Touching the Ear (or Around the Ear) and What it Means

Writer Ken Auletta speaks at the 2010 New Yorker Festival at SVA Theatre 2 on October 2, 2010 in New York City.

If we are touching around the ear while we are speaking it could mean we do not like what we are saying- or what we have to say.

If we are listening, it means we do not like what is being said.

The science about it is the ear (and nose) it is very thin, and when we are bothered, the nerve ending can become exited and subconsciously we often reach for the ear so the nerve ending do not bother us- it is a pacifying touch.

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Touching the Ear (or Around the Ear) and What it Means

Please Mom that medicine is disgusting

See the subtle disgust in her nose and slight lifting of her upper lip..◦

Please Mom that medicine is disgusting

Jerry Lewis at the MDA Labor Day Telethon

Sep 7 2009
Jerry Lewis at the MDA Labor Day Telethon at The South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas Pictured: Jerry Lewis Picture by: Splash News

Jerry Lewis is fooling around and giving one of his signature faces, disgust.

See how the nose moves up, and the upper lip also moves upward.

The face of disgust actually serves the purpose of closing the nasal cavity so we cannot smell something disgusting. We show the face of disgust subconsciously whenever we feel disgust regardless if it actually smells.

The only thing that is not normal in this picture is the tongue jut- if we do not want to smell something disgusting we certainly do not want to taste it either.◦

Jerry Lewis at the MDA Labor Day Telethon