WEBVTT - Emoticons Saved My Life 0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:04.720 Welcome to stuff from the Science Lab from how stuff 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:16.320 works dot com. Hey guys, and welcome to stuff from 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:18.440 the Science Lab. This is Alison madam Out, the science 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:20.759 editor at how stuff works dot com. And this is 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:23.720 Robert Lambs, science writer at how stuff works dot com. 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:27.120 And you know we um we communicate a lot at work, 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:30.760 uh via email? We do. Yeah, even though we're just, 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:33.320 I don't know, a few yards away from each other. 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:36.080 We do. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes they have the habit of 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:39.360 um popping over your cube wall and annoying you, but 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:41.000 only from the right side. Well, you know, so much 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:42.880 as annoying me as just shocked me because I always 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:45.680 have my headphones in and so yes, you do so 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:47.920 jamming out in your cube writing. I have a hard 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:49.800 time figuring out how you jam out and right at 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:51.800 the same time, I don't know how I would write 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:53.840 if I didn't jam out. It's the only way to 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:55.720 do it. Listening to music with words doesn't that to 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:58.040 strack to you know, I can't listen used to when 0:00:58.080 --> 0:00:59.959 I had a more brainless job and I was doing 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:03.200 and like pagination for a newspaper, that I could listen 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:05.800 to the whole podcasts and you know, where their discussions 0:01:05.840 --> 0:01:08.280 and stuff and and you know, and and I can 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:10.560 do my job, but like here, as long as it's 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:14.360 not somebody giving me a lecture, you know. Yeah, most 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:16.119 of the lyrics to the things I listened to aren't 0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:19.959 really that deep anyway. So sometimes we do communicate by email, 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:23.720 and uh, you you're you throw in an emoticon sometimes 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:26.200 in there. Yeah, I'll throw it in emoticon just too. 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:29.880 It's kind of like real writing, in my opinion, shouldn't 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:33.120 have a lot of exclamation points a streamer. Yeah, but 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:35.640 sometimes you're doing a short email, you know, it's like 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:38.200 an exclamation point can make all the difference in in 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:42.640 the enthusiasm level, you know. Uh. And likewise, if you're 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:45.400 not too sure about about how your you know, words 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:48.360 are going to be received by the recent recipient, uh, 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:50.320 you know, you throw on a little smiley face or 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:53.800 I don't really use said faces in in work emails, 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:56.680 but but sometimes there's a little like annoyed one, you know, 0:01:56.720 --> 0:01:59.000 where you do like the you know, the two eyes 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:02.280 and then kind of like a sideways kind of um, 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:05.000 you know mouth. But I'm never really sure when to 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:07.080 throw it in a moticon, to be honest, have I 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:09.880 ever sent one used on an email to you. Yeah, 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:12.760 like you were saying earlier, you just you rarely emote anyway, 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:17.919 basically a robot. But you know it's like as a writer, 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:21.079 I feel like I can generally say exactly what I 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:24.160 want to say. The email is a tricky method of communication. Yeah, 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:25.840 sometimes you gotta shoot him off fast. You don't have 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:27.800 a lot of time. And it's the same with like text. 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:30.560 You know, you know you you just you know you. 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:33.320 You want to convey the message quickly and non starting 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:35.200 an argument, so you just be like, you know, you're 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:38.679 just throwing a smiling So tell us a little about 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:40.800 the history of the emoticon. No, this is this is 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:44.280 actually pretty interesting. It is. Yeah, we can pinpoint the 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:47.679 exact moment when emoticon sprang into existence, and that was 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:53.280 even four am on September nine, And that was thanks 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:58.400 to you, gentlemen, and Professor Scotty Falman Carnegie Mellon. And 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:01.320 he was suggesting their use. He was talking about the 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:04.320 limits of online humor and how you know to really 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:06.840 get across comments that are meant to be taken lately 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:10.600 and said, so he said, and I quote, I proposed 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:14.680 the following character sequence for joke markers. Um, you can't see, 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:17.480 so I will tell you. It's the the smiley face, 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:23.079 the colon dash parenthesy and read it sideways. So let 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:24.840 me read that to you. Aain. I proposed the following 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:27.519 character sequence for joke markers, and he gave an emoticon 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:29.520 and then he said, read it sideways. Yeah. Now he 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:33.720 included the knows I rarely include the notes. Yeah, yeah, 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:36.000 so I used a simplified version. But this was this 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:39.160 was early in the emoticon creation process, and it's really 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:42.560 really skyrocketed since then. As I think everybody knows, there's 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:46.520 just and there's a huge array of emoticons you can 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:50.400 whip out in uh in your daily email correspondences aside 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:55.640 from just smiley frownie brownie. I like how they all 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:58.720 get the e. Yeah, there's there's a vampire one where 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:01.640 blood suck your Yeah. I don't know when you would 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:05.080 use that. And there are different ones in Japan too, right, yeah, 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:07.880 I mean especially when you have a different well, actually 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:10.080 I saw a chart where it's like in the Japanese 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:13.000 emoticons have a tendency to they tend to want to 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:17.200 make there's more um horizontal instead of vertical. And and 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:18.919 then also when you get into other languages, you have 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:21.520 more characters and you can really create crazy emoticons that 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:24.600 like look like ogre faces and and cats and well 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:26.520 cats and the cat one you can actually do uh 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:29.040 with just it's like an equal sign and then ah, 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:32.560 what's the carrot? Yeah, like a carrot and then a 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:34.280 dot and then a carrot, then an equal sign. What 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:36.640 wila you have? Like a have you used that one before? 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:38.880 Are you pretty psyched to use it? Yeah? I don't 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:41.479 know when I'm gonna, you know, unless I just start, 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:43.800 like if after text my wife would be like, did 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:46.120 you feed the blank? And then I've thrown the mooticon 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:48.359 for the cat. But that's longer than typing out you know, 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:50.960 texting cat. Yeah, but we do that all the time. 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:53.840 It's like around here, Um, you know, when people ride 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:56.280 how stuff works, at least in the office, they'll put 0:04:56.400 --> 0:04:59.080 HSW because it's shorter on paper. But then you hear 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:01.080 people saying, yeah, we really need to think about hs 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:03.480 W and then you're like, that's not shorter. You didn't 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:05.839 save any syllables and saying hs DEB instead of how 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:10.880 stuff works. That's true. People should just be rational. Um. So, yeah, 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:13.039 like we were saying, emoticons are awfully handy when you 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:16.600 don't have the ability to convey your tone or your feeling. 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:20.200 And yeah, they help out when our voices can't do 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:23.640 the same. And uh and and I think one of 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:25.960 the even more important things, and what we're really going 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:28.920 to talk about in this podcast, um, is that they 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:33.400 give they provide you a face during faceless correspondence. You know, 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:36.360 you can't you can't see my facial expressions when I'm 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:39.559 emailing you or texting you. Unfortunately, we don't have video 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:41.960 phones yet. Well, I guess we have had some like 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:45.119 poorly conceived ones, but they're not widespread by any means. 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:47.440 They're out there, Yeah, they're out there, but I mean 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:50.080 it's not like you know, um to Android's dream of 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:52.040 electric sheep, you know, and they're all calling on the 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:55.800 video phones. Yeah, I mean, it's not quite dick Tracy yet. 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:58.600 But but but indeed, yeah, it's not a standard part 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:01.640 of our Most people do skype quite a bit though. Yeah. Yeah, 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:04.440 so emoticons are pretty handy, but they really don't compare 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:06.240 when it comes to the human face and what it 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:08.919 can convey. Um, I mean think about it. Now, what 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:10.240 do you I'm trying to look at you and I 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:13.000 can't really see your mouth, Robert, are you smiling or 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:16.040 frowning or scowling? What would you describe your facial expression 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:19.120 right now? Now, now there's a smile because you think 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:22.719 I'm being stupid. But but yeah, like the very basics, 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:24.839 the smiles, the frowns of scows. You can look at 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:27.040 somebody and you instantly have a good idea of what 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:31.200 they're there. You know, their whole attitude is um. Right. 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:33.000 So for example, a person who's trying to gain your 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:36.400 trust may smile um. Someone trying to scare you will 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:39.720 scowl um. And we use these faces, you know, not 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:42.320 just to win trust, but you know also influence and hey, 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:46.680 manipulate others. Yeah, I mean, a nice smile will get 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:50.080 you pretty far, as they say, you say, I don't 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:51.880 know if they say it, but everybody knows it. You know. 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:54.320 It's like, you know, you get pulled over by the police, 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:56.000 what are you gonna do. You're probably gonna put on 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:59.960 a smile or maybe you're going to frown. You're really sad, 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:03.640 you know, cry, Yeah, you could bust out the tears. Yeah, 0:07:03.720 --> 0:07:07.440 emotional manipulation goes a long way, and it's you can 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:09.720 probably do a lot more. I mean, there's no problem 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:11.000 about it. You can do a lot more in person 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:13.720 than you can do with an emoticon. Right. So, according 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:16.960 to researcher Paul ekman Um, he found that humans share 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:20.840 at least seven primary facial expressions with identical meetings. Um. So, 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:24.800 first time we have happiness, and you know, while you're 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:26.680 listening to this, think about happiness. What are you doing? 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:28.840 Are you raising, you know, the corners of your lips? 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:32.040 Are you wrinkling your cheeks a little bit, narrowing your eyelids? 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:35.680 Are you producing those lovely crow's feet, those wrinkles in 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:38.040 the corners of your eyes? And then of course we 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:41.680 move on to sadness. What is that feature? I mean, 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:43.880 I think we all know it's sadness. Features snarrowed eyes, 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:47.680 eyebrows brought together, downturn, now pulling up a bunch of 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:51.240 the chin, all that good stuff. And there's fear, uh 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:55.280 and the yeah, wide eyes And apparently a fear is 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:58.800 very similar to surprise. Yes, I believe that. And it 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:02.280 also has a good flaring of the nostrils involved in fear, 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:05.160 which I never noticed before so much I noticed in cartoons, 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:08.520 not really in people. Anger. It's generally a lot of 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:14.040 eyebrow emotion. Yeah, And there's disgusted, um, you know, no scrunching, right, 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:16.600 you know, anytime you see somebody smelling something bad, raising 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:20.680 of the upper lip, downcast eyebrows, narrowed eyes, um, surprised 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:25.200 like we mentioned, and then contempt contempt of course, and 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:27.600 that's notable for raising one side of the mouth into 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:30.480 a sneer or a smirk. Yeah, and a lot of these, 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:32.920 I mean it's things that we pick up from other people, 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:36.599 like in a very early stage we we we don't consciously, 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:38.840 well most of us, unless you like a what a 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:41.600 sociopath or something, you know, you're not consciously using all 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:44.360 of these facial expressions. They just come out. They it's 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:48.880 an expression of what you're feeling inside, right. So, and 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:52.080 then sometimes we have these things called micro expressions. Um. 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:54.480 And I think Chuck in Josh did a good podcast 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:57.160 on micro expressions and there's also an excellent article on 0:08:57.200 --> 0:08:58.400 the side if you guys want to check it out. 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:00.800 And these are super interesting. These these are these just 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:04.839 very fleeting expressions that you know occur across your face, uh, 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:07.760 that you really can't control. And there are a lot 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:10.720 of times they're like real tells of what you're feeling, 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:13.000 you know, like you're maybe you're faking that smile or 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:15.880 that frowned for the police officer. But if the police 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:17.960 officer was able to tell be able to read your 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:21.400 micro expressions, then he might be he would be able 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:23.600 to tell like, oh, well, you're lying about something, or 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:26.960 you're really nervous about something that's in the trunk. You know, 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:31.160 well maybe not. There's not a specific micro expression for oh, 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:33.040 my goodness, there's something there's a body in the trunk. 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:35.360 But you know what I mean. Yeah, I don't know 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:37.360 if you heard it. But back when the whole baseball 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:41.080 scandal was erupting with Rodriguez and McGuire and some of 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:44.720 those folks, there was a there's a guy who analyzed 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:47.760 Alex Rodriguez uh an interview in which he was asked 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:50.400 about whether he took some of these substances. And the 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:55.480 psychologist or or researcher involved in it analyzed Rodriguez's face 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.360 for micro expressions, and you know, he would stop it. Oh, 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:00.400 you know, point to that, look what he's doing there. Yeah, 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:02.960 there's something with the brow as I remember correctly, Um, 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:05.200 if I remember correctly, as is supposed to be like 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:09.920 a real telling micro expression of lying. Yeah. So there 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:13.160 are three thousand of these different expressions according to uh 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:16.320 Paul Ekman. Yeah, and he's really like the godfather of 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:20.640 micro express mr micro expression. And these things can be 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:23.000 pretty brief too, like they're only they may flash across 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:26.520 your face for a second, all right, I mean they 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:28.960 occur so fast that they're not even perceived by the 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:33.240 conscious mind, uh, by either the person expressing them or 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:37.319 the person observing them. And as few as ten percent 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:39.920 of the people, yeah, are even aware of seeing micro 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:43.200 expressions when tested. So it's it's really like below the 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:48.960 surface of conscious perception, you know. Yeah. So we have 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:51.640 all these handy expressions and micro expressions as the case, 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:54.600 maybe to convey how we're feeling about the world, But 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:57.200 what what about instances when when we can't when we 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:00.160 can't emote. Yeah, I mean that's again it comes back 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:03.839 to the emoticons that we throw out during emails. Most 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:05.800 of the time, that our emails are not really life 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:08.920 or death, you know. I means sometimes they are, but 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:11.079 but for the most part, you know, it's critical deadline. Yeah, 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:13.959 it's critical deadline. Or it's like you forgot to pick 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:16.520 something up at the grocery, that kind of thing. Um, 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:19.120 But there is a situation where it is very often 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:21.640 life and death or there's a huge potential for the 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:23.680 situation be life and death. And that is when you 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:26.720 get behind the wheel of an automobile. Right. So driving 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:28.839 is a communal activity. I mean, we tend to think 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:31.199 of driving as an individual experience because a lot of 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:32.800 us are just hopping in the cars and you know, 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:34.800 driving off to work. Yeah, you're sealed in there with 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:37.440 your music or what have you, and you're listening to 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:39.720 his stuff from the Science Lab podcast and really just 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:44.240 you're into it. But you know, you have other drivers 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:46.840 on the road, of course, and you can't really easily 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:49.640 communicate with other folks, you know, next to you. You 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:52.040 can't say, hey, I just cut you off and I'm 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:54.360 really sorry about that, or you can't say, hey, you 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:58.559 just cut me off and what the heck was that? Yeah, 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:02.199 there's um uh, there's a there's a guy by name 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:06.960 of Dr Leon James, who we're talking about Mr Face earlier. 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:10.320 This guy is also sometimes called Doctor Traffic and he 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:14.480 Dr Traffic, Jonathan Strickland wrote an article about road rage, 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:16.880 and it was just kind of funny when you consider 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:19.240 that Strickland doesn't drive, so he wrote the article on 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:22.040 road race. But I mean, I don't collide Adams or 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:24.600 anything our particles, you know, so and I wrote about 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:27.280 that is a good point. That is a good point. Yeah. Yeah, 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:29.880 we're great writers here, but we don't have to actually 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:31.760 do the things we write about. But but anyway, in 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:35.040 the in the article, um Dr James points out several 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:40.040 um aspects of driving that contribute to rate rising, frustration 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:43.280 and stress levels that often boil over into royal into 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:49.280 not roid rage, but road rage um. And these include immobility, constriction, 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:53.720 lack of controlled Um, we get very territorial. Uh, there's 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:56.640 denial and loss of objectivity that means we tend to 0:12:56.640 --> 0:13:01.360 overlook our own faults and place the blame on others. Uh. Unpredictability. 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:03.520 Like a lot of this is when you're I think 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:06.280 in life in general, we create like a story around 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:08.600 ourselves where we're the center and everything else is just 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:13.520 you know, gunk, you know, ecocentrics. Yeah, and you get 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:15.319 in the car and it's the same deal. It's like 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:17.600 it's all about like, like, how did that that guy 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:19.320 was out to cut me off? Yeah, you cut me off? 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:22.120 Why is this light not cooperating with me? Come on bus? 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:24.679 You know it's like that's that's that's how we get. 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:28.880 But then another interesting um, the fact that James points 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:33.640 out is ambiguity. Um, there's no culturally agreed upon way 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:36.680 to signal an apology to another driver. I mean, there's 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:38.920 the whole like thanks, you know, for letting me out 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:40.840 while I was trying to take a you know, a 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:43.280 right or left. But but beyond that, it's easy to 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:47.319 misinterpret someone's actions as a sign of aggression or insult. Okay, 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:49.560 let's pause for a second, because I think that there 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:52.240 are a couple of ways out there that people do 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:55.080 communicate and okay, let's hear him. Okay, So first we 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:57.400 have the wave like you were just talking about, and 0:13:57.440 --> 0:13:59.640 the wave is hey, thanks you just let me in. 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:01.960 And I've apreciate that. I look for the wave after 0:14:02.000 --> 0:14:04.480 I let somebody in, because you expect the way because 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:06.360 you're gonna be mad if they don't. Right, You're like, 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:08.640 do do you get do you get? Like? Like I 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:10.800 just like, yeah, buddy, I'm gonna be late and you 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:14.839 didn't even wave to me. No, no, I would never 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:16.640 do that. And then you, of course there's a horn. 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:18.640 But as you're pointing out earlier when we're talking about 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:21.440 this podcast, um, you know a lot of polaces have 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:23.920 cracked down on using your horn. You can't blare it. 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:27.240 People don't really like all that noise pollution. Um, but yeah, 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:29.160 sure you can. You can use the horn. There's the 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:31.280 light tap. If say you're sitting at a light and 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:33.400 the person in front of you hasn't gone, you kind 0:14:33.400 --> 0:14:35.400 of give the light tap. But but I have to 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:37.920 admit I think I've been in situations where the person 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:41.320 has honked back at me after I honked for them. Well, 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:44.920 it depends on the honked And I also i've done that, 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:47.880 like I've honked back at somebody. Why I don't know, 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:50.880 because when we're behind the wheel, we're different creatures, you know, 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:52.680 and we're like more prone to anger. And I'm there 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:54.360 was like one I forget what I was doing. Maybe 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:57.680 I was tweeting or something. I don't know, but it's 0:14:57.680 --> 0:14:59.440 a legal Robbert, Well now it is. But this is 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:02.480 a different um. Back in the days when you could 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:05.160 months ago, well I know I was at it stopped, 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:07.600 you know, I mean, yeah, I was at a light 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:09.320 and suddenly it turned green and I didn't know that, 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:11.120 you know, did it turned. The dude behind me gave 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:13.400 me a little hog and this like like anger rose 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:14.800 and I'm like, what are you honking at me for? 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:16.320 And then I honked back and then I was like, wait, 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:20.040 the guy would totally correct to honk at me. Um, 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:21.680 I would like I would like to also put a 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:24.240 signal out there, UM, the hold up the hands to 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:27.520 acknowledge fault or blame. Sometimes I will do this if 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:30.080 I have you know, if I've done something like oh shoot, 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:31.520 I should not have done that, so you know, I 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:34.720 hold up my hands. Yeah. Well I used I used 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:38.800 to be more um yeah, expressive in my irritation to 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:42.440 other drivers, but I I finally have just settled on 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:45.000 just shaking my head from side to side and like disappointment. 0:15:46.160 --> 0:15:48.880 And it works two ways. A it's very subtle, and 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:53.200 it allows me to to let some of the you know, 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:55.840 the anger out in a very calm manner. And also 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:57.880 other drivers aren't going to see it and attack me. 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:01.360 Because once I had that happened, I was I was 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:03.600 on the way to like a job interview, and we 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:06.000 were it was like raining, and we're like stuck in traffic, right, 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:10.640 and there's like some like annoying trucker behind me. Why 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:12.440 would you mess with the trucker. I wasn't messing with 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:14.560 the trucker. It was just kind of like like he 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:17.640 was like really writing my tail. Like no, it was 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:20.880 the heat, I know, because he got so irritated, and 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:22.600 I think I like throw my hands up or something, 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:24.600 you know, uh, you know, but I mean I'm in 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:26.800 the car in front of him, right, and then he 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:29.520 like loses it, gets out of his vehicle and like 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:32.640 walks up beside my car and and like it it's 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:35.560 like like you know, just jetting wildly, like he wants 0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:37.360 me to get out and like fight him in traffic 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:39.960 or something. But the weird thing was it's like I 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:41.960 I look up at him right and make eye contact 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:44.240 with him, and I imagine the look on my face 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:47.120 was kind of like what what's going on? There's like, 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:49.240 you know, I'm just kind of completely shocked. So he 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:51.200 like he makes eye contact with me, and it's like 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:54.360 he instantly like calms down and goes back to his car. 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:56.520 And it's this is not like a Jedi mind trick 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:58.920 thing with me. Either. It's like he made eye contact 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:02.240 with me, he saw my face, you know, and and 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:04.639 then everything was human again. Okay, that's really interesting you 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:06.440 say that because I'm sorry, guys, we are talking a 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:08.480 little bit about road rage, but you are welcome to 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:10.439 share your road rage stories with us, and now I 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:13.639 want to share one of my own. Um, similar thing happened. 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:16.119 I was driving home. I used to have a long 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:19.080 commute from from a different job, and there's a particular 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:22.239 intersection and a gentleman just kind of you know, all 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:23.760 of a sudden crossed in front of me. It was 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:27.720 really tight, and um, I gave him a long loud horn. 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:30.400 I should not have done that. I do not suggest 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:32.520 that I'm not proud of myself for giving the long 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:35.840 loud horn, but I did. And he stopped the car, 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:39.639 and he got out of his Mercedes convertible and he 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:42.359 came toward me in my little eccount of box, and 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:44.480 I rolled up the window and unlocked the doors and 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:47.200 just stared straight ahead. There was no eye contact. I 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:48.919 would not look at him because I was afraid of 0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:51.840 provoking him with eye contact. So that's interesting that you 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:53.760 said it, I wouldn't look at him, but yours kind 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:55.639 of abated based on that. Well, I have seen some 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:59.520 reports to some studies that to to talk about like 0:17:59.720 --> 0:18:03.080 icon tach Um not doing any good after a certain 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:05.600 point if everybody is still angry, because it's because then 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:08.080 you know, it's like you have angry drivers, and then 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:10.560 if they're like only the only it's like that you 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:13.040 just compound, you compound what they're feeling, and you confirm 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:15.320 any kind of negative feelings if you like make finally 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:17.080 make eye contact with the other person and they're like 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:19.520 scowling at you, because then it's just like you know, 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:22.320 you're thinking, oh, these drivers are monsters. You know what's 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:24.760 with Atlanta's drivers? Then you make eye contact with them 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:26.560 and you're like, look, I was totally right. Look how 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:29.680 angry they are? Right right? Okay, So all of these 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:31.680 road rage stories, what are you gonna do? What's the 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:34.520 driver to do? How are you going to emote? Clearly 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:37.480 to throw up the hands has multiple meanings. People aren't 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:39.600 always so psyched about the light tap on the horn, 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:44.399 and not everybody can drive a convertible, right, So there 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:48.520 have been some efforts to bridges communication gap among drivers. Um, 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:52.120 let's talk about one called the Vehicle Signaling System. Yeah. 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:54.280 This was like a patent I believe, Yeah, and I 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:56.960 was by some guys named Jerry E. Beasley and E. 0:18:57.119 --> 0:19:01.280 Scott Geller. And this particular to allow drivers to display 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:04.480 a message like sorry to other drivers. According to the 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:07.840 patent quote, the messages associated with the use of the 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:11.520 communication system are selected for enhancement of safety and to 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:15.400 avert the negative responses associated with read rich cool sounds 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:17.560 like a good thing. Don't think it ever quite took off. 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:20.760