I've long been stumped by reading in novels that someone purses their lips. Â What exactly does that look like?
On today's show, Martha mentions some connection with the money purse. Â Still, what does it look like on humans? Â Obama and Clinton corner the market of that stretching way way down the corners, a kind of stoic forbearance sort of expression. Â But pursing lips seems to suggest something quick, in mid-conversation, and perhaps something with cluck cluck sounds. Â And if you google the images, you get all kinds.
What is your understanding of what it is?
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I have a vague image of it being like what the sleeping Lincoln is doing as my avatar above.
It looks a lot like that ridiculous "duck-face" you see in selfies, only much more fleeting.
Ron Draney said
It looks a lot like that ridiculous "duck-face" you see in selfies, only much more fleeting.
I doubt ducks purse their lips; they don't have any to speak of. And ducks' faces are expressionless, even when the duck gets goosed.
The MacMillan dictionary says
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Ok, easier than I thought, and pretty much what I'd imagined. Â For mnemonic, a quick duck face that betrays straining mental process. Â And surely not so different from a setup for kissing either.
I think Maggie Smith as Dowager Countess of Grantham has several in this clip. One is at about 14 seconds and a second is about 33 seconds. There are also several quick jump cuts that have her with what I would call pursed lips.