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A shrug is a gesture performed by raising both shoulders, and is a representation of an individual either being indifferent about something or not knowing an answer to a question.[1] A shrug is an emblem, meaning that it integrates the vocabulary of only certain cultures and may be used in place of words.[2] It can also be used when simply ignoring a question. It may be accentuated with raised eyebrows, a turned-down mouth, an exaggerated frown, a tilted head, and raised palms. It is very common in Western culture—rather than saying "I don't know", one may simply perform a shrug.[3]
Shoulder shrugs are among the symptomatic tics of Tourette syndrome.[4]
Emoji
The shrug gesture is a Unicode emoji included as U+1F937 路 SHRUG.[5] The shrug emoticon, made from Unicode characters, is also typed as ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, where "ツ" is the character tsu from Japanese katakana.
See also
- Indifference (emotion)
- Meh
References
- ^ "Shrug | Define Shrug at Dictionary.com". Dictionary.reference.com. Retrieved 2011-12-20.
- ^ Ekman, Paul (2009). Telling Lies. W. W. Norton. p. 101. ISBN 9780393081749.
- ^ "Shrug Emoji".
- ^ "Anxiety/panic disorder most frequent disabling comorbid disorder in Tourette syndrome patients, study finds". 2010-06-19.
- ^ "Shrug Emoji". Emojipedia. Retrieved 2016-01-17.