----- Original Message ----- From: "Ryan Grove" <ryan at wonko.com> To: <dragaera at dragaera.info> Sent: Monday, March 03, 2003 3:48 PM Subject: Re: Shruggage > Andrew Lias wrote: > > > 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 should clarify; I'm not unfamiliar with the gesture, I'm only curious > what it means to other people. To me, a shrug is almost always > accompanied by a smile or a goofy facial expression, which is why I view > it as a lighthearted gesture. Judging by the responses I've gotten so > far, I'm in the minority. ;) > > 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. Although, when my dad left the Air Force, I spent about > six years living in Texas (where I was born), and then moved to Oregon, > where I've lived ever since. If there was any regional influence, I'd > guess it would have come from my parents, who were Texans. > > Hmm. It would be interesting to learn where the rest of you are from. I > wonder if we could find a pattern here. > Born Californian, have lived Pennsylvanian, Oregonian, and have spent the latter part of my youth as well as currently as a Minnesotan I have never thought about shrugs, most of the other descriptions especially David's nail it as far as I'm concerned. One of my most common shrug is a combinational gesture when I'm at disbelief at having talked about or seen something rampantly moronic or annoying, it includes, a rolling of the eyes, the gesture for no with the head, followed by a lifting of the shoulders inward towards my neck.