BODY LANGUAGE

As "The Big Bang Theory" is on summer hiatus, my favorite show is "Lie To Me", starring Tim Roth as Dr. Cal Lightman, a psychologist who can tell when people are lying from their facial responses and body language. The show is inspired by the work of Dr. Paul Ekman, a real-life psychologist who specializes in work studying micro-expressions: those brief, involuntary facial expressions often lasting less than 1/25 of a second which reveal people's true emotions.

Gerald says that I should be the star of the show, because he says I'm an automatic lie detector as I never forget anything and am always catching people in their little falsehoods!


One time I had a boss who actually believed in body language. After he had taken a class on the subject, he became obsessed! One time, in his office, as I was sitting, with my left foot across my right knee, he said, "Even IF I didn't already know that you came from a male-dominated family, I could tell it because you don't cross your legs like a woman." I laughed and said, "It's more comfortable." I didn't tell him that I'd read that constantly crossing one's legs could make one calf larger than the other. He said, "Now, look at your defensive posture." I had my arms folded across my breasts. I said, "Actually, it's rather chilly in here and I think that's a posture for chilliness!" I didn't tell him that's a common posture for large-bosomed women! Another time he mentioned that it was a masculine trait when I clasped my hands behind my head.

After that, I began pointing out his "feminine traits"!