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Original poster

What is the usual meaning of someone wiping their lips with their hand when talking to you?

28 replies

JudyOha · 15/02/2019 20:46

What is the usual meaning of someone wiping their lips with their hand when talking to you?

I've noticed this behaviour when talking to 2 men in the last few weeks.. e.g. if we unexpectedly saw each other at work and had a bit of small talk, they'd maintain eye contact with me but quickly and lightly wipe the side of their mouth.

Initially I thought "oh yikes maybe I've got something smeared around my mouth e.g. makeup, dust or food" but I checked myself in a mirror after both times and didn't have anything weird on or around my mouth...

What do you think is the meaning? It's happened two separate times recently by two different men.

OP posts:
EverybodysTalkingAtMe · 15/02/2019 20:47

They are signalling to their accomplice across the room that you are suitable for human sacrifice

hidinginthenightgarden · 15/02/2019 20:47

I would think they had excess saliva or something similar.
I wouldn't think anything else.

CinnabarRed · 15/02/2019 20:49

Honestly, I wouldn’t give it a second thought.

TheBreastmilksOnMe · 15/02/2019 20:49

I think you’re over thinking things.

ScreamingValenta · 15/02/2019 20:49

They've been assailed with a paranoid fear that they've got food around their mouth.

They've got a cold sore developing and it's itchy.

Corneliusmurphy · 15/02/2019 20:53

Do you spit when you talk?

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 15/02/2019 20:59

They want to ravish you on the spot.

It's the drool they can't help but produce at the sight/smell/thought of you.

Original poster
JudyOha · 15/02/2019 21:01

lol I'm mainly asking as I haven't really seen them do when speaking with other people..!

OP posts:
Parthenope · 15/02/2019 21:02

They are desperately in love with you and making the international gesture for DESIRE AND LONGING.

Or they have excess saliva.

gamerchick · 15/02/2019 21:06

Do you spit when you talk?

Admittedly my first thought.

IDoN0tCare · 15/02/2019 21:09

Like this, OP. Did you have a donut earlier? They can maybe smell it off you.

What is the usual meaning of someone wiping their lips with their hand when talking to you?
WoollyMummoth · 15/02/2019 21:12

They’re members of pack of werewolves and are contemplating eating you?

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 15/02/2019 21:14

If they can smell the doughnut they must be either Zombies or else Rottweilers.
It's not ideal for OP.

UtterlyDesperate · 15/02/2019 21:14

Everybodys Grin I think you've cracked it!

greendale17 · 15/02/2019 21:19

They are signalling to their accomplice across the room that you are suitable for human sacrifice

^This

Racecardriver · 15/02/2019 21:23

I compulsively though my mouth. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a tick. I suppose I do it more when I am absent minded. Many people have it. It’s apparently a sumptom of an oral fixation (see Frueds stages of development theory).

U2HasTheEdge · 15/02/2019 21:24

For me right now it means my dry roaccutane induced dry lips are driving me mad and I am self-conscious they are bleeding or I have big white flakes on them! Or I am just worried I have food on my mouth.

Karmin · 15/02/2019 21:30

Two possible routes for consideration.

You are questioning your own competence, likability, ability to hold their interest, and so forth. Most people are not nearly so attentive to the reactions of others as to be able to consciously note others' gestures. I have known a couple of people who do that and, they had social anxiety. They overinterpreted others' reactions and projected their own expectations for how others were reacting, based on their own personal insecurities. They were insecure and presumed others were judging them negatively.

If so, this may be more a trick your mind is playing on you.

People can touch their face in certain ways and it may signal certain things. Decrypting the meaning is not an easy thing as there are not universal meanings ascribed to gestures, and particularly to face-touching gestures. Touching the lips or the lower part of the face can be interpreted as indicative of dismay, worry, surprise or the perception that the person feels they are being lied to. I've also noticed people touching their face when they are thinking about something when they are intently concentrating, or when they are bored. Some people do it when they are listening to something. Some may do it as a way to regulate their sensory processing. Smokers might tend to touch their lips or mouth as a way to partially placate their oral fixation. There are a plethora of possible meanings. You would need to have more information to get a full, accurate read on what is going on in their head at the time.

WheelyCote · 15/02/2019 21:31

Maybe theyve just eaten and maube can see you checking out their lips and thinking
'Shit have i got something on my mouth'

Or maybe they have a joint plan to see how long it would take to weird you out.

Next time it happens call them on it. Youll prob find its a self consciousness habit

twattymctwatterson · 15/02/2019 21:35

Do you have anxiety op? I wouldn't even register this, let alone take note of how the person behaves when interacting with others.

IDoN0tCare · 15/02/2019 22:10

You are questioning your own competence, likability, ability to

I read that as lickability. I think I need to stop drinking wine.

longwayoff · 15/02/2019 22:18

They're just drooling over you. Or dribbling. One is probably better than the other but not sure which.

Original poster
JudyOha · 18/02/2019 20:40

Hm so many sarcastic responses.. I was merely curious that's all.

It can't have been that I was spitting as I was over 8 feet away from both people when talking to them.

OP posts:
Elephantina · 18/02/2019 20:45

I think I do it when I feel self conscious - worried about having something there maybe!

So perhaps they feel self-conscious when speaking to you - or, if the show "Lie to Me" is anything to go on, perhaps they are hiding something or trying not to say the wrong thing?

Or maybe that's bollocks...i dunno. But I wonder these things too OP, I'm an overthinker.

Kittykat93 · 18/02/2019 20:50

Not sure what this means op, but some of the responses have given me a much needed laugh Grin

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