Body Language!

and he didn't have on pants. Wow. Anyway, we're doing a live show, that's right. We're doing several live shows for our Warmer Climbs Winter tour, and uh we're sold out in San Francisco, San Diego, and Austin. So you guys are on our Christmas list for next year. You are, but there are still tickets available in Dallas and um Atlanta on a different list, Boom and Birmingham and Birmingham and New Orleans. You can see that there. Man, We're

all over the map, that's right. So just go to s y s K live dot com powered by square Space, as is our tour. Yes, and uh go check it out, man, we'll see in January. Right, yes, you got any other tidbits? No? Okay, welcome to you stuff you should know from House stuff Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. It's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. Cherry's in the house. We're back to basics. Yeah, we're doing a social sciences episode. Man, I mean we're all right, man, we get to tear

it apart. You you believe in body language? Sure, watch this. You're winking and shouldering and nodding your head and you're loosening up and you're doing some weird biting thing. What did I say? You said, I'm feeling silly. It's exactly what it is. How about that? Yeah? It said I've had a diet mountain dew and I'm pepped up. Okay, that's what I was saying. Now I'm crashing and he's down. Are you doing good? Yeah? I'm hanging on by a thread. Are you sure we can make it through this? Man?

You you can do this in your sleep? Okay, don't go to sleep. Okay, it would be so boring. You could theoretically do this in your sleep. Yeah, okay, I got you. Yeah, um, so body language it is a thing. When I was researching, I was like, this is junk science. There's no way this is real. And I could not find anything that just said like, yes, body language is obviously junk science. Apparently it's very well established and well reputed. I mean I understand, like, like, yes, there is such

thing as body language included in the evolution. It's basically evidence of evolution from an animalian ancestor. But the idea that like you can read somebody, especially like that facial coding system, it just struck me as really like junkie. Yeah, well we did Um I could have sworn we had done this one when I did. Yeah, we did that, and I think two thousand nine, and I don't remember how I weighed in on it back then. So I'm just gonna start a new and maybe it may be

a different take. I have no idea. People grow and change their opinions evolve, you know. Well here's what I think. Of course, body language is real and it can tell you a lot. I can tell you a lot, but it can also miss you can be misdirected very easily. And uh, I mean we'll get to it. But I found some stuff from a former FBI guy. Even uh, it doesn't say it's junk science, but he's like, you can fool somebody to if you're a sociopath. You know

this about body language of expressions. Apparently it's a myth that, uh that's how I get by. Apparently it's a myth that uh ikon or not having eye contact means deception. Um, while it can. His whole point is they've done studies over the years and habitual liars, h and anti socials in psychopaths have the most eye contact probably because there's

that myth exactly. So it's like a self fulfilling myth. Yeah, Ted Bundy was probably like, I gotta make great contact with everyone into otherwise the jig will be up and I won't get to kill people any longer, my favorite thing. And then so, yeah, there's a lot of myth. There's that. There's that one myth also where like you look up into the right or up into the left of your lying or recalling Yeah, I can't remember, we don't. We

debunked that and something here they're a while back. Yeah, I think I think body language is fun to talk about and study, but when you're convicting someone and as a jury based on micro expression. Yes, there's where the junk science comes in from me, it gets a little dangerous, and not just with body language. Who we need to do a whole episode on forensics in general and just how junkie the science that most of it is based on.

It's basically the only thing that's that's less standing is d n A and even that can be wildly misinterpreted. And we're using this to like execute people, and there's a big problem with it. So I think we've arrived at my problem with it. It's junk science when you apply it for like law enforcement. Yeah as fact, Yeah, agreed, Okay, So can we be done. This is the other thing that got me to um Albert uh Mehrabian. I totally nailed that guy's name. I bet the h is silent

Arabian Arabian. I bet it's just Arabian, not Arabian anyway. Uh Dr Arabian back in said that in the first four minutes of meeting someone, our facial expressions account for the impression we make. Seven percent of that impression comes from our actual words, while the remainder of the information from a tone of voice. Yeah, he does think is what made me think like, no, this is all Yes, Yeah, because it sounds who can who can say that? You can't? Maybe one you could get away with that crap not

in two tho you lived in the past. Uh. Yeah, Morabian was he's He was probably one of the first researchers to study this in the nineteen forties out of U. C. L A and UM. I agree, you can't just break down percentages. I think what he really means to say, if I may speak for him, is facial expressions in tone of voice account for a lot of a lot of what you're getting out of a person. And I

don't think anyone would disagree with that. And the words account maybe for even less than those two things combined. I think people would agree with that too. I think it's when you quantify it seven. He just said that just because it sounds authoritative. Yeah, because he like he fed it into the percentage three maker three thousand and and it spit it out. Uh. But that is not to miss the point that communicating UM inadvertently is something

that we all do through body lane. Sure. Yeah, there's a there's a great quote I ran across on a psychology today post um it was. The quote comes from a sixteenth century Scottish mathematician named John Napier, and he said, if language was given to men to conceal there, oh you found it too. Hunh. It's about as good a quote of body language as you can come up with. You do it, chuck now you you already do better.

Sixteenth century Scottish do Sean Connery reading this, man, if language was given to men and shield their faults, then gestures pish was to disclose them. That's perfect, it's not bad. That was dead on John Napier. It's not as good as my crystal fault. So Napier makes a pretty good point, like, yeah, you can. Language has all sorts of str sure and can be mastered body languages. Much of it is is just inadvertent and we don't even realize necessarily when you're

picking up on it. You just get this weird gut feeling that uh no, I don't trust this car salesman, or I want to give this car salesman all my money depending on the body language. Yeah, and um, it's pretty clear that this started a long time ago, like it predates language because who wrote this By the way, this is a Patrick Kaiger joint. Oh kaigeru Kaiger says um rightfully that it took took's age. You didn't have a lot of time to suss things out, like up

close and personal. You know, once you got close enough within striking distance, you can be stricken. Yeah, you might already have that club upside your head or that rock in your face. Yeah, so you needed to judge someone's body language as they approach you to survive. Yes, you know so, so body language makes sense. And you would also presuppose that since we are descended from animals and

animals clearly do engage in body language. Um, that body language would be older than language, although this this article says that language didn't exist until about a hundred thousand years ago, so it's under dispute. Possibly as much as a million years ago, people were using some sort of verbal communication. Yeah, and Neanderthals apparently also head language. Probably interesting, It is pretty interesting. I'd like to do one on

um animal communication, have we not? I think we touched on it here and there, But I know there's a lot of things like cats purring and tails wagging on dogs that are misinterpreted. Um. Or like a wolf growling. I think that means compet me. You know, it's often misinterpreted as a warning, Come take this stink out of my mouth if you dare. Uh should we take a break? All right, let's take a quick one, and we're gonna get back and explain a little bit more about what

one researcher calls thin slices of experience. So Josha said something about thin slices of experience, And I'm not talking about the uh the roast beef line at the buffet, which is great, thin slices. The carving station? Yeah? Yeah, Have you ever worked at carving station? Have I ever worked one? Yeah? I've hung around one long enough that I basically should have been paid, But I was just eating. What do you wait for the next uh roast to

come out so you can get the incut? I know, I've never been into and cuts, whether it be a loaf of bread or cut of meat. Oh really like a prime rib in cut? Yeah? No, daddy, that's good. Isn't it all salt? Maybe that's why I love it? You like the salt? Yeah? Yeah. To me, it's like the closer you get to the middle, the juicy here it, yeah, and a little a little rarer in the middle obviously. Yeah. So I think that's my problem with the end of anything.

It's undercooked. You know about White people don't like to eat the crust because it's called crust, And that might be part of it. If like a hundred years ago they named it like the butterfly Yeah, the butterfly slice, people would have been like fighting for it, like the butterfly slice is delicious. Yeah. Have you ever heard George Carlin's little take on that end slice that everybody always goes past. They're like, I'm not gonna eat that. That's

the poison piece of bread. I'll leave that for my family to eat. Wait, I guess the NPS didn't called the crust, so is it. The crust is what's around. But it's all crust. That's the problem with you know what I mean, it's nothing but crust. Yeah, not butt crust, it's nothing but crust. I think the other weird man, this is a jerus, This is a strange tangent um.

I think the other problem with the bread end pieces is that eating one end piece with a regular slice is a little weird, but getting that other slice off the tail end is not very feasible or efficient to make two crust pieces. No, but that frequently is the last sandwich that's made out of the loaf because that one end piece has been hanging around. And then I finally mate, yeah, and then you stick some turkey in it and weep quietly while you eat your terrible sandwich. Man,

thin slices. Where were we experience? Yes, this is a professor of psychology name uh Nalini Embody and Batty from Toughs University. Shout out to my buddy Robert Shahade from high school. He works at tough Speaking of you know, there's a kid with like a really huge hit single out right now from your high school. Really, I think your high school is shown in the music video. It's um watching Me whip watch Men. It's reed in weird silento. So I'm no longer the most famous person from high school.

You were until about it six months ago, and I will be again in another six months. Maybe it's a pretty pretty catchy single. It's a hot, hot, hot track. Now. We actually we had several professional athletes that are much more popular than me. We had a professional punter actually maybe before Yeah, we haven't. We've had a few. There's a baseball player, uh in, a puncher. Travis Tritt went to my high school. Shut up really, see that's a big nimee, Travis. Yeah, I don't have any like superstars.

Luke Brian went to UMIs High School. Man, you guys, where'd you go Beverly Hills to uh? Oh boy, here we go again. Thin slices from tough University. Well, let's let's talk about the thin slices thing, man, um the you said earlier that it would be very advantageous evolutionarily speaking, to be able to read maybe the rough intentions of some other hunter gatherer a hundred thousand years ago, read the room like from a distance before they could hit

you with a rock, right, if that was their intent. Well, just as much you want to be able to like walk through the world and be threatened by stuff and to make snap judgments about it based on things like body language. Same thing, and this this is what the thin slices has to do with. Yeah, they're just those first few seconds when you meet somebody. And I mean some people may just call it a gut instinct about somebody, but what you're probably doing is reading body language. That's

what that gut instinct is. Yes, and those things are processed and generated. And I think the Olympic system where emotions and feelings are processed in the brain. Yeah, Olympics system. From what I understand, that's right, which um, she thinks and I agree with her. That might explain why we have such uh, such like a powerful gut instinct about some people when we first meet them, because it's tied to emotion. Yeah. And the whole point is is, uh, this guy will cut your throat if you turn your

back on him. Right, Probably not, but in our modern context it's you know, this guy will inflate the price of the car you want to buy if you if you're not careful. It's it's this totally different things, but it's based on the same principle. It's all based on body language, and we're able to make snap judgments that we can't even stop and really analyze what it was

that person did or what it was about him. We just know that we trust him or don't, or we feel comfortable aroun him or not, we fear them or we don't, based on this body language. And what this professor is saying is we have a very ancient part of our brain that that is responsible for processing this stuff. Yeah, and I think, um, just for me personally, I think if you try to focus on that too much, then

you're not doing yourselves any favors. Like let it be anate. Well, yeah, there's some people who coach this kind of stuff that apparently say no do all sorts of crazy weird stuff, which we'll talk about later. Yeah, I agreed. But what you're looking at, um are There's three different categories I guess um innate learned and some that are both hybrid. Uh, expressions and postures and things that you do and like, for instance, you're born with. Like you can blush, that's

an innate thing. You blush. You don't mean to blush, especially when somebody's staring at your cheek. Yeah. I don't think you can make yourself blush. Watch this, So just think about hot things in your mouth, tighten up your core. Uh. So that's the innate side. Learned would be things like um, hanging someone the bird, Yeah, out the car window, because everyone knows what that means. You're depending on where you

are and you've learned it. Yeah, that's not something you're born doing like, yeah, I got your typer right here to a photo of a baby accidentally shooting a bird is one of the great things can we agree? But it's accidental, there's no meaning attached to it. That's what you think. Um. And then there's hybrid hybrid gestures that

are like, um, shrugging is a really good example. It's something you know you naturally shrug right, right, but it's it's not contextual until you learn what to attach attach it to, Like I don't know, you're not born being like right or you or you you cry, but you've also learned that crying can uh get you something maybe right, or to get out of a traffic ticket or something sympathy. It can chase your parents off to the bar. Yeah, yeah, one of those. Um. And then Chuck I said something

about how you know, flipping somebody bird? Everybody knows what that means. It does depend on where you are, because there is especially with learned. So I think innate body language is virtually universal stuff that you couldn't possibly control. Like, uh,

I can't remember why I read it. But if you take a bite of something putrid and you make that horrible like disgusted face, like oh my god, I'm about to vomit everywhere everybody's watching you doesn't have to go give me that and then take a bite and taste it themselves. They can look at your face and be like, I'm not going anywhere near that piece of feces that guy just took a bite of. Or that's how we

all learned not to eat feces. Yeah, but there's also the human thing where you're like, oh God, smell this, right. That's the person who wants everyone else to suffer like they just did. But everybody else has just been communicated to by that innate face, that nasty face that you would make when you eat something disgusting. And again that evolutionarily that protects us than that respect and make stuff.

So that's universal, but it's the learned stuff that's culturally dependent. Yeah, Like, for instance, they have a few examples in the article, um uh, smiling in the US might mean in the United States might mean you're happy, apparently, in Asia it might say I agree with you. It could also cover up embarrassment if they're embarrassing for you or something that you might smile. Um, yeah, is that what everyone's always smiling at me? They're embarrassed for me. Uh what else?

Ie contact varies from place to place. Uh. Here in the United States, someone might think you're listening and uh like very key to into what you're saying. Are you Ted Bundy or your Ted Bundy? Or if you're in Africa, maybe it might be disrespectful to look someone right in the eye. Yeah, And I looked around and find out what part of Africa because I hate to leave it like that, you know, on this massive continent, do not

look people in the eyes? Yeah, I couldn't find any, And everyone said some parts of Africa everywhere I look. No one specifically said. In the Congo, it's um considered uh impolite or aggressive or something like that to to maintain eye contact. It's definitely in in um Japan. If you make eye contact with somebody, you're saying, I'm your superior. So if you are socially or say business wise and inferior to somebody, you're you're averting your gaze and it's respectful.

In the US, you shake hands and you make eye contact and you just you know, climbed a wrong right there, unless you're prince and then he's like nobody can hide eye contact with me? Is that for real? Because he likes to do things that just mess with people for fun. I think I think of the stories you've heard about Prince are not true. What about him playing basketball? He's like a really good basketball player, though, says Charlie Murphy.

I believe that everything. Charlie Murphy says, I found some more culturally bound stuff. Thumbs up in New Zealand does not mean like right on? Does that mean like a thumb up your butt? Pretty much? Really? Yeah, you don't want to do that. Um. Similarly, when you make like the peace sign, as long as you're not showing the

people in the back of your hand. Yeah. And in in Australia, and I believe New Zealand too, like that movie Bad Taste, the cover of It that I think Peter Jackson's first or second movie, the cover of It's like an alien going like that, and I'm like, what's the what's two? Why was he showing me the number two? Then as I grew up, I learned to understand what that was. What else you got? Uh? And some cultures, nodding means no, like nodding yes actually means no, like

in Grease and Bulgaria getting in trouble. Yeah, and in Mexico, Mexico. This is what I found. Mexico, Haiti, and Spain. It is perfectly normal to go to a waiter, which I do. I don't do it to waiters, but I'm a kind of person. That's how you call someone over and get their attention. You may also make kissing noises at them to a waiter. Yeah. Really Yeah, So I go to Mexico, I need my check and I go. I guess according to this thing that I read, which seemed pretty legitimate. Interesting, Yeah,

what was the website? I don't remember. I'll definitely send it to you to post. But it's it's um, it was like it was research material to be used by business people around the world. If it was a hoax, then they did a pretty good job. Fool in me got you. All right, let's take another break and we'll come back and we'll talk about deciphering some of these nonverbal cues right after this. Alright, So language is a

very precise thing, or it should be or can be. Um, body language would you would think is just all over the at, but they're actually uh, some categories that some brilliant social scientists have come up with yeah, and I think they make sense. Yeah. Basically they've broken it down into five categories or five types of nonverbal communication and body language. Um, there's emblems. It's like hanging a bird, yeah,

or shaking your fist or something like that. Something that that um is very symbolic of something else that you can also put into words, right, who shakes a fist at someone? Some people do, Okay, it's a good it's a it's a good yeah. Yeah, because it's saying like that meddle finger and then you're that's that's very aggressive. That's very aggressive. I'm just kidding. And never flicked someone a bird? Oh oh yeah, like in a car or something.

No way, Yeah, apparently it's really dangerous. Yeah, and that's yeah, that's why I do it. I think it's just I mean, I don't get mad you didn't say things, but I would never. I don't know who that person is. Yeah, it could be a psycho. Yeah. Then you're getting chased or you're getting shot at by someone because you you just had to shoot a bird. Yeah. We talked about this in the road Rage episode. Yeah. I wouldn't hang people to the bird and that's not smart. By the way,

I want to update on that. I've I've been improving more and more behaviorally even since the road rage episode. And I was already on the right path then. So you're doing good behind the wheelers are doing so good. I feel like I'm about the same. Well, you've always been that way. I get mad. One time you rode with me. I think it was the first time you ever rode with me, and I started yelling at someone. You're like, really, you seem genuinely surprised, and I remember

thinking like abnormal. Uh, well that was probably because you were like sending an email with your left hand and driving with your knee and had a coffee in the other I've gotten so much better because you value your life.

I do. It's great. UM emblems after emblem illustrators, which UM like shaking your head to as far as emphasis if to emphasize something you're saying, like like no, Sure you can just say no, but the person is like, it doesn't really mean that until you shake your head but you say no slowly that you're really saying like do not ask me again? Yeah, boy, I never thought about that. The slow one really does mean something. Different. It does, it adds, it bulks it up, you know,

um regulators. Uh. I think this is in a conversation to let someone else know that maybe all right, it's time for you to talk now, or it's time for me to talk right, or it's time for us to stop talking. Like looking at your watch and just getting them walking away. That's yeah, that's body language. I guess it is. It definitely speaks volumes. Um. There's adapters which I guess have to do with the person listening, or I guess anybody either one uh, making themselves more comfortable.

Like you know, when you're in a conversation with somebody and they just kind of shift in their seat like settle in. Yeah, now they could be doing it differently where they're fidgeting, they're shifting in their seat uncomfortably, like they can't get comfortable. That say something totally different than somebody who's just like settling in, just making themselves more comfortable.

Or I guess if you like, if you're having a conversation and someone just sits up on the edge of their seat, that kind of says we're done here, Sure, I'm about to get up. Yeah, so please say something enclosure. Yeah, especially if you sigh while you do that too, you know. Yeah, and then there's affect displaced. And these are the ones that most people think of when they think of body language.

These are the ones that, um, you know, like where you make that that face when you eat something putrid, or your shoulders go up around your ears when you're scared all of a sudden, Yeah, if you're mad. It's emotional based. Yeah, emotion based, yeah, like your your eyebrows furrow. Uh. There's just so much body language. I came across this

one guy from and m Argyle. No idea what the M stands for, but in Professor m Argyle, a researcher of body language, said that there's probably something like seven hundred thousand words in the body language human body language. I have no idea how he or she came up with that seems high, But it's fun to throw out there, junk science. You could say anything back then. And it's as far as like social psychology, um, misinterpreting body languages. We talked a little bit about that. That is very

easy to do. UM. They have one little anecdotal story about a woman who was a consultant that I think she was pitching in the CEO of a big company and um, the guy just sat there basically with his arms crossed and didn't emote. At the end, was just like thank you, and she thought, well, I've blown this one. And turns out that is just the way that guy is. He loved he loved the jerk, he loved the presentation, and Uh, if he hadn't liked it, he just would

have left, is what the partner said. I think. Yeah, so you can easily misinterpret body language. UM, I don't know if it's I guess it could be dangerous and that well, I mean that's part of the problem. It can be dangerous, especially when you apply it to law

enforcement like um. Paul Ekman. We talked about him heavily in the micro Expressions episode because he basically studied micro expressions through facial movement, facial muscle movement, and figured out what each one meant, and he came up with the Facial action Coding System the f a c S, which apparently the FBI and other law enforcement agencies used to tell whether you're lying or you're hiding something in an interrogation.

Misreading that that's dangerous, that's when it becomes dangerous for sure. Yeah, this dude, I was talking about Joe Navarro, who was a twenty five year vett of the FBI. He's written a lot about body language, and he's one of the ones that warns about the myths and misreading things. But um, his uh. He wrote a whole article on shoulders and he said everyone's always talking about the face and facial expressions.

He thinks you can read a lot into the shoulders of a person, whether it's slumping or bowing up or uh. And then he actually talked to criminals over his entire career and said, what do you look for in a victim? So if you're looking to not be victimized, you might want to avoid these things looking frail or weak or not athletic, work out, yeah, or just you know, try and carry yourself like you're not frail or weak, you know. And I think there's a lot to do with the shoulders. Um.

Situational awareness, which is a big one. If you just look like your have your head in the clouds, that's a target what you're in your head about something? Yeah? Uh. And then um, the way someone swings their arms, um like vigor vigorously or real subdued, not at all like on on episode. Yeah, that was it was that Roquel Welch. No, it was um well yeah I ended up as Rockel Welts, but it was Molly Shannon. Oh yeah yeah, yeah you

remember she like swept, Yeah, Elaine's desk just clean. Yeah, Shannon, and she's one of my favorites. She's fantastic. Um so what was Yeah, the arm swing and basically what these criminals would say to him over and over. As you know, their silver Backs don't go after other silver Backs. They go after the weak ones. And they said, it's the same with criminals. So I keep those shoulders straight. And uh, I was like, what the silver Back? I forgot? It

sounds like a criminal corporate buzz speak. Yeah, you know silver Backs. It's the local soccer team. How do you not know what that is? Is it? Sure? That's what I thought? Yeah? All right? Uh? What else we got? Oh? These uh, these people that try and coach you. We're gonna mention that not jobs. I don't think they're not jobs, dude. Okay.

The one, the one person who emerges as the hero from this article says, be very careful in trying to pay attention to your body language and speak consciously through it, because you're going to you're gonna have massive problems. That's not what body language is intended for. So the people who say no, master your body language and use it to communicate, You're gonna come off as a creep, an aggressive, weirdo,

corporate creep if you do that. Well, yeah, I mean, if you're making a presentation, it's hard enough to get the words right. So if you start thinking like about every single movement you make and what that conveys, don't I agree. I don't think you're doing yourself any favors. Or Like, if you go to again a car sales car lot, right, and you're like, I'm going to make sure I look very defensive and aggressive, so I'm going to go rigid and my shoulders are gonna go up.

The car sales is going to be like that. That guy's walking like a robot, I'm gonna take him for a ride. You know, there's you, You just you could conceivably speak through your body language more. I don't dispute that you can become more aware of your natural body language too. I don't dispute that either, but when you focus on it and use it as a technique to

manipulate other people, I have issues with that. Well, here was one idea didn't think was terrible, like if you're if you do a lot of public speaking, then um, maybe watching yourself with the sound off. Sure. I didn't disagree with that one. That's not a terrible idea, I think as a matter of fact, I was like, maybe maybe I should try that. Uh. The other technique that was brought up was called mirroring. That means, and this

just sounds crazy to me. This is when you actually try and mimic the person you're talking to, mimic their body language and expressions too, I guess, to make them feel more comfortable to you. People are attracted to themselves as the basis of it, so when you uh mimic them, they feel more relaxed around you. Like I really like that person. I like the cut of their jib. I don't know, I can't put my finger on it. But

they're actually mimicking your own body language. If you're leaning leaning against the wall, they're they're gonna lean against the wall too. That's disconcerting, it is, that's that's nuts. You shouldn't do that to people. That's manipulative and weird, and it just be yourself. How about that? Yeah, I think this quote sums it up. I'm trying to learn. I'm trying. Sorry, Trying to use body language by reading a body language dictionary is like trying to speak French by reading a

French dictionary. So you can list off all the nonverbal cues in the world. But if you try and learn the body language quote unquote because of that, then you're just gonna end up confused or you're gonna miss something actually said. Yeah. And plus also context is huge to Like, if you're just watching somebody's body language like a hawk and a conversation, you don't necessarily know that person's baseline.

So what is by definition is body language dictionary. A red flag doesn't necessarily mean it's a red flag with that person, you know, like if they're yawning, are they bored or are they nervous? Right, you gotta have context and you can't just you can't just read people like that. It's stupid go with your gut um, But I don't

think you should actively try to read it. If you want to go ahead, I don't care I'm not going to I did read an article with one um woman who was an expert supposedly, and she did talk a lot about the baseline. She's like, that's the most important thing is you don't know. You gotta know how someone normally is. Are they twitchy? Then? Uh, if you're they're twitching a conversation, that's normal for them, right, So it doesn't mean that you can't trust what they're saying, right then,

it just means that they're a little awkward. Yeah, like me, You're not awkward. Do you got anything else? Nope? Friends, that is body language, and if you want to know more about it, you can type these words body language into the search bart how stuff works dot com. And since I said friends, it's time for a listener mail. Uh, this is from this is a question actually I said

we'd answer on the air. Hey, guys, been listening for quite a few years, and you've seen me through a lot of years of growth out of high school and into my own as an adult. Of a question that's been a challenge for me recently, I'm studying permaculture quite intensively. In parts of the study are pretty depressing. My climate

change species lost in unfair trade. I try to reflect positives only to my clients who are trying to grow their own food, because they'd rather encourage them to sustain themselves physically and emotionally than feel guilted or trapped into changing a lifestyle. Realize that having the opportunity in time to focus on ethical choices the luxury, and want to avoid shaming people. I think this approach is good for my own well being because tackling issues bigger than myself

seems more harmful than productive. But like you, part of my job uh is education. Um So the question is how do you guys deal with darker topics that you cover. I really appreciate the way you do it some uh and it would like some insight and advice. How prevent these topics from weighing too heavily on you and still live a life of enjoyment yet conveying topics honestly? And

that is from Annales in Australia. UM. I think my answer is like when we cover something like dementia or HIV like we recently did, we're always going to have humor in there, respectfully and in the right ways because that's what we do. Plus also it helps when we're getting this stuff across. It's not like it's not like we're causing dementia. We're just saying, like, here's all the information that that we found on this, here's everything you

need to know about dementia. And I think the thing that that allows us to go from you know, lighthearted topic to a very dark topic to whatever is that we're we're putting it out there as objectively as possible, as unbiased as possible, trying to we're not passing much judgment on it depending on the topic, but for the most part, we don't really pass too much judgment on it,

and I think that that allows us to talk about anything. Yeah, and as far as taking it home, Um, if we do something that's a big bummer that it really impacts me, it'll bump me out for sure. But I'm just like anything else, I think knowledge is is key to Uh. The more you know about something, less um scared you might be of it. Yeah, you just go work it out,

you know. Definitely. Yeah, that's great answer you too. If you want to get in touch with Chuck for me or Jerry or anybody who we could conceivably pass a message along too. All right, Yeah, you can. You can tweet to us at s y s K podcast. You can join us on Facebook dot com slash stuff you Should Know. You can send us an email to Stuff podcast the house. Stuffworks dot com and has always joined us at our home on the web, Stuff you Should Know dot com. For more on this and thousands of

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