Watch. Your Mannerisms!

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 109, 10 May 1941, Page 3 (Supplement)

Watch. Your Mannerisms!

ITS your small unconscious movements, not your big gestures, which give you away. Haven't you noticed how people develop all sorts of little mannerisms as they grow older, movements of which they are completely unconscious and over which they have no control? You may begin to get these little habits because you are shy—but the trouble is that as you grow older

those small, nervous movements grow into hard-and-fast habits. So that one of the first signs of increasing years is to have a mass of little mannerisms which you yourself know nothing about. So watch yourself! Here are some of the most usual of those tell-tale movements. Can you read about them all and still say truthfully "Not guilty?" First, a very common mannerism is raising the eyebrows. People do it when they're surprised, when they

laugh, when they're worried, when they're concentrating, and even when they're not thinking about anything. This is a bad habit, as it means furrowing the forehead into deep corrugated lines. Then there's the chronic necklacetwiner. . She can't resist twining her necklaces in and out of her fingers. Sooner or later, they always break, and everyone has to scramble on to the floor to collect the beads for her. But that won't stop the hardened necklace or bracelettwiner. The only cure is not to wear jewellery of that type! Some people, of course, will play with anything at all that they happen to be wearing or carrying. Haven't we seen people, who twist their handkerchiefs round and round, screwing them into a grubby ball, opening and shutting their handbags or moving their fingers ceaselessly along the arm of their chair? Lock curling is another mannerism. You often see a girl thoughtfully twining her finger round and round a lock of her hair, unravelling it, then starting all over again. Sometimes it's a form of nervousness, sometimes a betrayal of the subconscious in the same way as "doodlers" betray themselves in scribbling. Then there are the face fidgeters. They stroke their chins, pull the lobes of their ears (elderly men are particularly addicted to this habit), rest their chins on their hands. Perhaps they feel the latter is an attractive pose, but if they realised that in time it may develop a double chin, or give the face a sagging look on one side, they would drop thenhands and keep them severely at their sides! Hands, in fact, are the greatest betrayers of jitters. There are women who continually gesticulate, using their hands to supplement everv phrase of their usually high-pitched voices. Yet we all know how lovely quiet hands are in a woman, hands that gesture only to give added expressiveness to a remark. So check up on these mannerisms, and if you find yourself guilty of one or more—perhaps it is a habit special to yourself—make a resolution to cultivate more poise. Vivacity is attractive—may we be preserved from the woman who won't laugh for fear of lines round the eyes—but it must not find its outlet in frowns and fidgets!