# What Does This Gesture Mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 3, 2014, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-gesture-mean/682769 "2014-03-03T18:13:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-gesture-mean/682769/1 "2014-03-03T18:13:58Z")
On my Texas Hold 'Em app, there are little animated smilies (rage, applause, tears, etc.) that you can activate during the game. One of them, however, has me baffled: The character is smiling malevolently while gently pulling down the bottom eyelid of his right eye. Not sure I’ve ever seen that gesture anywhere in real life. Anyone familiar with it? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-gesture-mean/682769/2 "2014-03-03T18:16:24Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > On my Texas Hold 'Em app, there are little animated smilies (rage, applause, tears, etc.) that you can activate during the game. One of them, however, has me baffled: The character is smiling malevolently while gently pulling down the bottom eyelid of his right eye. > > Not sure I’ve ever seen that gesture anywhere in real life. Anyone familiar with it? Is he actually pulling it down or just pointing at it, as if to say “I’ve got my eye on you”? ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-gesture-mean/682769/3 "2014-03-03T18:21:57Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Is he actually pulling it down or just pointing at it, as if to say “I’ve got my eye on you”? Definitely pulling it down. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-gesture-mean/682769/4 "2014-03-03T18:24:48Z")
Is he pulling his eyelid down with his middle finger while at the same time saying “look into my eye”? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-gesture-mean/682769/5 "2014-03-03T18:31:39Z")
Huh, apparently it’s a thing. > **[Akanbe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akanbe)** > > Akanbe (あかんべえ) is a Japanese facial gesture indicating sarcasm but also used as a taunt. It consists of someone pulling down one's lower eyelid to expose the red underside towards someone, often accompanied by the person sticking their tongue out. > This article related to the culture of Japan is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. > ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-gesture-mean/682769/6 "2014-03-03T21:02:10Z")
Why all this Japanese cultural source, manga, etc? Honest, it was one of the most obvious and common actions when I was in JHS–in the late 60s-- too say, simultaneously, “psyche,” as in “\* psyche[ed] you out,” as in, I just whooshed you and I’m happy to see your discomfiture. (See, if we only knew the word “discomfiture” it would have been so much easier.) ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-gesture-mean/682769/7 "2014-03-03T21:03:42Z")
Isn’t is the ‘evil eye’? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-gesture-mean/682769/8 "2014-03-03T21:04:15Z")
> [@JKilez](#): > > Is he pulling his eyelid down with his middle finger while at the same time saying “look into my eye”? Where’s that from? Any place in particular, or is it common and I’m as out of touch as those people above who didn’t get it? I remember now seeing it in \*Terminator 2 \*–and it was the first time I ever saw that, and figured it out from the context. ---
**Author:** ![sweepkick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@sweepkick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweepkick)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-gesture-mean/682769/9 "2014-03-03T21:15:31Z")
Aliens, actually. [Look into my eye…](http://www.mrnuke.com/pics/apone1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-gesture-mean/682769/10 "2014-03-03T21:32:37Z")
So this guy goes to the zoo, and at the gorilla enclosure he notices this huge silverback copying his movements. So he waves his arms over his head. The gorilla waves his arms over his head. The guy does a “monkey tickle” of his armpits. The gorilla does, too. The guy jumps up and down. The gorilla copies him. The guy pulls one eyelid down… and the gorilla leaps out of the enclosure and pummels the guy into a steaming pile. In the hospital, the zoo officials question the guy. He describes each thing he did until he gets to the eyelid gesture. “You idiot!” the zookeeper says, “Don’t you know that means ‘fuck you’ in gorilla?” When the guy heals, he goes back to the zoo and throws a Louisville Slugger in the gorilla pen. He jumps up and down. The gorilla jumps up and down. He tickles his armpits. The gorilla does the same. The guy picks up a nerf bat and smashes himself in the face a dozen times. The gorilla picks up the bat, looks at the guy, and pulls down his eyelid. Best explanation I have, but then, I really hate THE. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-gesture-mean/682769/11 "2014-03-03T21:49:17Z")
This gesture is covered in Desmond Morris’s book _Gestures: Their Origin and Meaning_. Unfortunately I don’t have my copy with me or I’d look it up for you. As with most of the gestures in the book, it probably has a number of different meanings which vary both geographically and with the context in which it’s used. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-gesture-mean/682769/12 "2014-03-03T22:08:16Z")
> [@sweepkick](#): > > Aliens, actually. > > [Look into my eye…](http://www.mrnuke.com/pics/apone1.jpg) Yes, of course. Thnx. Question remains: novelty (effective one) for the script, or something people recognize (except for me)? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2014, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-gesture-mean/682769/13 "2014-03-04T06:21:59Z")
In South Africa, this gesture would be accompanied by the sarcastic words “Check the worry in my eye!” ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-gesture-mean/682769/14 "2014-03-06T15:00:01Z")
I have a friend who uses this gesture while saying, “Do you see anybody in there who gives a fuck?”