Chapter 6
Lip Reading
In This Chapter
Recognising how the lips reveal thoughts, feelings, and emotions
Differentiating the smile
‘R
ead my lips,’ said President George Bush when running for President
in 1988. Although your lips are the doorway to verbalising messages,
they’re equally adept at revealing emotions, thoughts, and feelings without
uttering a word.In this chapter you discover how the various lip positions, including pursed
lips, a pout, and a lop-sided grin, tell the story of what’s going on inside.Revealing Thoughts, Feelings, and Emotions .............................................
The lips are made up of a complicated series of muscles running over, under,
and around the sides of your mouth. Because the muscles can work indepen-
dently of one another, they can pull and twist your mouth into all kinds of
positions. One side of the mouth can mirror the other so that the whole
mouth conveys the same message, as with the turned up sides of your lips in
a genuine smile of happiness or the downward turn of your lips when you’re
sad. Your lips can also pull in opposite ways, one side going up, the other
side going down. The upper lip can rise in a sneer. The lower lip can tremble
in fear.The complicated series of muscles that control the lips include the orbicu-
laris oris muscles, which sit at the sides of the mouth. Their function is to
pull the lips back and push them forward. The elevators, such as levator labii
superior, lift the upper lip, whereas the mentalis, sitting at the tip of your
chin, pushes up your lower lip, causing your chin to wrinkle, making you look
doubtful or displeased.