Eyebrow Skills
originally posted: 10/3/01
Brought to you by a writer called Convenience Store Veteran in the Pioneer Press online Bulletin Board. CSV writes:
"When I was a lad, I was a big fan of the original 'Star Trek' television show. As many know, the Vulcan Spock (Leonard Nimoy) would quizzically shoot up one eyebrow when faced with a conundrum, especially involving human foibles. (I didn't notice at first that Dr. McCoy -- DeForest Kelly -- often did it, too.) Still in single digits, I decided somebody who did that would be very cool. I held one eyebrow in place with my fingers and would raise them both up. It didn't take very long before I could keep the one brow in place when pushing up the other one. After a while, I could keep the one in place without my fingers. When people would talk about their talents, I'd show them the eyebrow thing.
"Truthfully, I may simply be frowning with one brow and relaxing with the other one, and the one doesn't go up very far, but I can still do it. Now I can do it as a natural reaction, without thinking. It's a blast. Someone will be spouting off some good-natured line of you-know-what, and I just give them 'the look,' and it stops them right there (and they don't feel too bad, either). I've actually generated laughs with a well-timed eyebrow-raising."
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Like Convenience Store Veteran, I learned the eyebrow-raising trick from TV. I, too, was a rabid Star Trek fan as a kid and admired Mr. Spock's facial gymnastics. But it was the Six Million Dollar Man, Steve Austin (Lee Majors), who taught me to do it myself. Steve's technique was the opposite of Spock's: rather than lifting one brow, he squinched one down over his eye. (For Steve, it seemed to be an expression of consternation rather than bemusement.) I practiced before the mirror until I could squinch at will, then concentrated on lifting the opposing brow at the same time. Now, like CSV, I can skeptically arch either eyebrow, squinch them individually, or raise one while lowering the other for a comic expression of puzzlement.
What other cool (or not-so-cool) skills have we learned from watching TV?