Things other people notice about you...

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

Is there anything you do that you’ve never noticed until someone else pointed it out? One of my friends, Cat, told me one day, “Even when I see you at a distance, I know who it is. I don’t even have to see your face, I know it’s you because of your walk.”

According to Cat, I have a very distinctive walk. Not something I ever thought consciously about before. Since then a couple of people have said the same thing, that I strut or otherwise walk in a self-assured manner. It occurs to me that there’s probably a lot of things we do everyday that it just wouldn’t occur to ourselves to notice, but which other people do pick up on.

#2

I apparantly gesture a lot.

Once, a female friend of mine tried a little experiment. At a table, I sat in front of her as she asked me very personal questions. I had to keep my hands flat on the table while answering.

While able to talk without moving my hands, once I got into the answer, so to speak, my hands would move anyways. When she put her hands on mine and I noticed each time my hands tried to move, I couldn’t get deep into any of my answers.

After the experiment, she met Balbo. Fun was had by all.

I also am told I have an intense gaze. I rarely take my eyes off of who I’m talking to. (Screw grammar!) The fact that my eyes are saphire blue may add to this perception.

#3

People know me by my hair. I’ve had friends spot me in the mall because they recognize it. It’s not extra long or hot pink or anything, but they remember it.

A friend told me that my smile was “mischievous” and now I think about that any time I smile in a mirror.

#4

When I was younger, people would always comment about my red hair. :confused: I’ve always had regular brown hair. Then I realised that these people were seeing me while I was outside. So I took a mirror outside, and sure enough my hair was almost orange in the sun.

#5

My eyelashes. They’re very long, thick, dark, and have a steep curl…or so I’ve been told.

I get no, zero, nada, zilch sympathy for the fact that they hit the inside of most sunglasses when I blink. It is actually extremely annoying and bothersome, yet the typical response I get is ‘snortCry me a river. Poor baby. :rolleyes:’.

#6

I never noticed that I had fairly broad shoulders or exceptionally large quads. That is, not until some people pointed this out to me.

I always thought they were just normal in size. <<shrug>>

#7

I get that too. Also, people tell me “you wouldn’t be able to talk if we tied your hands down”.

#8

Actually, I can relate. Not me, but my daughter, she had not only long, LONG lashes, but a triple layer of them. She used to get so much sleep in them when she was a little girl, I’d have to soak them with a hot washcloth in the morning, and put vaseline on them at night.

She had a lady at a makeup counter tell her “honey, you’re too young to use mascara on your lower lashes”. She had no makeup on at all.

#9

I used to think of myself as being reasonably approachable, with an open and friendly smile. After two years of working at the front desk of a hotel, and several years temping, I no longer do.

The first personal question I would typically get asked by guests at the hotel, and then by clients at whichever office I was sent to as a temp, was how long I had spent in the military. Not whether, but how long.

I have never participated in any military, quasi-military, or policing body, and likely never will. So where is this coming from?

Aside from that, I do get the “talking with hands” bit from those who know me well; and my brother tells me that you can always tell if I like the person I am talking to because I will either smile a whole lot, or not at all.

#10

Even though I usually feel very friendly and optimistic, people often ask my friends if I am angry with them after they have met me. I guess I seem aloof and angry without meaning to be!

I also have a distinct walk…my father used to make fun of me for it, and I thought he was just playing around, but then a few years later my boyfriend said, “You walk like a super model with your hips swinging!” Egads.

#11

When I was in graduate school, I was walking down the street one day when someone I knew in highschool (800 miles away) recognized me by my walk.

#12

I get the same thing all the time. People always assume that I’m angry, aloof, distant, or cold. I don’t get it, because I always feel like I’m being way too touchy-feely and sappy around people.

#13

It seems I too have a distinctive walk, best described as measured. I’ve been told it looks as though the soles of my feet take a good look at the ground they’re going to step on before making the step. My friends from college desccribed it my walk as robotic (no doubt from having seen so many robots walking around our campus :rolleyes: )…

#14

Damn, they got good eyes!

#15

I’m pretty self conscience, so there isn’t anything any bodys knows about myself that I don’t know.

#16

My laugh. I never realized how loud and downright boisterous my laugh is until I moved away from home and had tons of people comment on it.

I also get comments on my voice, mainly from people who talk to me on the phone. I have one of those just slightly Southern accents and I speak with lots of inflection. Especially living here in Michigan where too many people speak through their noses, I really notice other people’s voices, too.

[hijack]Welfy, it is nice to see you. You won’t remember, but you welcomed me aboard when I joined. It meant a lot to me.[/hijack]

#17

I have a big head. Not talking pumpkin size head, but definitely larger than average.

#18

I’ve also been told that I have a distinctive walk, not the look of it but the sound of it. All of my friends can identify me by my footfalls.

Also, when I was in college, a friend told me that he identified me across the quad by the way I flipped my hair. I thought that trait was a bit too Valley girl for me, so I’ve worked hard to eliminate it. No one else has commented on it since then. :smiley:

#19

I apparently have a distinctive voice. It’s low-pitched, but feminine, and I have a decidednly nonCalifornian accent. This makes sense, as I was born in West Virginia, learned to speak with a drawl, then moved to Indiana where the drawl was watered down with typical Midwest speech. This melting pot manner of speaking confuses non-native English speakers particularly, and international tourists are perplexed as well.

Just last week, a Chinese real estate agent asked–actually assumed–I was from England. (Which is odd to me, as my accent bears NO resemblance to English!) Throughout my adult life, I’ve been asked if I’m from England, Scotland (a Scottish tourist actually asked me that!), Australia, and Eastern Europe.

Nope…just the midwest. Bor-ing!

#20

I have the exact same laugh as Brynda. Hi, Brynda!

People remark on my blue eyes a lot. Apparently, there is a lot of color variation in the irises that people find interesting.

I catch people (men) staring at my chest, but they usually don’t make any comments to me. Well, not where I can hear them, anyway.