A Bit of Humor for Your Day!

As I grow older I pay less attention to what people say…I just watch what they do.

That’s not a pile of laundry at the foot of my bed: it’s my base camp.

I still have a landline. Or as I like to call it, my Cell phone Finder.

Dating is the quest to find that special person who’ll watch you stare at your cell phone for the rest of your life.

I think they call them cell phones, because we’re pretty much imprisoned by them now.

Any room is a panic room if you’ve lost your phone in it.

5-year old: “Why can’t I leave my toys out?”

Mother: *long speech on responsibility*

5 year old, “Why can’t I leave my toys out?

Mother: “It attracts bears.”

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

Smiling Research...Words Are Funnier If Sounding The Word Makes You Smile

Smiling Research...Words Are Funnier If Sounding The Word Makes You Smile

Words Are Funnier If As You Say The Word Your Mouth Forms A Smile.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19426070.700-quacked-humour.html

Quacked humour
09 June 2007 by Ivan Berger, Fawood, New Jersey, US
Magazine issue 2607. Subscribe and save
Richard Wiseman's theory that "Quack" is funnier than "Moo" holds true for English speakers (12 May, p 46). But is it true for those whose languages assign the "k" sound to other animals' cries and not to ducks? Or are there no such languages? The only foreign duck sound I know is the French "quank", in which the "k" would probably have less effect, overshadowed by the preceding nasal sound.

From Kevin Whitesides

You suggest that the spoken hard "k" sound is likely to be funnier because of "facial feedback", for the reason that saying the "k" sound can supposedly make one mimic smiling. This is easily refuted. Try it yourself and you will very quickly recognize that your smiling face is the result of the vowel that precedes or follows the "k".

For example, contrast the facial expression of the word "quack" (as in the article) with the word "cook", which clearly does not create a smile when said. It is the hard "a" sound in "quack" that makes the smiling face. If there is indeed some reason that "k" is funnier than other sounds, it's not because it makes you look like you're smiling.

Also the people in the article were reading a joke, not being told the joke orally. So the facial aspect would not have come into play, unless the person was reading the joke aloud or at least mouthing it.

Arcata, California, US

The editor writes:

• Further personal experimentation suggests that it is the combination of "k" with certain vowel sounds that produces the strongest "forced smile". For example, "key" does so more than "be", "dee" or "fee", although "k" with some other vowels lacks the effect.

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://PattiWood.net. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.