Finger in the mouth, opinions not expressed.

Sometimes we are talking to someone and while they listen to us they put this posture. We see it in many places, in political debates, in meetings, speeches or in the street in a conversation between two people. But there is one thing in common in all these situations: the person who puts his finger in his mouth is always the one who listens. The truth is that if one thinks about it, that statement is obvious, no one would speak with their finger on their mouth, but that is not the reason why it is always the person who listens who makes this position, the real reason is that he is keeping information, but, unlike with the gesture of bringing his hand to the face, covering your lips with your finger does not have the connotation of lying.

What does it mean to put your finger on your lips when listening?

What most often makes a person use this gesture is not having the opportunity to speak. The person using it has their own opinion of what is being talked about and would like to express it, but may not be able to do so (they may be part of an audience listening to a speech or simply not wanting to interrupt the person who is speaking). Be that as it may, the person who puts his finger in his mouth will most likely have a different or contrary opinion than the one he is listening to, and symbolically puts his finger on his lips, making an effort to retain the words in his mouth while listening.

A practical lesson for the most talkative

The practical lesson we can draw about this gesture is that if we are talking to someone and we see that he puts his finger in his mouth while listening to us, perhaps the most practical thing is that we pause so that the other person can speak. It is possible that even if we pause or give the other person enough time to speak, they will not. Why? Well, there are people who are more reserved than others, and there are those who are afraid to express an opinion different from the one being offered. Therefore, if we really want to know the point of view of a person who has his finger on his lips while we are talking, we could ask him directly "and you, what do you think?". Otherwise, he may never tell us what he is thinking.