do-that/710322/26 "2015-01-22T17:47:10Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > I used to have my kids hold a cool wash cloth to their faces when they were crying so hard and couldn’t stop, the way little kids sometimes do. I’ve had my kids do this as well but don’t remember ever doing it myself in my adult years. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-verbal-communication-in-movies-and-tv-shows-and-do-people-really-do-that/710322/27 "2015-01-22T20:32:47Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I want to know if anyone really gets slapped in the face and says “thanks, I needed that”. No, they just get drinks thrown in their faces in bars and stand there calmly and quietly while the drink thrower walks off. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-verbal-communication-in-movies-and-tv-shows-and-do-people-really-do-that/710322/28 "2015-01-22T20:52:40Z")
I once yelled “MEDIC!” after a guy burned himself pretty badly on an army exercise. Afterward I was all “did I really just do that? Geez…” It was a good call though, the situation was pretty fucked up and the guy got packed off to hospital. I saw him once more a few months later and he seemed to have recovered. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-verbal-communication-in-movies-and-tv-shows-and-do-people-really-do-that/710322/29 "2015-01-22T22:00:44Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I want to know if anyone really gets slapped in the face and says “thanks, I needed that”. Heh. Yes, at least once. I said something horrible to my mother, something just plain unforgivable. She slapped me right across my face, as I damn well deserved (a kick in the nuts would not have been unwarranted.) I sputtered, turned red, turned white, hyperventilated…and then uttered the line. Even in those circumstances, it was too funny not to say! At other times, much less extreme, I’ve uttered Jack Sparrow’s line, “I may have deserved that.” ---
**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:** [January 23, 2015, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-verbal-communication-in-movies-and-tv-shows-and-do-people-really-do-that/710322/30 "2015-01-23T09:45:01Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Heh. Yes, at least once. I said something horrible to my mother, something just plain unforgivable. She slapped me right across my face, as I damn well deserved (a kick in the nuts would not have been unwarranted.) I sputtered, turned red, turned white, hyperventilated…and then uttered the line. Even in those circumstances, it was too funny not to say! > > At other times, much less extreme, I’ve uttered Jack Sparrow’s line, “I may have deserved that.” Sounds like what Snopes would call “ostentation,” meaning you did it because you’d heard about it (on TV) not naturally. I also have only splashed water on my face in a (usually vain) attempt to help get more woken up. I have taken a shower when I was too worked up, though. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-verbal-communication-in-movies-and-tv-shows-and-do-people-really-do-that/710322/31 "2015-01-23T21:05:23Z")
> [@janeslogin](#): > > Another one I see a lot on screen; Someone makes a phone call, The receiver answers hello, or whatever, the caller says ‘‘Its me.’’ > > When you phone someone and they answer do you first say ‘‘Its me.’’? Nope. Caller ID. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-verbal-communication-in-movies-and-tv-shows-and-do-people-really-do-that/710322/32 "2015-01-23T21:14:44Z")
A very nice example of non-verbal communication on TV, from the rom-dram _Castle_: Castle, the writer, and Beckett, the detective, are interviewing a witness who has a screenplay she wants to get reviewed. Beckett, without a word, tells Castle to offer to do so. In fact, she insists. Firmly. Very funny. [Castle 3x18 - Castle and Beckett communicating with their eyes!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh96P-VqcF0) ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-verbal-communication-in-movies-and-tv-shows-and-do-people-really-do-that/710322/33 "2015-01-23T21:26:44Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Sounds like what Snopes would call “ostentation,” meaning you did it because you’d heard about it (on TV) not naturally. . . . True enough. Once, on a date, my girlfriend and I ran trippingly through a shopping mall, splashing through the fountains, holding hands, smiling broadly, as in any number of dumb advertisements. It was dumb…but kinda fun. There is a specific idea of humor regarding “recognition.” It’s the basis of Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters’ “tag line” quotes. Yabba-Dabba-Doo. It isn’t funny in itself, but we smile, because it’s familiar to us. So, for instance, if someone in real life exclaims, “Yabba-Dabba-Doo” it has an effect that exclaiming, “Micky-Mucky-Mop” wouldn’t. It’s funny…only because we’ve been exposed to it for all these years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-verbal-communication-in-movies-and-tv-shows-and-do-people-really-do-that/710322.md?page=1)