The Wink

I couldn't wink til I was pretty old, and I still can only wink with one of my eyes.
The whole winking thing confuses me.  Winkers seem to be communicating that we're in on some little joke together, but I never know what the joke is.  And also it seems like some people are just good at winking so they throw in the wink as often as possible, just because they can. I have to kind of think before I wink, so I wink rarely.
I may wink more often in future, once I figure out when winking adds to, and when it detracts from, the speech event.  
Email Post

Comments

Anonymous said…
When you can only wink with one eye it is usually the non-dominant one.

D/
10:26 PM
Julie Anna said…
I, too, can only wink with one eye, and I had to practice to get the wink down. I find winking, in the people I've known who wink regularly, to be something of an affectation. I was acquainted with a woman who winked at me once in a certain social situation, instead of waving and saying "Hi!" like other women would do. It felt like a condescending wink. The wink seemed to speak volumes, "I will recognize your eager wave and 'hi!' with a wink because I'm sure you are feeling fortunate to know me and aren't you cute for waving but I have no interest in actually saying anything to you." Or something like that. Maybe I was reading too much into it, although I found out that other people have also felt condescension from this person, so maybe I was not too far off on what the wink meant. The ex also winks and it was definitely a subtle "aren't you cute and aren't I superior" kind of meaning. I only use the wink in the exaggerated sense of "wink wink nudge nudge"...in an attempt to be funny. These are my thoughts on the wink. I'm catching up on your blog this morning!
8:53 AM
Anonymous said…
I love it when little guysers try to wink.
jw
9:32 AM
KC said…
I'm not a frequent winker. One of my friends winks in kind of a nice way when we are in a group conversation and she is making a side comment to me. That feels nice. I think it takes skill to wink without offending, as Julie pointed out.
10:53 AM
LH said…
This is exactly the kind of conversation I was hoping to spark with this blog entry about winks and winkers.

Memory of winking stirred by JW: When i was in first grade, my teacher always gave me jobs because I was super responsible and well behaved. So I went to the office all the time to deliver stuff. And the principal used to wink at me. I would try to wink back, resulting in laughter among the office peeps. It took me forever to realize that I wasn't winking properly and that my attempts were comical. That freaked me out a little bit.
11:35 AM
Anonymous said…
The HR guy (about 25 years ago) winked at me when we were discussing whether or not my two years teaching at a private school would count on my salary scale. I was so confused I just asked outright what the wink meant.
jw
10:17 AM
Post a Comment

Popular Posts