The same gesture is also used by children as a way to get attention or just to annoy other people. The audible clicking sound with no specific words is an indication to pay attention to something important. It is usually a way to draw attention to something significant that just happened. This gesture is rare, but you will encounter it at times. The common expression for someone fabricating a story is that he was speaking “tongue in cheek.” The same gesture can indicate puzzlement, like the person is trying to interpret what just happened.
When a person thrusts his tongue into his cheek so it bulges out, the common interpretation is that what has just been said or done is a spoof. There are numerous interpretations of this gesture all the way from obscene suggestions to beckoning, or pleading. You may see a person stick out her tongue and then curl the tip of it upward. If someone bites into something spoiled or bitter that tastes horrible, then the tongue might come out flat like, “This tastes awful.” The gesture usually is accompanied by a puckering of the entire face and tightly closed eyes. A person will usually not have the tongue flat when making this kind of gesture, although sometimes you may see that done. Often you will see the tongue in a round configuration jutting out as far as the person can manage.
This is the classic tongue gesture intended to mock another person. That is the most common gesture, and it normally is an insulting or mocking gesture.īe a little careful here because sticking out the tongue can have several different meanings in itself and have various meanings in different cultures.
Sticking out the tongue is an obvious signal. We often do not realize it, but that part of the body is highly visible and capable of sending all kinds of messages because it is easily manipulated. The tongue is actually used a lot in body language.