Sunday, July 6, 2014

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2876: President Obama on Key Bridge regarding John Boehner's Lawsuit - "So Sue Me" - (VIDEO, PHOTOS)





Last week Barack Obama stood next to the Key Bridge and taunted Republicans. In response to John Boehner's lawsuit, the President said, " .... so sue me! ..."

As usual, any person even briefly speaking regarding any emotional subject gives up a lot of body language tells - and here Mr. Obama is no exception.

Below is a partial nonverbal analysis of one particular signal.




" ... Boehner sued me for this; and I told him, 'I'd rather do things with you - pass some laws - make sure the Highway Trust Fund is funded so we don't lay off hundreds of thousands of workers'; it's not that hard. [tongue in cheek during 1:57-2:00] Middle class families can't wait for republicans in congress to do stuff ...."



The word "hot" is an example of a homonym; thus a woman may be described as "hot", ISIS is a "hot" topic, it's "hot" out in Phoenix, or a particular Peperoncini is "hot" - all have different meanings. Yet we have no difficulty discerning these meanings here because of the other words accompanying them in their respective sentences. Unbeknownst to many - there are multitudes of nonverbal homonyms as well. So be careful to never interpret a body language signal in isolation.

Depending on the other nonverbals with which it is clustered, a "Tongue in Cheek" has several possible meanings. It can indicate "I just won", "I gotcha", sadness/grief, anger, deception, and even (but certainly not the meaning in this example) a projection of sexuality. Which of the other nonverbals seen clustered here in this video give President's tongue in cheek an accurate meaning within this context?

See also:

Nonverbal Communication 2875: Eugenie Bouchard, Wimbledon and Tongues - Body Language Nuance

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2796: Olivia Wilde, Butter, Jon Stewart and the Tongue in Cheek - Body Language 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2352:  Mila Kunis' Tongue in Cheek  Graham Norton Part II

Nonverbal Communication Quiz-Analysis No. 2869: Barack Obama's Executive Action on Immigration Reform, The Rose Garden 30 June 2014 - Sincere or Insincere?

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2843: Barack Obama & Vladimir Putin in Normandy

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