A Big Yawn

Don't know about you all, but tomorrow I need to go out and stock up on Jones Soda's special Thanksgiving flavor, "Tofurkey and Gravy Soda."

Looks like paddy water, and I wouldn't have believed it if I'd not seen it myself. Jones must be the craziest comestible company in the universe: earlier this year they nixed their Black Cherry Soda, my favorite mass-produced beverage.

I think I managed to stifle my yawns. I had plenty while grading papers today (Tuesday) and more to come on Wednesday.

If I'm yawning, it's because it's almost 1 o'clock in the morning and I should be asleep.

I see if I'm still yawning when I wake up later this morning.

And it appears that a human yawning can make a cat yawn in reaction. Roh just yawned right after I did. Now, I just need him to relinquish my pillow...

 we habve toa lot to think about.. <a href="http://www.rushessay.com">; essays </a>

I just drank half a pot of esspresso.  Nothing could make me yawn right now.

Cats are the only animals that I have ever seen yawn.  I wonder if turtles and guinea pigs yawn.

Julia  Masi:    Dogs  yawn.   And  furthermore  they  don't  cover  their  mouths  or  say  "excuse  me."   The  same  applies  to  sneezing  abruptly  in  your  face.  But  there  are  good  things,  unless  of  course  you  have  company,   at  which  point  you  have  embarrassing  good  things.  I  am  referring  to  spontaneous  licking  of  my  face.   My  morning  awakening,  and  my  reward  for  scratching  those  spots  behind  the  ears  that  drive  dogs  nuts.

JULIA- I may make a small pot of esspresso later as a treat, I'm a hot tea woman.( My wonderful mother-in-law is Italian & has given me two of the old stovetop esspresso makers. I Love them!) Our big chow chow Eddie not only yawns, but makes a big yawning noise too- it sounds like he's either totally snapping awake or as if he's bored as a gourd.

I just tried to take out the extra s I put in espresso & it snapped me out & printed it. weird...

  
Only a man of considerable self-assurance would pose a topic so laden with potential emotional explosiveness in a time of war.

I have a friend who, though he does not deny yawning, has never been seen to do so and a grandson who, in a car with four incessant yawners, did not succumb.

Earlier, I received a little thank-you email that set me to wondering why a recently deceased man with whom I rarely spoke would have wanted me to know that he remembered me as a  "nice guy."

It was in response to his overwhelming sadness at hearing his beloved granddaughter described with a word that had: "But one meaning," that I offered a plausible alternative:

"Just imagine that, when she was hired, the positions of why-er; when-er, where-er and what-er had already been filled. Why then, their work would all have come to nothing without a competent who-er,"

Nice try, Stoney, but the fact that she appeared nekkid online catering to a particular set of fetishists was hard- make that difficult- to overlook.


 

When my dog yawns I tend to yawn a few minutes later. Therefore I will classify the Dr. Gallop's studies as True.  
 
Bert ~ I think you got Park4 & I goofed up yesterday I went out to become a Blonde as to why well let's just say it was time for a change...I will admit when I met my friends at the club last nite no one was yawning when they saw me :)
 
HAve a great day everyone I'm off to peddle books at B&N for the day. I promise to try not to Yawn if I get bored.   

Rings90:   Sorry,  yesterday  I  inverted  a  number  of  things.  Distracted  with  work  emergencies,  by  the  person  who  I  hired  "so  I  wouldn't  have  to  come  in  coupla  days  a  week."   Rings90---NOT  blonde.    Park4:  blonde.   Govern  myself   accordingly.

Only a few days ago, after inviting my best friend to a webcam chat, she began yawning terrifically! I thought it might have been me, since she's such a night owl and is usually wide awake at that time, but it turned out that she was grading papers for school. (What is it about that particular activity that seems to cause such a reaction?)
Anyway...her yawns were highly contagious! I couldn't stop myself from yawning right after her, no matter how much I tried to will myself to stop. It might have helped me to stop, if she, like me, had covered her mouth, but I think she was actually enjoying the control she had over me.
The Mythbusters had an episode that tested a pool of 50 people to see if they could prove that yawning could be subconsciously induced. Their test proved inconclusive, though it made me yawn to watch it.

Our feline friend is in Lion's Pose.

"An often-overlooked benefit of Simhasana is that helps keep the platysma (a flat, thin, rectangular-shaped muscle on the front of the throat) firm as we grow older. The platysma, when contracted, pulls down on the corners of the mouth and wrinkles the skin of the neck. Simhasana gives stretch to face and arms and relieves tension in the chest and face. It can also relieve a sore throat and other respiratory ailments. According to traditional texts, Simhasana helps to cure diseases and facilitates the three major Bandhas (Mula, Jalandhara, Uddiyana)."

So yawning is actually GOOD for you.

I never realized that birds could or do yawn. Peter Lake, have you seen your bird do that? I'm willing to bet there's not one turkey yawning in America today!
And that includes that 'lucky' turkey named "Courage" - who will be pardoned by the President and then flown to Disneyland to be the Grand Marshal in their Thanksgiving Day Parade.  

I think the most interesting yawn is the ferret's. If you scruff a ferret it will start yawning. It does work as a kind of warning to you that if you keep holding like that it will begin to have oxygen deprivation. Let it yawn more than 5 times and you could have an injured creature. And who would want a ferret with brain damage..they are gooy enough already! My favorite yawn is the pug's. When my pug open up wide for a yawn it is always my fear that he's just going to go inside out, with so little mouth to open, but opening it so wide! So here's to your yawns as you finish your turkey... pass them graciously around, but don't forget to say "Excuse me."

Kindlee - Lola, the cockatiel, definitely yawns.... and not just when I'm talking to her.  I've never seen the 'keets' (Louie and Baba-Louie) yawn....but they do everything so quickly.

  
Deadfield,

You ain't wrong: When our boxer Daisy yawns, that gaping maw looks capable of engulfing her whole head or mine.

I had almost forgotten, but some years ago and don't ask me how, I found myself in a class taught by a woman who having been through an incredibly traumatic series of horrendous personal events, the details of which escape me, came out the other end with the ability to communicate with animals and a wish to pass that on.

It was my trust in and admiration for our trainer, I guess, that made me apt to bite on pretty much anything that she recommended.

While not openly skeptical of the process the spiritual lady was promoting, I was, as the only man in the fairly large class, not an easy sell.

Our dog was already able to convey that she was looking to have that silky place under her neck stroked; that she was starving or could eat a little something; that the water in her bowl was not fresh and that she wanted to go out, come back in or take a nice walk.

That worked for us and my repeated attempts to get more out of her resulted in a curious cocked-head look and nothing more.

When, after a few sessions, we had our personal visit with the guru, she asked about the best moment in our day.

"It was," I explained, "at day's end when, having been let out one last time, the dog followed me upstairs in darkness, jumped up on the bed in what has become known as our grandson's room and waited. I would half-lie on the bed, she would place her soft chin on my right shoulder, do a deep trembling sigh and wait for me to say: 'You are the best, you're so pretty and I love you, sleep tight. She would yawn, lie down, curl up and sleep through the night'."

"That yawn," explained the woman, "is a sign of nervousness and discomfort."

I did not stand up and walk out but I have no memory of returning for the remaining sessions not least because if I had been allowed to continue, I would have said how, moments later, that exact procedure was repeated in another bed with my wife playing the part of the dog.

I refused to believe that my whole life is based on misreading female emotions.











 

  
Nothing to do with yawning but too good not to pass along:

http://www.elabs7.com/functions/message_view.html?mid=899946&mlid=499&siteid=20130&uid=088444ae16

STONEY:
 
Those yawns you're talking about make me think you are a comfort to and providing a safe place for the women in your life.
 
Phooey on that lady.
 
For me snoring makes me feel safe. I can sleep through anyone snoring.
 
My ex snored and now my neighbor, whose's bedroom backs up to mine, snores.
 
I've told his wife about this. She was a little embarrased till I told her it makes me feel safe and the best part is I don't have to cook for or clean up after him.

Korthal:   With  my  luck,  I  would  complain  about  neighbor's  wife  snoring,  then  get  knocked  senseless,  the  man  assuming  I  acquired  the  information  clandestinely,  and  was  rubbing  his  nose  in  the  poop...

Is a yawn still truly a yawn if it's being done intentionally in order to pop ones ears either when congested or on an airplane? Or is a yawn just a yawn when it's involuntary? Have a great holiday everybody!

Stoney, 

Would you stop by our house tomorrow and tell your stories and memories to my family. I know they would enjoy them as much as we all do, which is enormously. You may want to eat first ‘cos I'm cooking dinner for better or worse. I do make an awesome cuppa joe and we are having Cheesecake Factory Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake for desert.

Allow me to offer a word to the wise in regard to your nightly ritual.... Do not, I repeat..... do not do it out of order..... But if this should happen; just don't use names.

Your story wakened a long-ago forgotten memory of the first time I was sent away for a management training seminar. It was in the early ‘70s and I cannot remember the name of the hotel but it was less than a block away from central park. I remember my walk-in-closet size room well ‘cos it had to be 95 degrees and that's just the way it was. The view was overlooking an alley with a brick wall on the other side. It was winter and the only way I could sleep was by cooling down the room by opening the window. The sounds of sirens, honking horns and garbage pick up echoed up to my room all night.

Anyroads, on the first day, all of the victims of this class were seated around the typical horseshoe configuration table waiting for our instructor. Suddenly, the double doors at the end of the room were opened by two ‘Vanna White" type females who never said a word the two days we were there, but sure did a great job turning the flip charts.

While they held open the door, our instructor slowly entered the room, dressed like an 1890's funeral parlor director and looking like Ebenezer Scrooge if he was still alive today.

He sat down, after spitting on the carpet, slowly lifting his head to avoid any sudden movement, and instructed us to go around the table, stand up and "proudly" state our names because in his words; " a man's name is his most valuable possession".

When it got to be my turn, I did as instructed..... I stood up, recited my name in a loud, clear voice, and before I sat down he pointed his shaking finger at me and told me I was pronouncing my last name incorrectly.

I made it a point not to "learn" too much from that trip. Subsequent trips to New York were wonderful.

Hmmm, he said pondering the question..... "you bring up a good point.  I vote on it having to be involuntary". You have a great holiday too and glad to see you came back.

Hi there Hmmm!  I do like that name.
 
I think it's not a yawn if you're doing it to pop your ears; then it's more of a curative.
 
The best yawns are the ones that happen when you don't want them to happen, you don't know they're going to happen, but they do, and usually in front of a whole lot of people, while listening to the most boring person god ever put on his green earth.
 
Those yawns are priceless -- and no number of words can take away their meaning.
 
To my recollection, I've yawned that kind of yawn once, and got caught.  I was somewhat mortified, but the speaker didn't notice.  The audience liked it.  The speaker didn't notice that either. 
 
Next to yawning in an inappropriate situation, and maybe even more so, is laughing in an inappropriate situation.
 
I've done that, too.  Oh, I wanted to die, and it would have been convenient if I had since it was at a funeral, and I had to put my hand over my mouth and bite my lip so it bled, but still an audible laugh came out.  Oh, my.  I wanted to vanish along with the deceased.
 
Has anyone experienced anything like this?  Laughing, when it's the last thing in the world you want to do, or mean to do?
 
My face is flushing,  at the mere memory.

Excellent points Peter Lake & Park4! I think I have to agree with you both.  Park4: As for laughing in an inappropriate situation, I recall doing so in a meeting at a previous job because the guys in charge were so ridiculous and making idiotic decisions for the company...but I think that's much different than laughing at a funeral. I think that sometimes our emotions can run so wild that we tend to express them in rather unusual ways. I've noticed that I'll smile at times when people wouldn't normally smile, it just happens. If we can cry because we are so happy about something, why can't we laugh when we're sad? Hmmm...

  

Park4,

Church laughter, eh? One of our kids and I fell victim to it once under circumstances that neither of us has ever been able to talk about. It was a "laugh or cry" situation and we made the worst of it.

A large, red-faced, portly policeman into whose face I could not avoid laughing because my accusers, behind him were making faces, wanted to turn my effing little head all the way around.

I know that because he told me.

Peter Lake,

Thanks old friend, what time? 

Hmmm, PARK4..... I often believe, or perhaps its just me rationalizing, that laughing and yawning under the worst circumstances is really our subconscious telling us everything is' gonna' be just fine, we're going to get through this and the sun is ‘gonna' rise again. Like a pressure relief valve of the spirit. 

I also believe that everyone around you is both relieved a bit and appreciate that it was you who did it, and not them.

Peace out!

One of life's pleasures is being alone, stretching your arm out and back and letting loose a really primal sounding yawn...... it's like howling at the moon.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING HOLIDAYS TO YOU ALL ...
 
 
I wish you Safe and Enjoyable Holidays, and Good Time with Those You Love ...
 
 
Ivan Jalopkin

Peter Lake and Stoney~ Both of you are extremely skilled artisans; twisting and coaxing the fine threads of stories into multi-ply yarns, and then weaving those delightful yarns into the warmest material, to wrap us snugly together. Thank you both for enriching the fabric of our lives.

I think we should also remember to never underestimate the power of a yawn. I don't just mean its power of suggestion, but it is also something that can inadvertently kill a new idea, accidently signal disapproval, or unintentionally hurt someone's feelings. It can truly be hazardous in some situations.

Lola has me thinking of Copacabana...with yellow feathers in her hair...

Olivia~ a giggle back.

oh dear...*accidentally*...it's still raining here and I suspect I need a big dose of sunshine...

Kindlee - Thank you for your kind words. I think we here at the EyE are all blessed with the ability to weave thoughts into words, and more importantly, the grace to listen and learn from each other's experiences.

OK - Now who here hasn't at least once in their lives when they thought they were out of earshot of others, attempted to belch the alphabet while walking upstairs? 

If you all raised you hands in denial; I'll be the guy with the brown paper bag of embarrassment sitting in an unlit corner of the sepiatrain tonight wearing a' do not disturb' tag.

IVAN - Right back at'cha good sir.....Eat well, be well and by all means enjoy your Thanksgiving.

  
Peter Lake,

A Milwaukee gym teacher enjoyed horsing around with surnames and, as you can imagine, had a field day with mine.

After I refused to budge until he got it right, he threatened detentions.

"Go ahead," I said, "I really hope you do."

He must have run that scenario through in his mind and thought better of it. We ended up friends.

That, however, falls far short of someone telling you that you don't know how to pronounce your own name!  That man is king... of what I wouldn't care to say... out loud.

You philistine! belching the alphabet indeed.  I'm a Nessun Dorma man meself.


Kindlee,

You are too kind and too modest. I quit counting the times that you turned the tone  positive when you hit triple digits.

Thanks,
S

 

Stoney
 
Nessun Dorma!.......... Master, I take a knee and salute you. I am humbled to be in your presence! 

Kindlee...... What Stony said

Well I gotta go r u n n o f t and pick up my ‘home made' turkey from Boston Market.

I know already.......

Rings90  has  new  yellow  hair!   It's  time  4  a  change.

Today  is  cold,  dark,  damp,  and  the  dog  is  snoring.   This  is  a  difficult  environment  to  concentrate  and  get  work  accomplished.

Why is it men are so enamored of bodily noises? I just wanted the two of you to know that one of the many things I am thankful for is what you both contribute to this site, on a daily basis. Now, I don't think I'll ever be able to listen to Puccini again without giggling. (That'll keep me from yawning!)
Thank you, too, for your very kind words. Pam

Nessum Dorma.
 
Okay you two erudite lads a leapin' or not leapin' I wouldn't know, but Nessum Dorma I do not know, it sounds like the name of a bad blind date.
 
I'm too tired from dealing with That Thing on my kitchen counter, it weighs more than I, and it's still frozen...maybe if PeterLake and Stoney, our tale tellers/dream weavers extraordinaire would come on over here and pull up a couple chairs and tell it a few of your heartwarming stories through the night, by tomorrow a.m. it will thaw out in time to be cooked to a farthewell.  As in:  too dry.
 
Back to Nessun Dorma, and belching the alphabet, all I could figure out in my fatiqued state is that probably it's code you two are talking in, and if I spell Nessun Dorma backwards it will have meaning. 
 
Nussen Amrod
 
 
Am I on to something?
 
 
PS:  there's a corner bar in Milwaukee called Nessun Dorma. 
 

IVAN:  ONCE AGAIN, MY VERY BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY THANKSGIVING, MY DEAR FRIEND!  MAKE IT ONE FOR THE MEMORY BOOK...

PARK4~ To help clear up your confusion - Nessun dorma is an aria from the popular Italian opera "Turandot" by Giacomo Puccini. Stoney is obviously very skilled at belching out a tune.

Ivan and everyone~ Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am sincerely thankful for all of you. Pam

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VATmgtmR5o4 Okay, he's better.

  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VATmgtmR5o4

I should have known better than to use this format.

Golly. I can't begin to describe how thankful I am for the eye or its contributors, especially this day- and every day.

PARK- hearing you still flush at the thought of your inappropriate laugh makes me feel much better- I still completely flush when I think of my faux pas... humiliating.
 
Have a most wonderful, safe, and delicious Thanksgiving all.
 
RINGS- Are you now a total bombshell or just more bombshelly than before?! I bet young men are secretly looking at you over the book they are pretending to peruse...

Just  got  a  nice  hot  bath  ready,  poured  myself  a  glass  of  cognac,  and  decided  to  share  my  gratitude  for  all  of  my  virtual  friends  here,  my  home  away  from  home.  Thanks  to  the  worldwide  web,  no  matter  where  I  am  I  have  the   capacity  to  check  in,   and  learn.  Gotta  run,  the  water  will  get  cold,  and  I  need  to  maximize  my  time  to  play  with  my  toy  battleships.....lol   

Yawning while potentially insulting to the person with whom you're conversing, is actually a benefit for me -- it opens up my ears a bit and helps me to hear a little better than (the little) I usually do.  In fact, it was suggested by my ENT doc.  Sometimes though there's that jaw-cracking yawn that just can't be disguised....followed in short order by zzzzzzzzzzz's.

Happy Thanksgiving, thankful and jestful!
 
I am thankful for my friends here and my friends in what passes for reality these days...may we all become real friends somehow, someway.
I am thankful for quiet days and fireplaces. Chianti.
I am thankful for e-cards and bouquets in the mail,
Chocolate and happy thoughts, champagne and good karma...
Tiramisu. Cheesecake...
I'm very thankful for people who understand me even when I don't.
Thankful for shared recipes and good moods and fuzzy slippers
Electric blankets. Life experience. Goofing off...
And a lot lot more.

Bert-So that's what you call them?
 
Men...

Thanksgiving is really a time when I realize just how thankful I am for the life that I more or less fell into -- a wonderful, wonderful life.....one that went beyond my dreams.  I hope that you all have that warm, fuzzy feeling around family and friends tomorrow or, barring that, once you get home ;)

OLIVIA- I love your list- except for the electric blanket- they scare me. I'm always afraid I'll fry in the night.
 
When I went to Kroger's earlier this evening I was stressed out at the swarm of people, but everyone was quite kind. I also realized there are too many people in this country who would give anything to have the money to be fighting crowds of people & that humbled me quickly.
 
ANDY- you're right- we all have so much to be thankful for.
 
BERT- I'll be drawing a bubblebath for my sweetie later- as he was on his way home his belt broke on his truck. AAA towed him to an Autozone & he took it from there.He's heading toward us as I write.
 
On a yawn note-I took the dogs down to the lake tonight to run around & after I loaded them back into the car- Eddie put his head right by mine & let out a loud yawn- it definitely sounded like a pleasure yawn, a yawn of happiness, a yawn of love- a kiss of a yawn...

OFF TOPIC

Mr Peterman might well like this remark I came across today regarding fustian (i.e., moleskin). Paul Pickering is a historian who writes that fustian is "a statement of class without words."

(In context, he means higher or patrician class, of course.)

Bebe:   I  did  the  walk  with  the  dogs  down  to  the  water  before  my  bathing  adventure,  they  howl  at  the  moon,  and  bark  at  the  deer.   After  I  finished  my  bath,  I   got  double  duty  from  the  water,  put  the  dogs  in  one  at  a  time.   Had  I  been  videotaped,  there  would  be  no  letting  me  EVER  forget  the  sorry  sight  that  we  were...mercifully  I  thought  of  these contingencies  before  reworking  the  bathroom.....special  wallpaper  which  resists  coming  apart  with  splashes  &  steam.
 
Good  person  that  you  are,  you  remembered  that  many  others  have   nothing  special  to  look  forward  to  on  Thanksgiving.   Going  to  our  little  county  seat,  trying  to  pitch  in,  we  try  to  give  anyone  a  real  turkey  dinner,  no  questions  asked.   Getting  older  made  me  figure  out  that  we  are  all  neighbors,  something  I  learned  from  Tiny  Tim  years  ago....

KSS- Moleskin w/out kindness is just moleskin. I would watch how the fustian ( I have never heard that before- a new word!) wearer treats his server or bartender or the person checking out their purchases.KIndness & good manners are the true touchstones of a patrician...
 
I hope that you are in the holiday spirit and that it is a wonderful holiday for you...

2nite  is  late  for  me.....no   kid  2  lug  outta  bed  tomorrow,  no  commute  to  the  evil  big  city.....if  i  practice  staying  up,  i  wonder  if  i  will  finally  see  santa  come  down  my  chimney....quite  the  task,  for  a  corpulent  dude  with  a  big  sack  of  toys.....

fustian's  alternate   meaning  has  nothing  to  do  with  clothing...it  involves  pompous  or  bombastic  language

I was a paramedic, decades ago, and working the graveyard shift in the E.R. at a really small hospital when a young man came rushing in with his wife in tow. He was obviously agitated, pacing around, and had what looked like a large permanent smile on his face, but his mouth was wide open and tears were streaming from his eyes.
His wife told us that he was yawning real big when his jaws just locked open like that. The nurse that was on duty with me didn't know what to do anymore than I did. We tried to calm him down and put warm packs on both sides of his face.
"We'd better call Shuffle-foot" I said.
Shuffle-foot was one of our weekend doctors that covered the E.R. from Friday to Sunday afternoon. They were all young kids out of Wash U that, from what I could gather, hadn't yet found their niche. We would give them nicknames according to their particular personality traits like "Dopey", or "Flap-jaw". We called this one Shuffle-foot because he always wore loafers that were too big for him and he wouldn't pick up his feet when he walked, but instead kind of slid them along the floor. You would hear that sliding sound coming down the corridor and know who it was.
Shuffle-foot was asleep in a little room they had fixed up for the weekend docs that had a small bathroom, and a small living area with a bed and a tv. So I woke him up and headed back to the E.R. and just as I was beginning to think he'd fallen back asleep I heard the familiar shhhhhh.....shhhhhh..... sound of his shoes on the floor.
He came in all bedheaded and we told him the story. He had the patient lie down on his back on the cart ane the nurse started an I.V. drip. Then he pushed in a dose of Valium through the I.V. line and the patient dropped off to sleep. Then I held a bite-block in place while Shuffle-foot put his thumbs on the patients back lower molars, and wrapped his fingers around the patients jaws on either side. He then put pressure back and then down on the jaw which unlocked it and Shuffle-foot barely got his thumbs out before the patient clamped down on the bite-block.
Shuffle-foot shuffled on back to bed and our patient got a room for the night along with frequent vitals.
I assume Shuffle-foot eventually found his niche. I hope so, he was a pretty nice kid, and bright. I think of him on occasion when I yawn really big, or have on shoes that are too big for me.

Fustian has meant almost every sort of cloth over the ages, and the class it expressed for Pickering was social class, since it was primarily worn by working people.
According to one source:
 
Fustian was worn by workers during the 19th century. As such, radical elements of the British working class chose to wear fustian jackets as a symbol of their class allegiance. This was especially marked during the Chartist era. The historian Paul Pickering has called the wearing of fustian "a statement of class without words."
 
Context is indeed important, as is one's perspective...

I was thinking that If the above described incident happened today, they would call in an oral-facial surgeon, the surgery team, an anesthetist, take before and after x-rays and CT scans, perform a full physical with lab work, consult the dietician, schedule follow up scans, physical therapy, and doctors visits, and enroll him in five year research study.