I’m a chameleon, there’s no ifs, ands, or buts about it. When I hang out with people for an extended period of time, and what I mean by extended is maybe a half hour or so, I start to pick up their mannerism. I start sounding like them. And if I hang out with them a lot – like um, a day or two, I really start sounding like them.
Most the time, I can hear them in my voice and I think, “oh, that’s so-and-so.” Sometimes I can’t hear it so much like when I first met one of my best friends who is southern and we were inseparable for two months. Sometimes I could hear the southern twang in my voice and would concentrate on making it northern again. I thought I’d pretty much nipped it in the bud until I was in a gas station one day and the man behind the counter said, “Are you from the south?” Now how do you answer that question when you have a southern drawl but hail from the nation’s capital?
Several years ago, I picked up snorting when I find something especially funny thanks to Ann. Luckily my sister and cousin do it too so I don’t feel so bad (when I’m around them).
All this to tell you about my most embarrassing moment. I can never think of this when playing those ice breaker games where everyone is supposed to relive their most humiliating moment (as if it wasn’t bad enough to live through it the first time), so I’m going to tell you now.
When I was in college I had to visit a class advisor who basically went over my required classes and the ones I’d already taken and advised me on how to fit all my credits into the next few semesters. I had never met her before and I made the appointment over the phone so I had no idea what I was in for.
As I sat down across from the lady and went to introduce myself, I took note that she had an eye twitch. Not one where the muscle spasmed under the eye, but one where her eye kept wanting to shut and she kept popping it back open; kindof like rapid/helter-skelter blinking. There was no real rhythm to it, like hiccups, it just – well – twitched.
About five minutes after starting our conversation, I could feel my eye muscle start to tighten up. Oh no! you say. Oh Yes!! My eye started twitching and I could not get it to s.t.o.p. I was so embarrassed. Not because I suddenly developed an eye twitch, but because I didn’t want this poor lady to think I was making fun of her. I had no idea what she was saying, I really just wanted to be done so I could leave. Please imagine for a moment two females chatting in an office, both of them with twitching eyes.
And that ladies and gentlemen is my most embarrassing, humiliating moment. What’s yours?
(c) 2016 Leighann Marquiss
Comments (10)
Leighann,
I needed this. It has been such a bad day. You had me rolling. I will have to try to remember not to do any of my bad habits around you, no I’m not telling you what they are, you may have a sudden urge to do them:)Amanda Luhn
Ha ha I’m the exact same way! My husband always asks me “who have you been hanging out with” when I come home with new speech patterns or sayings or tics.
Oh my, I do the same thing! I pick up people’s catch phrases, manerisms, everything. When I hang out my friend from Long Island, I immediately pick up her accent and my husband always questions how someone from Hagerstown, Md, who moved to the Eastern Shore of MD and has spent a total of 8 days in NY her entire life, can pick up a NY accent! SOO FUNNY!
great story!! Try not to hang around your girls too much when they are picking thier nose. Could be the 2nd most embarrasing day in your life.
As another said, I needed that! After hours of driving today, sitting in a doc office for 2 hours,on top of that not making it back in time for church. A good story was greatly needed!
Paula S
oh lol, wow!
This is hilarious! I do the same thing as far as talking like others I’m around go. I don’t think I’ve gone so far as to pick up mannerisms yet, but my husband definitely gets a kick out of listening to me talk after being around someone else for awhile. (sometimes I even do it after a long phone conversation!) We should get together and see how funny our accent would be if it ended up a mixture of northern/southern twang!!! lol Wonder how that would turn out?! 🙂 Thanks for the laugh and I hope you have a wonderful day!
Oh, by the way, I’m starting a new thing over at my blog so be sure to stop by!
Thanks for that visual funniness! (Is that a word?…Or spelled right?) Luv ya! Richelle
oh.my.gosh. i’m laughing so hard i’m going to wake my napping kids up!
Not quite the same, but the other day, I noticed myself start to kind of pant like a dog when I was excited about something. (I asked my husband, and he verified what a boss just told me, that you could pick me out in a crowd of a thousand.) And it hit me–WHY my 5 year old son pants when he’s really excited about something. It’s not bad enough, I suppose, that he opens his mouth really wide to express excitement, like I realized I do. I’ve added panting to our family oddities. How embarrassing.