96 I Can Read You Like a Book R
ƒ A smile of discomfort often appears on the face of
the spouse being dragged to a 20th high school class
reunion, or on the face of a shy 13-year-old boy who’s
meeting the new, pretty girl at school.
Jaw
A stern jaw typically conveys anger, as opposed to a slack jaw,
which sends a message, “I am non-threatening—and I’m stupid.”
My slight overbite gives me a naturally angry, domineering look.
I can look a lot harsher with an overbite than someone who has an
underbite. It’s hard to look stern when you don’t have a chin. The
jaw is a powerful symbol. My interrogator buddies and I have specu-
lated that maybe only men with a big, square jaw and overbite
ought to be in the business. Combine the male set jaw with brows
drawn together in anger and my beady eyes, and you have the
picture of someone who looks intimidating. It’s the core segment of
a body-language picture designed to instill fear.
Consider how different this jaw is on a woman’s face. It can
be comical, as comedians such as Carol Burnett and her Tarzan
howling, and Debra Messing and her bulldog scowling have shown.
Men, too, have taken advantage of the comic possibilities of the
large jaw and the fact that it enables the kind of rubbery facial
expressions of Jim Carrey.
Contrast the big-mouthed, full-jawed look of some women such
as Julia Roberts with the tiny mouthed picture of Bernadette
Peters. Julia Roberts can play the range of emotions from silly to
