Mannerisms

[lucky-E-leven]

I'm trying to come up with a working list of mannerisms to help with character development. I notice the oddest things about people, but many of them are difficult to describe efficiently. You don't have to describe them entirely. I'll be grateful for any and all you can come up with. Habits (conscious or un-) will work too.

Thanks.

~lucky

 

[minsue]

I'll think on it and get back to you, Luck. I don't notice mannerisms as much as I notice the way people eat. Everyone I know has some distinct odd little thing that they do when they eat and those are the only ones coming to mind at the moment. I find those little habits endearing and fascinating, much to the irritation of those who will still agree to eat with me.

 

[Lemon Head]

I love it when people are deep in thought or concentration and do different things like poke their tongue out the corner of their mouth or hum softly and not realize they're doing it.

 

[LadyJeanne]

Twirling hair around a finger
Running one finger along an eyebrow
Stroking the chin or beard, or that two-fingered mustache stroke
Taking off glasses and pointing them at people when making a point
Tugging on an earlobe
The Princess Diana shy head duck while looking up with the eyes to convey 'paying attention"
Crossing legs while sitting and bobbing one leg up and down

 

[Lucifer_Carroll]

Rubbing bridge of nose
Leaning the chin on a fist
Leaning on elbows
Rubbing forehead
Licking lips


And more interesting ones

Random conversations (rambling through random topics linking to other discussions when talking)
Random philosophy (interesting and unconventional viewpoints on X)
Odd sense of humour (self-explanatory)
Eccentricities and insanities (again self-explanatory)
Made of cheese (yet again self-explanatory what with the psychic powers and all)

 

[yui]

Vibrating legs. Nervous hands. Twisting rings on fingers. Scratching the back of head when embarrassed. Saying, "Umm," more than twice in two sentences. Picking teeth. Clicking teeth together. Looking in every reflective surface to check appearance. Compulsively checking to make sure the stove is off. Talking too fast. Squinting. Giving too many details, the most minute details, as part of a story. Cracking knuckles. Touching everything. No rhythm. Clumsy. Flinching away from people. Jingling money in pockets. Random welling of tears. Shredding paper into tiny bits. Leaving the motorcycle helmet on for extended periods indoors. Counting steps.

 

[tolyk]

Vibrating legs. Nervous hands.

The first sounds useful in sex, the second sounds irksome for the same

 

[yui]

The first sounds useful in sex, the second sounds irksome for the same

Ahem, I don't have, um, vibrating legs or, um, nervous hands...http://www.addis-welt.de/smilie/smilie/diverse/yaya.gif

 

[Huckleman2000]

Running hands against the wall; wearing certain pieces of clothing; dancing alone in front of a mirror to practice; biting the upper lip while thinking (makes one seem kinda stupid, but there you go); running hands through the hair; slapping a hand on their bald head; coming around to one's desk or work area with contrived pretenses; blinking with only one eye, so you don't know if it's a wink or just a problem with contact lens

Also, this isn't a mannerism, but for some reason my shoes become untied several times a day. I tie them tight, but it must be something about how I walk that makes them loosen and come undone. I don't know why it happens.

 

[LadyJeanne]

Also, this isn't a mannerism, but for some reason my shoes become untied several times a day. I tie them tight, but it must be something about how I walk that makes them loosen and come undone. I don't know why it happens.

I have a friend with this problem! And it's not always the same pair of shoes.

 

[Lemon Head]

Also, this isn't a mannerism, but for some reason my shoes become untied several times a day. I tie them tight, but it must be something about how I walk that makes them loosen and come undone. I don't know why it happens.

Could be the fervor with which you're fucking poor Eeyore.

Just a thought.

*bites upper lip*

 

[tolyk]

Do you use round shoelaces or flat ones?

I find round untie much easier.

 

[fairysong]

A friend of my taps his foot whenever he thinks.

 

[tolyk]

Mannerisms... well, do you want them during sex, or just general day to day ones? You didn't specify.

 

[Huckleman2000]

Do you use round shoelaces or flat ones?

I find round untie much easier.

It happens both with my casual shoes (round laces) and my sneakers (flat laces). Even dress shoes, with waxed laces, are not immune.

I'm baffled, but thanks for all the suggestions.

Maybe it's because I cross my legs at the ankles while sitting sometimes? Still, it most often happens while I am walking.

I just don't know. I think it sends my Dork quotient up a few notches, though.

 

[shereads]

HAIR TWIRLING

I immediately thought of a friend with long hair who used to twirl a strand of it around her finger whenever she was talking or flirting or nervous or bored; when other people would reach for a cigarette, P would unconsciously reach for her hair and start twisting it around her finger, curling and uncurling it. I haven't seen her in years. If she's cut her hair short, I can't imagine what she must do to keep her hands busy. I can, but I'm not sure it would qualify as a "mannerism."

FINGER-COMBING/SCALP RUBBING

A man I dated used to run his fingers through his hair when he was concentrating. If he was upset about something, his hand would go back and forth across his scalp faster and faster until the hair was standing on end.

FACE CLUTCHING

My own most obvious mannerism is entirely work related, and thank God, because it's not something you want to do socially. I call it "face clutching." I wasn't aware of being a face-clutcher until I noticed other people doing it at work. When we're trying to concentrate, and particularly when we're under stress, we face-clutchers press our hands against the sides of our faces (as if the faces have been freshly glued to the heads and we're trying to give the adhesive a chance to stick.)

A one-handed face-clutch means you're facing a tight deadline. A two-handed face-clutch means you're facing a tight deadline, and there are rumors of another round of layoffs, and you can't remember whether you turned off the stove this morning. Face-clutching is a quiet alternative to the Screamin' Heebie Jeebies.

 

[Huckleman2000]

My own most obvious mannerism, is entirely work-related. I call it "face clutching." I wasn't aware I was doing it until I noticed it in other people at work. When we're trying to concentrate, and particularly when we're under stress, us face-clutchers use our hands as if to keep our faces from falling off of our heads. A one-handed face-clutch means you're facing a tight deadline. A two-handed face-clutch means you're facing a tight deadline and there are rumors of another round of layoffs and you can't remember whether you turned off the stove this morning.

Ah, that reminds me of the "neck-claw". Usually accompanied by faint hives, and reaching its zenith with the fruitless turtleneck cover-up gambit - a recipe for disaster.

 

[shereads]

Ah, that reminds me of the "neck-claw". Usually accompanied by faint hives, and reaching its zenith with the fruitless turtleneck cover-up gambit - a recipe for disaster.

The neck-claw sounds like self-mutilation. Face-clutching, properly done, doesn't leave marks.

Don't forget NAIL BITING. And of course, MISCELLANEOUS HARDWARE BITING.

 

[tolyk]

When I'm on a computer I compussively multitask... Just to make sure nothing has changed in any of my other windows.. the moment I finish this post I shall multitask (but that's because I only have one other window open, and it is a chat box.. heh)

alt tab

Oh, not out yet.. okay..

 

[shereads]

Supremely annoying speech mannerism:

Punctuating sentences with, "You know?"

Then there are people who end statements as if they were questions? As if they meant to say "You know?" but didn't use the actual words? But their voices go up at the end? Like that? I shared an office with a girl like that, you know? Someone who ended her statements like questions, as if she needed the listener to confirm what she'd just said before she could, you know, continue?

 

[shereads]

Also, this isn't a mannerism, but for some reason my shoes become untied several times a day. I tie them tight, but it must be something about how I walk that makes them loosen and come undone. I don't know why it happens.

You and me, honey. I'm the only one at the gym who can't complete a half-hour on the treadmill without retying my shoelaces. My next pair of athletic shoes will use advanced lace-less technology. Like Velcro.

But I digress.[/threadjack]

 

[Huckleman2000]

The neck-claw sounds like self-mutilation. Face-clutching, properly done, doesn't leave marks.

Oh yeah. I think the neck thing begins as a reaction to certain brands of laundry detergent, perfume, fabric softener or soap which react to stress chemicals in the skin, and just escalates. It's self-mutilation by vicious circle, not intention. Cover stick only makes it worse.

 

[English Lady]

biting bottom lip whilst thinking.

Strumming fingers on a desk again whilst thinking.

finishing one conversation then going back to one you'd had previously, generally baffling the listener (All my family do that. drives hubby batty)

Doodling in books whilst daydreaming/listening/not listening.

Wiggling the ring pull back and forth on a can till it breaks then dropping it into the can (still full). (this one drives me nuts...hubby does it alot)

tapping heels together when waiting. (often nervously) (Hubby and father in law both do this)

blushing (if that counts)

typing with two fingers...or 3 or 4, but not touch typing.

cracking the spine of a book *ouch* . folding pages in books over, holding a book right up by your nose or down by your knee whilst reading.

twirling an a-z, map round and round in an attempt to work out where you are in relation to where you should be. (this is me*L*)

hows that for a start?

 

[NoJo]

A friend of mine was incredibly observant. She was the first person to point out to me:

The "This is non-sexual" bat pat, when you're hugging someone

The "Too loud laugh", when you don't get it;

The "Bad neighborhood apply the central locking" when you stop at a junction in you car.

She also called the tree outside my apartment the "Cum Tree", becuase it smelt like cum. Absolutely true, I never noticed it until then.

There are tons of flirt-related mannerisms. I used a good BBC web site for one of my stories; the site was for the reality TV program "Would Like To Meet".

 

[Guest]

I love it when people are deep in thought or concentration and do different things like poke their tongue out the corner of their mouth or hum softly and not realize they're doing it.

i know of a little girl who hums quite loudly when shes very into something.
no, not me.. LOL.
sometimes, ill look at someone over the rim of my glasses when im being sarcastic...or giving that "you know what i mean" look.
not making eye contact when nervous
Yui mentioned tapping leg/foot...
smoking
saying... "You see what i mean?" (i hate yannow, though im prone to it)
the list goes on
we all have little idosyncracies.