Raising questions about raised eyebrows
Stop reading for a second and raise your eyebrows.
I’m doing it, too, as I write this.
That tight, lifted feeling is one of the physical mannerisms that show emotional response – like a smile or a frown or a smirk.
We raise our eyebrows to signal surprise or skepticism. Body-language experts say it’s a natural reaction, meant to open the eyes wider to see more of something that’s shocking, or unbelievable.
The experts may believe that, but I wonder what the linguists would say about the way in which the phrase, “raises eyebrows” has been absorbed into the media lexicon, to the point it’s become shorthand for any new or unexpected bit of information.
In the gushing river of information, everything promises to raise eyebrows. Informational websites offer an array of stories that, while not necessarily news or newsworthy, hold just enough interest to cause some headline writer to predict what we’ll do with our eyebrows.
One of the royals is seen without a smile/wedding ring/husband? That paparazzi photo of her is sure to raise eyebrows. A movie star is out and about holding what looks like a bottle of beer? Eyebrows will be raised. A politician is seen walking through the airport with a woman other than his wife? Warm up the eyebrows, people.
It used to be that headlines told us what we would read in the story that appeared below.
Now, headlines tell us how we’re going to feel about what we will read. It’s all click-bait, of course, a way to get us to read something that’s really not clickworthy, newsworthy or even relevant; the logic is that if we tell them how they’re going to react, they’ll take our word for it and then click to find out for certain.
It’s lazy – the same kind of lazy that causes most speakers and many writers under the age of 40 to use the word “amazing” in all cases in which they are describing something even mildly positive.
The media landscape is littered with the word. They should make a drinking game for “The Bachelor” show; take a swig every time one of the women describes the bachelor as amazing. That it’s always spoken in that fake-sincere whisper only makes the whole thing all the more nauseating.
I’m been trying to recall the last time I raised my eyebrows as part of a natural and unprovoked reaction to something.
All I can come up with is Botox, a small but expensive spritz of which I had injected into my forehead a few years ago.
Yes, it got rid of my “11” lines between my eyes, but it gave me the strange feeling of my brows being lifted permanently. I never got the injections again.
As for the eyebrow-raising news, it’s never what it promises to be. Even I fall prey to the click-bait sometimes, especially on items about the foods that heart doctors say we should never eat.
The stories are presented as revelations that will tell us something we didn’t already know – something that will cause us to lift those brows in surprise.
I click on it, only to find the answer is sugary sodas and fried food. Some revelation. And to think I got my eyebrows involved just for that.
Beth Dolinar can be reached at cootiej@aol.com.