Body Language of Tongue Protrusion or Tongue Rejection
Cue: Tongue Protrusion or Tongue Rejection.
Synonym(s): Pushing Out the Tongue, Tongue Displays.
Description: The tongue is loosely forced out of the open mouth, like a baby shoving out unpleasant food out.
In One Sentence: Tongue protrusion is a negative though indicator.
How To Use it: Poking the tongue out is a way that we can show others that we’re not impressed by what we heard or that we find it “distasteful.” This honest gesture will tell others how really feel about them or their idea. Poking the tongue into the cheek or “tongue in cheek” body language tells others that we are holding back a negative thought – we’re being “cheeky.” This can be a playful expression and help others share in on the joke with us.
Context: General.
Verbal Translation: “I don’t like what I’m experiencing so my tongue is rejecting the idea by figuratively pushing it out, as a baby rejects his food.”
Variant: See Running The Tongue Over The Teeth or Lips.
Cue In Action: In the last minutes of class, the instructor put up the weekend’s homework. It was a surprise essay! Billy opened his mouth slightly and pushed his tongue out to visibly show his distaste.
Meaning and/or Motivation: Tongue protrusion can indicate distaste, genuine focus on a task, deceit, agitation and unhappiness.
Tongue protrusion is an evolutionary throwaway gesture thought to have arisen as a food rejection mechanism by infants. The tongue moves to the front of the mouth and pushes the negative idea out. You will often see this when a “distasteful” idea is presented.
The tongue can also make its appearance under deep concentration usually by being protruded to the side or waved around seemingly as if trying to control the movement of another object or to coordinate the self. Usually though, when it happens in adults it means they are genuinely focused on their task and wish not to be bothered by others, hence the food rejection root.
The tongue can also be seen moistening the lips more often when under stress or anxiety as the mouth dries up, or can be moved back and forth across the lips as a pacifying behaviour to sooth while under stress.
Cue Cluster: Eye rolling, head lowered, eyes cast to the side, head shaking from side to side, eyes closed tightly (eye blocking), shoulders hunched and hand-to-eye (in disbelief) can all accompany the tongue protrusion to form a cue cluster or rejection.
Body Language Category: Dislike (nonverbal), Emotional body language, Indicators of disinterest (IOD), Leaked or involuntary body language, Microgestures, Negative body language, Rejection body language.
Resources:
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