# What makes a guy (or girl) look "creepy"? Appearance only, no behavior! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 10, 2007, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447 "2007-06-10T09:20:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447/61 "2007-06-11T17:00:02Z")
[QUOTE=VCO3] . Or the grandfatherly old guy wearing (i’m not making this up) ice creams to complete his otherwise normal Old Guy Outfit of elastic-waisted pants, Elk’s club t-shirt, and WWII baseball hat. [/QUOTE] What do you mean wearing ice creams? How do you wear ice creams? ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447/62 "2007-06-11T17:03:00Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] Are you talking about a “soul patch”, like what Howie Mandel wears, only extended to the bottom of the chin? [/QUOTE] Actually, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. Beards need to at least cover your entire chin or they are creepy. Goatees verge on being creepy. Less hair than that and just finish shaving already! ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447/63 "2007-06-11T17:07:18Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > I find that little tiny “token beard” to be really creepy - the sort of one that reminds me of a Brazillian wax where you leave a landing strip (which tells you exactly why I think its creepy). It often appears on young men who are otherwise good looking and wouldn’t be giving off a creepy vibe at all if they’d make a different facial hair choice. Can you provide a diagram, or a picture example? ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447/64 "2007-06-11T17:29:58Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] What do you mean wearing ice creams? How do you wear ice creams? [/QUOTE] I’m a nice dude with some nice dreams see these ice cubes see these [ice creams](http://www.pickyourshoes.com/size/reebok_ice_cream.htm)? ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447/65 "2007-06-11T17:33:57Z")
Nevermind. Question answered. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447/66 "2007-06-11T17:37:03Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] I don’t know if I’d agree this makes a person creepy–it’s just unfashionable. I had my eyes lasered in '01, and I’m almost sorry I did, because the frames I see being advertised now really do look good, in my opinion. [/QUOTE] So buy some frames. This is one of the reasons I want to get zapped one of these days: I want to be able to buy lots of different frames without having to pay a king’s ransom to get the lenses made to my (extremely fucked-up) prescription. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447/67 "2007-06-11T17:54:36Z")
[QUOTE=VCO3] I’m a nice dude with some nice dreams see these ice cubes see these [ice creams](http://www.pickyourshoes.com/size/reebok_ice_cream.htm)? [/QUOTE] Jeez, those things are hideous. I think they’d make _anyone_ look creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447/68 "2007-06-11T18:18:29Z")
[QUOTE=matt\_mcl] So buy some frames. This is one of the reasons I want to get zapped one of these days: I want to be able to buy lots of different frames without having to pay a king’s ransom to get the lenses made to my (extremely fucked-up) prescription. [/QUOTE] People do this? I assume you just put plain glass in, rather than lenses, right? It’d never work for me. I usually already have my sunglasses to keep track of, when I’m out, so I don’t need plain glasses too. Also, one of the things I like about the smaller frames is that they look better when you have a bizarrely strong prescription, as I did, than the older large frames did. Since there’s no prescription anymore, it wouldn’t be worth the hassle. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447/69 "2007-06-11T18:54:57Z")
Moustaches on women are creepy. Sideburn-ish hair extending down a _little_ too far, making it kind of look like ‘lamb chops’ on the woman’s face. Women wearing skimpy bikinis sporting a ‘happy trail’ (line of hair extending down from the navel). ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447/70 "2007-06-11T19:28:24Z")
[QUOTE=Dung Beetle] Jeez, those things are hideous. I think they’d make _anyone_ look creepy. [/QUOTE] Actually, the [first ones](http://www.karmaloop.com/vendor/REE/153944LIMmd.jpg) were really hot, but these new low-profile ones suck. And are ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Fetchund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b2d939/32.png) [@Fetchund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fetchund)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447/71 "2007-06-11T20:13:35Z")
For me, creepy isn’t posture, style, build… and I’ve never been able to figure out my creep-o-meter, but it is often dead-on. For instance - we were in a cheap hotel a few weeks ago. At two in the morning, a man started messing around with our door. We could see him through the peephole - he was feeling all around our door frame, leaning up against the door, occasionally muttering, making enough nosie to wake us all up… and he wasn’t wearing pants. My creep-o-meter didn’t go off. Even more astounding, the dogs didn’t make a peep, and they tend to be on high alert in hotels. I finally figured out that the guy was sleepwalking, and woke him up. Occasionally, though, somebody who seems just grand will set me off, and I will avoid being alone with that person come hell or high water. Guess I’m no help, huh? ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447/72 "2007-06-11T20:31:33Z")
[QUOTE=Kayeby] Long nails on men. [/quote] Ew! Yes, creepy. > [@](#): > > Unwashed, uncombed hair. Yeppers, creepy. > [@](#): > > Giant nose blackheads. Yep. Ick. > [@](#): > > long strands of cultivated hair growing from facial moles extraordinarily creepy. Oh yes. Also, men wearing their pants pulled up too high, particularly young men. I mean, plumber butt is no picnic either, but there’s something about a guy with his pants pulled up to his armpits that squiks me out. For women, a woman with horrendous, unkempt feet wearing white strappy sandles totally creeps me out. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447/73 "2007-06-11T22:24:33Z")
People who look normal from afar but are obvious drug addicts up close. Not _too_ dirty or crazy-looking, but with clothes hanging off their skinny frames, a few sores and greasy hair in a scrunchie. Yellowish eyes. Browning teeth. They seem like they’re in the first, functioning stages of what will surely be a downward spiral. They’re just off. Their eyes dart about as they try to talk to you, often figuring out how they can part you with your money. ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447/74 "2007-06-11T22:24:55Z")
Anybody who looks at another person with a look of intense and unreasonable need. It could be sex, or money, or just attention, but this neediness is apparent in 90% of the people who creep me out. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447/75 "2007-06-12T09:34:01Z")
[QUOTE=Maastricht] Fedora’s are timeless. It is the rest of the clothes that make or break the style, and the circumstances where one wears them. wearing a fedora in a regular office or city bar is weird. Wearing one in the outdoors or connected with outdoorsy stuff is fine. If your office deals with outdoorsy stuff, you’re lucky. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Yeah, I was gonna say. Fedoras were stylish when they were new, so they don’t count. But hornrims were not a style when they were new; they were all there was. If you wear them now, you’d better be wearing them ironically, or be so handsome that it only enhances you. Plaid shirts are subjective, but wearing them Clark Kent style is way oldfashioned. And it takes a finely tuned fashion sense to wear a bow tie. Basically, the whole outfit (tweeds, perhaps) has to support it. So a guy who dresses in a style that was not a “style” when it was commonplace, but was simply the norm for an earlier era, is creepy, because it makes me think, “If his image is from the 1950s, where is his mindset from?” And for that matter, I feel the same way about women who still wear the Sally Forth uniform from the 1980s. No one’s going to sexually harass them now and get away with it, and if it’s their choice not to show an inch of leg, get something colorful and lightweight! ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447/76 "2007-06-12T18:03:55Z")
Mostly, poor grooming creeps me out. Unwashed, unkempt, looking like they don’t care. Smelliness is the worst. It’s summer in Houston. If a guy’s worked all day outside, he won’t smell like a rose. I understand. But dirty clothes on a body that hasn’t been bathed in a long time is inexcusable. (Unless you’re homeless.) May I add combovers? Mostly, the grease has been there too long–you can tell by the flecks of dandruff. Just cut the hair! I notice unfortunate fashion choices, but don’t really find them “creepy.” ---
**Author:** ![InappropriateHumor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eb8c5e/32.png) [@InappropriateHumor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InappropriateHumor)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447/77 "2007-06-12T18:53:28Z")
I find most of the stuff posted to date to be creepy. I second **Incubus** on the mutton chops on women. But I’ll add that mutton chops on guys also trigger my creep-o-meter. Especially when worn with the mullet. People with weird toenails. Long and jagged, or yellow and dirty. The loooong painted toenails some women sport are creepy and make me wonder about her state of mind. I’m not sure why, maybe I figure that her judgment is impaired. Anybody who’ll wear sandals when their toenails look like that obviously can’t be trusted to act rationally and should therefore be treated with suspicion. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447/78 "2007-06-12T19:16:24Z")
Since we’re talking about appearance… First, I’ll make it clear that these observations are shallow and people often have problems and they can’t avoid how they look. But since you asked… [ul] [li]Unibrows[/li][li]Unkempt hair, especially on the face (ears, nose, moustaches, beards). Excessively hairy people (hairy backs and chests) who appear to be proud of said hair creep me out. If you have a hairy back, fine. But if you have a hairy back and you’re wearing a wifebeater cut low with string straps, wtf? (Actually saw this at the Blockbuster on Guadalupe in Austin once. Ewww!)[/li][li]Wonky eyes. Being cockeyed, or focusing one’s gaze at the middle of someone’s forehead, or Adam’s apple. I imagine women think guys who look at their cleavage or skirts think that’s creepy as well.[/li][li]Poor voice modulation. Either they talk too loud or too softly.[/li][li]Inappropriate with proximity to other’s personal space. People who get RIGHT UP in your grill and talk to you.[/li][li]People who try to establish eye contact with you even though it’s clear you are not. This happens a lot on public transportation.[/li][li]People who want to start a conversation with you out of the blue, even if you’re reading, listening to an iPod, etc.[/li][li]People who walk into you, even if it’s a huge footpath and you are the only two people on it[/li][li]Way too flashy clothing. (Once, I was at the CNN Center in Atlanta and this older guy, might have been African, walked by in a yellow bowler hat, bright green suit and slacks, and bright yellow socks. I immediately thought he was a pimp.) [/li][li]Way too grungy clothing. [/li][li]Short pants, or pants that leave nothing to the imagination, or fit poorly. Hiked up to waist Ed Grimley style is also creepy.[/li][li]Excessive dandruff, flaky skin, greasy skin, bad acne.[/li][li]Hacking or coughing constantly.[/li][/ul] In all fairness, I’m guilty of some of these things! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447/79 "2007-06-12T19:18:40Z")
Usually it’s in the eyes, although I guess that counts as behavior. Anyway, looking at you from a lowered face, from under a unibrow. Raking the eyes up and down you while refusing to answer when I say hello. :eek: :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![RedRosesForMe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/91b2a8/32.png) [@RedRosesForMe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedRosesForMe)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447/80 "2007-06-12T19:22:38Z")
Wait a sec… bad acne is creepy? Do a large percentage of teenagers creep you out? I’m sure I’m just a little sensitive because my skin is sensitive and acne-prone, but how bad does the acne have to be? Or is it just acne on a person who you’d expect to have outgrown it, because my sister is almost 40 and still breaks out, so I’ve got another 15 years of this to go. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-guy-or-girl-look-creepy-appearance-only-no-behavior/407447.md?page=5)