How often does someone wink at you? Do you ever wonder what it really means? A wink is a facial expression made by briefly closing one eye. It’s an informal mode of communication usually signalling, depending on context, sexual attraction, or shared hidden knowledge or intent. However there is a hidden agenda or some sort of unspoken communication. Maybe, just maybe winking is a language in itself. Whatever it means it sure does make you feel better about yourself.
Winking is a secret form of communication in which you can determine another person’s train of thought. Sound far-fetched? That’s what you thought about telepathy; however it’s still a worldwide phenomenon discussed and practised by thousands of people everyday. Often winking at someone is a sign of flirtatiousness however it has many other meanings. A typical scenario in which a person winks at his or her friend signifies many things. Hello perhaps? Or maybe it’s just a substitute for a smile? If so why can you pick up so much information from such a minor facial action?
From a personal experience I would describe winking as a subtle way of indicating something you’re not saying, sort of like “you know what I mean” if you know what I mean. After some extensive research I also managed to find out from a variety of forums that many people use winking as a form of insult in the sort of situation which it is inappropriate to do or say otherwise. After hours of searching I found background information on winking is rare to say the least. I couldn’t find one single piece of evidence that could sum up winking in a nutshell.
Take the World Cup of 2006 for example. Remember Christiano Ronaldo? I’m sure you do. He got Wayne Rooney sent off, controversially I might add. The Manchester United legend was caught on camera apparently winking at the bench after Wayne Rooney’s dismissal, infuriating the England fans. The Portuguese international caused outrage among the England fans and officials but without little or no time to think about his undignified actions his ‘hero’ persona quickly turned to hate. How could such a little thing cause such controversy?
England captain John Terry admits he is still haunted by Ronaldo’s 2006 World Cup wink. Many people still believe that England were potential winners that year. In an interview with the England defender, Terry admitted “I still remember Ronaldo winking. Things like that live with you forever.” And so they did. Is there more to this than meets the eye?
Another example of a famous winker is Anne Robinson. Short ginger hair, presents the weakest link, yes that’s the one. At the end of each and every show the ageing presenter winks at the camera before saying, “you are the weakest link, goodbye”. This is to surely let her guests and viewers know that some of her opinions expressed are to be taken humorously and in good faith, even if they do land her in a spot of trouble with some of the contestants. It’s probably all that winking that led her to believe that botox would make her look more youthful. However she only succeeded in tightening her skin so much, she looks like a teenager all over again.
Enough of celebrities, what about its origin? As far as I can tell the first person known to have winked in public was Nell Gwyn, a famous mistress of King Charles 2. It is reported that she winked at the king while standing outside the globe theatre while waiting patiently to watch a remake of a play by famous playwright Ben Jonson. Rather interestingly it was that wink that helped the King discovers an interesting fact. According to Wink Martindale of St. Martin’s Press a woman who has the ability to wink also has the ability to flex the muscles in her vagina in much the same way causing an indescribable sensation which the king himself couldn’t get enough of.
Another incredible story from the same publication reports of the first time Congressman James Madison spotted young Dolly Madison. Dolly was wearing a low cut dress. The congressman noticed that due to the arrangement of her dress it was actually possible for a small man like himself to see up this ladies petticoat. As he began to blush at the thought, she winked at him with only one eye. Six weeks later they were married.
As I delved further into the wink’s origin I also came across a couple of interesting extracts from the King James Bible. The wink is mentioned frequently throughout however is always associated with sin. According to Bible-History.com it is often associated with conceit and rebellion against god.
An interesting verse reads, "Neither let them wink with the eye that hate roe without a cause. A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with froward mouth. He winketh with his eyes,"(35:19). It seems that even God himself had some strong opinions about winking; the verse above almost translates into ‘a wicked man is one who winks with one eye’. Now there’s something to think about the next time you make a so called “friendly” gesture.
Winking is not perceived in the same way by every country or continent however. In many Asian countries winking could be seen as an offensive gesture. In India it may cause offence as people believe it to be an insult or even an obscene sexual proposition. We should all think about that when we go abroad and be careful not to land ourselves in hot water.
However not all winking is voluntary. According to the absolute-astronomy website children and adolescents have a habit of winking under stress, sometimes without them even knowing. It is usually considered to be part of the tourettes syndrome and usually stops as the person gets older. Some people can only wink one eye, usually the dominant eye; these people find it awkward to wink their other eye.
Some superstitious people believe that when your left eye is winking something good is going to happen but beware if your right eye is winking then something bad may happen. Don’t take my word for it thought as with most superstitions it’s a tad far fetched.
When I interviewed Jane Marshall of bodylanguageexpert.co.uk she told me that women may find winking more offensive than men. “Sometimes winking is seen as a sexual invitation which is regarded as rude by many females as is wolf whistling,” she said. I asked Jane why some people found winking insulting, “If your in a crowded room with somebody you may find intimidating but are too scared to mention it to anybody, if that person winks at you implying that you may be in danger the person may feel insulted but even more importantly intimidated by the persons actions”, she replied.
In more recent news Sarah Palin has recently come under criticism after winking continuously in an election debate. She was up against Joe Biden in the US election campaign to become vice president. Kit Pepper a member of the non-partisan League of Women Voters said recently "She winked at us. All the claims that the media is sexist and the Democrats are being sexist are out the window. The fact that this woman as a vice-presidential candidate stood on national TV and winked at me completely insults me."
This only backs up what we already know about winking being something of an insult. It’s a hard one to call I’m afraid and your culture largely contributes to your perception of somebody winking. How you perceive it almost becomes irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that winking can cause controversy. So in future be careful who you’re winking at!
