I'm not a fan of people that wave their hands around all the time

[LiberalFighter]

Besides Trump the new attorney on MSNBC Misty Marris moves her hands all over when she talks. She appears to have her own show on a different show.

[marble falls]

1. Boxing matches must just drive you nuts!

[Hassin Bin Sober]

2. Parades too!

[LiberalFighter]

5. How is that the same as moving your hands constantly while talking,?

Especially if they don't represent the words being spoken?

[H2O Man]

12. Like this:

[LiberalFighter]

13. Not the same. No comparison

[H2O Man]

21. Exactly the same,

from Ernie's point of view.

[LiberalFighter]

32. Ernie who?

The boxing situation again is not the same. Muhammad Ali was boxing which require using your hands. And he wasn't talking constantly especially when he was either fending off blows or hitting him. He was throwing taunts which were not constant and only the opponent heard him.

[H2O Man]

37. I'll speculate

that you have never boxed, or sat ringside. Having done both many, many times, I can say with zero chance of error that lots of boxers talk to their opponents. More, if you actually watch the film, with sound on, you can hear the Champ talking to Ernie Terrell.

[LiberalFighter]

38. And you think it is similar?

[H2O Man]

40. I know it is.

It is the exact same, only very different, in a mysterious way.

[LiberalFighter]

41. You are wrong wrong wrong

What you refer to in boxing is not the same.

There is no gesturing with the hands. Hands are in boxing gloves that does not allow the use of fingers to move and coordinate with any talking.

The gloved hands are limited in the motions they will use. They are not the same as a speaker gesturing with their hands.

Any talking is only for the purpose of taunting and distraction directed at the opponent.

[H2O Man]

42. You know nothing

about boxing, as your statements illustrate. Why, you'be hardly hit the tip of the ive cube on why fighters talk. Maybe you've watched a Eocky movie. But I will assure you that all of human life imitates the great sport of boxing.

[LiberalFighter]

43. Total bull

[H2O Man]

44. You can't say.

I mean, you can type meaningless stuff, or say it out loud to yourself. But you have no idea. No more than a celebate person guessing about sex.

(I note than you ignore my second comment, per the evolution of human language.)

[H2O Man]

22. On a less serious note,

if you study the history of our species and the evolution of language, you find that moving the hands while speaking is something built in to us.

[mitch96]

26. A classic talker hand waver is MSNBC Jen Psaki. Always talks with her hands moving. I think it's for emphasis.

My old man talked with his hands. Hold the hands and he could not talk!!
m

[LiberalFighter]

29. I may be wrong but think she doesn't move her hands as much

[mitch96]

34. Is this excessive or normal?...starts at 1:20

[wnylib]

53. Colbert also moves his hands while talking in that clip.

[LisaM]

3. I have dyslexia.

Sometimes moving my hands around helps me find the right word when my brain is tired.

[LiberalFighter]

6. But do you do it constantly like Trump?

[LisaM]

24. I do not.

But I just wanted to point out that sometimes people have reasons for moving their arms when they talk (though was the OP about Trump?)

[Hekate]

58. Trump is a case unto himself. The problem you face is in generalizing the behavior to everyone else

There are any number of cultures on this planet where everybody waves their arms around and talks with their hands. America and England just happen to be rather stiff that way.

[marble falls]

45. We gotta stick together! I'm a left handed dyslexic.

[LisaM]

48. So am I!

[Hekate]

56. Something kinetic is at work. My learning style at lectures was to take continuous notes

Then I focused and remembered. In grad school I learned I am moderately ADD. I realized something in the bodily movement of note taking helped me. I suspect that there might be something similar at work for you, even though dyslexia operates differently than ADD.

[NanaCat]

60. Studies have shown

That note-taking by hand is by far the most effective method of retaining and understanding information, for most of us.

That applies to neurotypical and ADD people.

[Hekate]

62. What was weird was that my classmates in grad school were all over the place for note-styles...

Some put a tape recorder in their desks. Some actually sat back and just listened. Some only jotted here and there. I essentially made a transcript.

One of my classmates was an Educational Kinesiologist, and during breaks would go outdoors to do her exercises. Eventually about half of us followed her out to do the same.

My ADD only came up more than halfway thru the program because of some assigned reading. When we returned my classmates were all “Oh that was interesting,” but I had cried all night. Let’s just say I was in my mid-40s and had spent a lifetime trying to block out my mother’s stated feelings that something was terribly wrong with me because I did not study in the manner that she did — and suddenly it turned out she was in essence correct about my being different. Though still wrong to assign it to my being passive-aggressive toward herself.

So much of what I did that got me thru to my BA in youth and my MA/PhD in midlife was a matter of inventing things that worked for me, like being a night-owl and writing when the world was asleep and quiet. Ha, also moving out at 19 so I didn’t disturb anyone with my being awake and typing when I should have been asleep like all right-thinking people.

No matter now — I am an old grandma, and have had an interesting life because so many things are fascinating to me. Many many interesting things.

[sop]

4. Trump plays the air accordion.

What instrument does Marris play?

[former9thward]

7. I think that is a New Yorker thing.

People from NY and especially NYC always seem to wave their hands around when speaking.

[NanaCat]

61. I've known New Yorkers who didn't do it

But the Italians from there were not among them.

Might seem like a NYC thing, when it's really an ethnic thing that's more noticeable there because the city is such a melting pot of world cultures.

[hlthe2b]

8. There is a wide range of "hand gesturing"--subtle doesn't phase me but waving all over my screen...

like Trump with his "air accordion" and taking it from mild emphasis to a near upper arm workout is beyond distracting to me.

I guess I haven' seen Misty Marris too much previously. She does seem to be a little excessive with her gestures. She probably ought to be on the food network--with all her "mixing, spreading, stirring, kneeding, and seemingly "plopping" gestures in rhythm to her speech. LOL

[yorkster]

14. Priceless description, especially the "plopping".

I say this as someone who is somewhat of a gesturer myself.

I hope she avoids "beating". 🥣

[LiberalFighter]

18. Yep! That is the style she uses.

They don't correspond to what she is saying.

[sl8]

9. I like when John Williams does it.

John Williams & Vienna Philharmonic – Williams: Imperial March (from “Star Wars”)

Deutsche Grammophon - DG

[...]

[LiberalFighter]

20. How would it be if he was vocally giving instructions at the same time?

[sl8]

23. Probably not good.

Don't mind me, just attempting some levity.

[marble falls]

46. Don't worry, you hit the mark!

[sl8]

50. Thanks. I didn't think I could go far wrong with John Williams. nt

[Hekate]

64. I've been in choirs, and the conductors do indeed "talk" by mouthing words

[Elessar Zappa]

10. It can be cultural.

I know in my area Hispanics tend to use their hands more when speaking. Not sure of Morris’s background.

[wnylib]

55. I can attest to cultural influence on talking with hand movements.

My ex used to needle me about "talking with my hands." Said I'd be mute if I sat on them.

My ethnic background is a mix of northern European and Native American. But I grew up in a city with a lot of Italian immigrants and first generation Italian Americans. Had many Italian American classmates and friends.

It's a cultural habit with many Italian Americans. I guess I absorbed it from my environment.

Also, I had a cousin who learned sign language when her mother started losing her hearing. We went to the same junior high school. A student was mainstreamed into our classes from a school for the deaf. The two of them used sign language and taught me to use it.

[SWBTATTReg]

11. I'm not either, and being hard of hearing, it makes it hard for a hard-of-hearing person to (1) read their hands

if they sign (2) the waving around of hands makes it almost impossible for a person (me for example) to read lips, the hands moving around all of the time distract me.

I think that they do this (the constant moving of hands etc.) is a sign of nervous energy. Calm down!

[LiberalFighter]

27. I sometimes will look at the lips to help understand what is being said.

I have congenital atresia of the bones. Did not have ear canals either. Had numerous corrective surgeries for both the ears and inner ears. After surgery for an eardrum my hearing was such I could hear down the hall of the hall. It didn't last long.

I continue to use a bone conduction type hearing aid.

It doesn't help when the TV is out of sync with the people talking. At least close caption helps.

[SWBTATTReg]

31. Yes, closed caption is a life saver for me. I've burned out several volume controls in some of my earlier

TVs, so it's a nice touch not to have the blaring of the TV so loud (my roommates and neighbors appreciate it too). It's to the point now that the volume on the TVs isn't enough, so the CC is nice for me. I do even have a box to add CC to a subtitle, if the program in ? doesn't have CC (in the early days, few if any programs had it, CC).

Perhaps someone offers lip reading in your area. That was the one choice I had, among signing too, that I was offered. Signing was just coming out, and I'd already kind of 'read lips' already by then (I was nine years old when they discovered that my 'issue' was simply a hard-of-hearing issue, and not being mentally challenged as the common diagnosis was back then).

I too, hate it when the TV is out of sync w/ the characters' mouths. Usually on those programs, I just skip them and go elsewhere.

[LiberalFighter]

33. When I am one on one with someone or a small group

I am usually looking at their lips.

At meetings when someone comes to ask me a question I get down from the stage so I am closer to them and hear better. Acoustics are not good. When I need to I will pull the control box of my hearing aid out and hold it closer to them.

[maveric]

15. I'm Italian. Can't speak unless my hands are moving.

[LiberalFighter]

28. But are you using the same motions over and over?

[maveric]

30. I've got a few moves. Not all the same.

[Silent Type]

16. Bill Maher on trump dancing and hand movements.

[Jerry2144]

17. If I speak without using my hands

My brain engages and I sound less stupid.

[appmanga]

19. It's tough for a New Yorker...

...to talk without moving their hands.

[EYESORE 9001]

25. During the years when I went on job interviews

I was advised to use my hands more when talking. The furtive gestures I made seemed to attract a laser-like gaze at what my hands were doing, so I abandoned the practice. I guess I’m just not fluent in hand jive.

[Goonch]

35. 👇👇👇👁️👁️

[marble falls]

47. Play Vogue along with it, it's hysterical ...

?si=xbKNyzIRNI8bbzhq

[MenloParque]

36. In my Black/Spanish family we use our hands when we speak. Sometimes wildly! Sometimes in different languages!

I have no issues with those who do not use their hands when speaking. Why would I?!?

[orange jar]

39. I do that.

I have anxiety + a fear of public speaking. When I have to give presentations, I tend to use hand gestures while talking to focus and calm myself down. I don't think I'm super animated about it, though.

Some people are also just naturally hyper. If she's new, it'll probably subside over time.

[Oopsie Daisy]

49. Yes... politicians who play "invisible bongos" or who gesticulate like they're conducting an orchestra *

* it's incredibly distracting and annoying. There are times when it's an effective way to make a point... but when every syllable is a finger-jab in the air, or a squeeze-box (concertina) pantomime... these excessive gestures become ridiculous.

[Celerity]

51. pro tip: do not go on holiday to Italy

[IcyPeas]

52. Video:

She does, indeed, use gestures

[betsuni]

54. Very distracting. I can't not follow the waving and gesturing movements, like a cat.

David Muir makes unnecessary hand gestures (although he seems to be getting better about it) when he anchors the news. I need to concentrate on the words of the news and not turn into a cat.

[jcgoldie]

57. Trump plays air accordion

People are saying he may be the best air accordion player they've ever seen...

[NanaCat]

59. Do not go to Italy

One of my aunties came to America when she was a baby. Growing up in the US didn't change how she would have gone full-on mute if someone had handcuffed her. Her whole family was that way.

[Ping Tung]

63. Trump reminds me of this guy with his preacher voice and hand movements.

[Polybius]

65. You should have seen my Italian family's Sunday dinners in the 90's

Hands moving everywhere!