Dragaera

Shruggage

J A 'Dusty' Sayers dusty at sayersnet.com
Mon Mar 3 16:36:23 PST 2003

> > > Just out of curiosity, where are you from?  I'm genuinely curious
> > > because I've never heard of anyone who wasn't familiar with the gesture.
>
> [...]
>
> > I'm not sure whether my upbringing has anything to do with my perception
> > of the shrug, especially since I was an Air Force brat and grew up all
> > over the world.
>
> > Hmm. It would be interesting to learn where the rest of you are from. I
> > wonder if we could find a pattern here.

I am from East Tennessee, and I do not think shrug often, but when I do it
indicates that either I do not know the answer to a given question (and usually
do not particularly care about that fact) or I am dismissing something as being
of no consequence or at least not worth worrying about at the moment.  I think
that's how it's usually used around here, and I see it used that way from time
to time, especially among younger people whose parents have not discouraged them
>from doing it.  It's sometimes seen as a little rude, depending on the
situation.

As for the definition that includes dread, I suppose some shudders, especially
theatrical shudders, can resemble a shrug in the raising of the shoulders.

--
J A Dusty Sayers

Home Page http://www.sayersnet.com/~dusty/
Rescue the Princess http://www.sayersnet.com/~dusty/rescue/

'It is a damn poor mind indeed that cannot think of at least two ways to spell a
word.'
     --Andrew Jackson