The Definitive Book of Body Languageously and if the lie is a real whopper they will often look away.
Women are less likely to use the Eye Rub - instead, they will
use small, gentle touching motions just below the eye, because
they either have been conditioned as girls to avoid making
robust gestures, or to avoid smudging make-up. They also
avoid a listener's gaze by looking away.
'Lying through your teeth' is a commonly used phrase. It
refers to a gesture cluster of clenched teeth and a false smile,
combined with the Eye Rub. This gesture is used by movie actors
to portray insincerity and by 'polite' cultures such as the English,
who prefer not to tell you exactly what they're thinking.5.The Ear Grab
Imagine you tell someone, 'It only costs
$900 and the person grabs their ear,
looks away to the side and says, 'It
sounds like a good deal to me.' This is
a symbolic attempt by the listener to
'hear no evil': trying to block the words
he is hearing by putting the hand
around or over the ear or tugging at the
earlobe. This is the adult version of the Hands-Over-Both-Ears
gesture used by the child who wants to block out his parent's
reprimands. Other variations of the Ear Grab include rubbing
the back of the ear, the Finger Drill — where the fingertip is
screwed back and forth inside the ear, pulling at the earlobe or
bending the entire ear forward to cover the ear hole.
The Ear Grab can also be a signal that the person has heard
enough or may want to speak. As with the Nose Touch, the
Ear Grab is used by a person who is experiencing anxiety.
Prince Charles often uses both the Ear Grab and the Nose
Touch when he enters a room full of people or walks past a
large crowd. His anxiety is revealed here and we have never
seen a photo or film footage of him using these gestures when
he is in the relative safety of his car.
In Italy, however, the Ear Grab is used to indicate that
someone is effeminate or gay.
'I don't want to hear it.'