# Simultaneous eye blinking

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simultaneous-eye-blinking/447105>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 27, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simultaneous-eye-blinking/447105 "2008-04-27T17:03:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simultaneous-eye-blinking/447105/1 "2008-04-27T17:03:59Z")

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I was watching a TV commerical for the NBA playoffs (see? this is posted in the right forum) that featured two basketball players talking about the importance of the playoffs. The commerical had a split screen and the two men were saying the same words simultaneously. But what I noticed was that they blinked their eyes at the exact same points in their speechs.

I found that unusual. Would two people reading the same lines at the same pace normally blink their eyes at the same points or did the director coach these two men to blink at certain points to increase the simultaneous effect of the commercial?

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**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simultaneous-eye-blinking/447105/2 "2008-04-27T18:53:19Z")

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Perhaps they’re androids whose blinks are determined by the same pseudo-random number generator.

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**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simultaneous-eye-blinking/447105/3 "2008-04-27T18:56:57Z")

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I’m pretty sure they’d be coached in it. It was probably in the text they were taught. “NBA playoffs (blink) are about (blink) playing… (blink) off.” That kind of thing.

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**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simultaneous-eye-blinking/447105/4 "2008-04-27T18:59:57Z")

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Maybe it’s some kind of desperate attempt to send a coded message to their loved ones, like when POWs in Vietnam were forced to record propaganda videotapes.

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simultaneous-eye-blinking/447105/5 "2008-04-27T19:54:16Z")

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I’m not a basketball fan but I’m assuming from the context that these two guys are well-known basketball players. So as athletes rather than professional actors, I’d be impressed if the director was not only able to get them to read their lines at the same pace but to even time their blinking in a realistic-looking fashion.

I saw this commercial on [Hulu.com](http://Hulu.com) (watching _My Name Is Earl_ if you want to check it out). Can anyone provide a link via YouTube or smoething so others can see what I’m talking about.