{{Short description|Facial gesture indicating disapproval}} '''Cut-eye''' is a visual gesture using one's eyes and face to communicate displeasure or disapproval, and in some cases hostility. The gesture is usually performed by looking at someone out of the corners of one's eyes, then turning the eyes away quickly down towards the foot opposite the eye of the person the gesture is being performed at.<ref name="journal" /><ref name=":0" /> The main focus of this gesture is the "cut" of the eyes, and can be performed by moving them in one direction or several sharp up and down movements, meant to convey a feeling of anger or disapproval.<ref name="journal">[http://www.johnrickford.com/portals/45/documents/papers/Rickford-1976b-Cut-Eye-and-Suck-Teeth.pdf "Cut-Eye and Suck-Teeth: African Words and Gestures in New World Guise"]</ref> This gesture has evolved into popular culture and has taken on new monikers while remaining similar to the original African gesture.<ref name=":0" /> The cut-eye gesture now is also identified with: stink-eye, evil-look, eye-roll, or death stare.<ref name=":0">Alim, H. Samy, et al. [https://web.archive.org/web/20170108204636/http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/faculty/goodwin/Whatever_Situated_CoProduction.pdf ""Whatever (Neck Roll, Eye Roll, Teeth Suck)": The Situated Coproduction of Social Categories and Identities through Stancetaking and Transmodal Stylization."] Journal of Linguistic Anthropology., vol. 20, no. 1, 2010, pp. 179–194.</ref> The gesture also is similar in nature to the evil-eye gesture of the Christian and Islamic theologies.<ref name=":3">Idoyaga Molina, Anatilde. "The Evil Eye as a Folk Disease and Its Argentine and Ibero-American Historical Explanatory Frame." Western Folklore, vol. 75, no. 1, 2016, pp. 5–32.</ref><ref name=":4">Elliott, John H., and John H Elliott. Beware the Evil Eye Volume 1 : The Evil Eye in the Bible and the Ancient World--Introduction, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central.</ref>
==Uses== The action of performing cut-eye is commonly associated with the suck-teeth gesture and a neck roll for maximum effect.<ref name="journal" /> In media depictions, the people who perform the neck roll are usually also portrayed as loud, tough, argumentative, and even combative.<ref name=":0"/> Cut-eye is used primarily to depict power over another person who has done something wrong or to the user's displeasure. The use of the cut-eye gesture is meant to send a feeling of anger or disgust without verbally communicating the same sentiment.<ref name=":0"/> The cut-eye gesture can be done with or without the knowledge of the recipient and has different meanings in each context. When done directly to the recipient of the gesture, the cut-eye conveys direct anger, disappointment, and disapproval. When done without the knowledge of the recipient, the cut-eye gesture can convey the same message but with the desire to have the sentiment remain unknown due to fear of the recipient or general lack of desire to verbally or blatantly portray anger.<ref name=":0" />
Cut-eye makes its full effect when the eyes of the person performing the gesture are turned the opposite direction from the person to which it is intended for. This sends the message that they aren't worth the attention. The gesture is used in many cases, most typically when a person is talking and is interrupted by another individual. In this case, a sharp cut-eye is given in order to show the level of anger and disrespect felt by the user.<ref name="journal" /><ref name=":0" /> In addition, it shows the perceived irrelevancy of the individual who interrupted. It also gives the person to which the gesture is intended the same feeling of disrespect of anger the user of the gesture felt. By "rummaging"<ref name="journal" /> one's eyes over a person, one violates their personal space and sense of confidence.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> The victim cannot do anything in this situation to prevent this violation.<ref name="journal" />
== Origins ==
=== Africa === In Africa, the origin of the cut-eye gesture is the region in and around the modern-day countries of Ghana and Nigeria. In this region, the gesture began as a show of anger and conflict between two individuals and could be used with the intent of the onset of combat or without said intent.<ref name="journal" />
=== Europe and the Middle East === In Europe, the origin of the cut-eye gesture is centered around the gesture of evil-eye in the context of its biblical references. The original form in Europe and the Middle East was far more serious than the nature of the gesture in the African setting as in the theologies of Europe and the Middle East, the gesture was believed to carry a supernatural power.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /> In the Eurasian context, the cut-eye or evil-eye gesture would bring bad omens upon the recipient and was believed to bring sickness, curses, and possibly death; as a result the use of the evil-eye gesture could often lead to banishment or Eurasian version of the gesture is most represented in modern culture by the potential offense upon receiving the cut-eye, but also shows in the large range of severity the gesture can carry.<ref name=":4" />
==Translations== The visual gesture of cut-eye is found in many Ghanaian languages, including translations in Akan, Ga, and Ewe. * '''Akan''' – ''anikyibuo'' / ''anikyie'' 'the art of breaking the back of the eye'<ref name=":2" /> * '''Ga''' – ''o-kpâ-mi'' 'you cut-eye me'<ref name=":2" /> * '''Ewe''' – ''treåku'' 'seal eyes'<ref name=":2">Identity Meets Nationality : Voices from the Humanities, edited by Helen Lauer, and Jemima Asabea Anderson, Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central.</ref>
== See also == * List of gestures * Nonverbal communication
== References == {{reflist}}
Category:Gestures Category:Human eye