Rolling Eyes

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Does anyone know what emotion is associated with rolling eyes (:roll:)? My guesses are "bored" or "annoyed", but I see the emoticon used in contexts that are not consistent with these meanings. Also, upon closer inspection I see that the emoticon is slightly smiling, which it would not be doing if it were depicting a negative feeling. Unfortunately the tooltip doesn't offer much help - in contrast to other emoticons, it does not name the associated feeling.

Last edited by magic on 09 Oct 2004, 7:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

From the looks of it I would guess it is similar to blushing but not as strong.
Maybe selfconcious or nervous? Or just unsure.

Good question! When people roll their eyes at me, it seems to indicate - 'here she goes again... talking the same old silly stuff again with no understanding/interest in what we're thinking, but we'll humour her and sit through it until she shuts up, cos it's really not worth arguing with her' (or something along those lines I think)
But the emoticon kind of looks sad and confused or maybe embarrassed... I think it's the little tweak on it's mouth that throws me. Perhaps it's got tourettes?

i agree with ilster, for the first bit.

perhaps it's constipated.......


V

p.s. lol

I think the smile is because the rolling eyes emoticon indicates that the person who's rolling their eyes almost finds what the person is saying to be absurdly funny because it's missing the point so much. The rolling of the eyes itself is to indicate a sort of contempt for what's being said. This particular rolling of the eyes with a smirk smiley is used to indicate that what someone wrote is kind of silly and tangential to the point (i.e., what we aspies often do in real life!).

People who are rolling their eyes might be thinking, "He/She just doesn't get it. It's not about that. Why are they even saying this at all? I don't care about this, and they've already mentioned it a million times."

IMHO,
Rolling of Eyes is simply a non-verbal way of stating "whatever".

I heard that it's a way to show arrogance and basically say that someone is inferior. At least, that's what an NT said.

I mostly roll my eyes at myself, or at my own annoyance/denseness (density?). Just in case anyone thought it was directed at them (in a bad way).

I use them as a kind of disappointed 'tut'....

Rolling eyes is generally associated with sarcasm.

If someone says something and then uses a roll eyes smiley it means they're being sarcastic, or stating a "yeah, whatever, I don't care" sort of attitude.

Or what someone said is so stupid that they use the roll eyes expression to say "What you said is stupid and I can't be bothered with it"


Don't ask me how I know this but I got told off alot for rolling my eyes when I was younger and my mother (NT) tought me what it meant.

This is why I totally put my back up when someone quotes my post and uses the rolleyes smiley.

I don't know if i've ever used that smiley on this particular board, as I don't want people to be offended if it's used when they're posting in a serious manner.

Oh, and I hate sarcasm and everything about it - lowest form of wit.

For me it means annoyance/frustration/bafflement (I don't get "fuming angry type frustrated" most of the time, more "baffled and annoyed type frustrated"). If there is a "slamming head into board" emoticon, I usually choose this instead.

If used directly after quoting someone, it seems to mean disagreement and bafflement at how someone can state something like that, if used after a description of a situation it usually seems to mean bafflement or annoyance at the situation described.

Noetic - well put! That is pretty much how I use that Emoticon. That and sort of a resigned acceptance that I messed up again or totally failed to grasp something at the time. Sort of like saying 'ah well, it's done now, can't go back and change it'. I only really mean it in a light-hearted way. Not to show disdain or to belittle what someone else has said.

That goes for me too - I have never interpreted the rolling eyes as sarcasm or 'whatever' attitude myself, if it had a sound I would attach a groan to it... Personally I don't generally use sarcasm on the board anyway unless in response to a joke comment, usually with a wink or 'raspberry' emoticon to make it clear I am being cheeky or not serious. I usually favour sardonic or humorous comments over sarcasm myself, which are less likely to cause offence.

Dunc

Sardonic = "showing a lack of respect in a humorous but unkind way, often because you think that you are too important to consider or discuss a matter". (Source: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define. ... &dict=CALD) Please forgive me, but I have never noticed you behaving in an unkind way.

I must be doing a fairly good job of not causing offence then magic

To be honest, I only usually do that if someone is really irritating me, or I'm feeling flippant. Everyone has their off days...

As for the second part of that definition, that doesn't really apply to me as I don't think of myself as superior to anyone - just generally irreverent...

Dunc (whose mouth tended to get him in trouble a lot as a kid)

Hm... I tend to use the "rolling eyes" smiley only when referring to myself or something in my life that I am frustrated with, but can see the humor in. It is much like the "oh, not again!" sort of idea. I don't use it toward other people's posts, because I do not feel that way about other people, anyway.

I also used to roll my eyes when I was younger, though I'm not sure why. My parents always got angry at me for it, so I stopped.