The Catalogue of Public Looks
Comments: 10
There exists waiting to be written The Catalogue of Public Looks wherein all the glances, stares, gazes, and peerings of the public sphere are identified and blessed with taxonomy and their degrees of furtiveness, dartiness, lingerability, longing, lack of focus and hollowed out exhausted zombification (peaking on the trains home after work) are quantified.
A few months ago I started jotting notes but it’s a big undertaking — too big for one person. Feel free to submit public looks that you’ve observed. Random lines from the notebook:
- Those directed at others
- Those directed elsewhere
- Those intended to be noticed
- Those not
- Those directed at shoes for the purposes of socio-economic classification
- Looks that mean “Stop that!”
- Two people whose looks are like the north poles of magnets
•••
Posted to Oh, the Humanity • 2003.06.28 (Sat) • 10:27
Comments
Posted by Ashley 2003.06.28, 10:46
Would you consider expressions the same as looks?
The roll my eyes because what you said was ridiculous?
The shinjararenai (unbelievable)?
The masaka?
The far away look. Talking to you but thinking about where I would like to go for vacation?
The “You’ve intruded on our conversation” followed by the obligatory laugh?
The which way are you going (depending on where you are at the moment)?
The squinty eyed, “honto”? (really?) look or rather expression?
Fun idea. It would be challenging but just like road signs it could be a fun project to make icons for these types of looks.
Always thinkin’ about a project to do,
Ashley
Posted by joh3n 2003.06.28, 11:39
A personal favorite, the ‘turn around to sneak a look at someone behind you, but keep your head moving as if you were just scanning the general area’ maneuver.
Posted by Miguel Arboleda 2003.06.28, 14:18
The “don’t know what to look at but the elevator number” look.
The “eyes almost fully shut, but stealing a glance at the woman next to him” look.
The “want to look at this person but can’t because I’d be mortified if he realized I was looking at him” look.
The furtive “look I am reading something in English” look.
The non-look of “hey everyone on the train, I am speaking on the keitai in a loud, loud voice” look.
The “don’t look at me while I’m picking up my dog’s poop” look.
The don’t look of “I am talking to my friend while walking and bearing an umbrella but couldn’t be bothered that the tines of my umbrella are jabbing into the face of a passerby” look.
The squinty, Marlborough Country look of a smoker sitting at a counter in a coffee shop or standing at one of those smoker islands on the train platform, puffing furiously before they have to be on their way.
The powerful, backed-by-a-grateful-smile of an elderly person’s “thank you so much for offering me a seat, but I’m getting off now, so please sit back down” look. (which recently was followed by the elderly woman handing me a wrapped piece of strawberry candy)
Posted by Peter 2003.06.28, 16:30
The smirk of enjoyment, on reading the Impregnated Geisha Safety Matches advert.
Posted by qB 2003.06.28, 17:41
I frequently employ the “I’m wearing shades so I will look as though staring fixedly at something else but examine you frankly in my peripheral vision while hoping you don’t notice” look
Posted by Chris 2003.06.28, 22:38
I experienced a most powerful, hate-filled stare once on the train back from Nagoya. It was an evening train, running at around half-seven, and I was chatting to my friend in the seat across the aisle.
Every so often this woman in the row ahead would turn around and scowl; it got worse and worse until she began shaking her head and putting her fingers in her ears, the look of the devil upon her.
I figured she wanted us to be quiet, but at half seven? We felt bad about talking after the worst of the stares, but that was when the giggling began.
Posted by MacDara 2003.06.29, 03:44
There might be too much subtlety involved to make the taxonomy of facial expressions an exact science, but if someone were willing to pay me to try, I’d gladly give it a shot. Even just to put my cataloguing and classification skills to good use.
Posted by Kevin 2003.06.29, 12:10
Joh3n: That’s called rubber-necking where I come from and even when you think you’re pulling it off you probably aren’t. I’m pretty bad at this myself but it can be a difficult habit to break. Too many beautiful women to see I guess. Just don’t do it when you’re with your girlfriend/wife.
Posted by Jeff 2003.06.29, 17:31
Reminds me of a New Yorker article from a while back: “The Naked Face” by Malcolm Gladwell, on the work of Paul Ekman, notably the Facial Action Coding System (FACS). Interesting stuff.
Posted by Terri 2003.07.06, 10:16
Train experience: the “I hear you talking about America/Americans” or “English” and I want you to know I heard it and am paying a bit of attention to what you’re saying” look. Kind of an “eye hook” manuevre: look frankly at those who are talking until they feel my eyes on them then quickly go back to my book. It’s actually emotionally neutral (although it sounds creepy in this description). Sometimes has been a precursor to smiles on all sides, which is nice…
Post a comment:
Send This Story to an Enemy
• • •
