Side-eye treatment?

Reader question:

Please explain “side-eye treatment” in this passage:

It’s impossible not to like Emily Blunt. If you admitted that you didn’t, you’d probably receive side-eye treatment from everyone in the room.

My comments:

Emily Blunt is a British-American actress who’s played in such hit films as Devil Wears Prada (2006) and, more recently, Oppenheimer (2023).

She’s well-known and, in fact, well loved, which leads to our point of discussion. The speaker says that it’s impossible not to like Emily Blunt and so, if you tell anyone that you didn’t, “you’d probably receive side-eye treatment from everyone in the room”.

That is, they’ll give you that look, treating you like you’re out of your mind or something.

By that look, I’m referring, of course, to the side-eye look, the way you look at someone without turning your head in their direction but just by rolling your eyes instead.

In other words, it’s not a straight (and respectful) look.

When we talk to someone on our left-hand side, we turn our head left so that we can look at them straight in the eye. Likewise, we turn our head right when we talk to someone on our right-hand side.

But, sometimes, we don’t do that. We just move our eyes in their direction. And that’s when we hear something annoying or surprising, as is the case in our example involving Emily Blunt, the point being: Everyone likes her, why don’t you?

Well, we’re not going to worry about that. Here, we just want to make sure you understand giving or receiving the side eye.

By definition, according to Cambridge Dictionary, the side-eye is “a look in which you move your eyes to the side without turning your face, showing that you are annoyed by someone, do not respect them, or do not believe what they are saying”.

Let’s read a few media examples of getting or giving someone the side eye, as context readily explains what that look means in different situations:

1. The sound of a screaming baby is not something plane passengers normally relish – but it was cause for celebration on a recent flight from New York to California.

To raise awareness of the strains mothers face while travelling with tots, JetBlue invited several moms with babies onto a JFK to Long Beach flight and then awarded 25 per cent discounts off future flights to the passengers every time a baby cried.

A short film of the April 15 stunt, called FlyBabies, was released and shows a stewardess announcing to the cabin that the flight would be the star of the new campaign, launched ahead of Mother’s Day.

JetBlue revealed that it’s attempting to stop disgruntled passengers giving mothers with babies the ‘side-eye’ – and the footage shows that babies on flights certainly aren't welcome.

Several passengers looked decidedly grumpy as the babies boarded, but there were smiles when the stewardess announced the scheme and told them that ‘four cries equals a free flight’.

Throughout the flight passengers became eager to hear the cries of the restless youngsters.

One of the mothers who participated in the campaign said she dreads boarding an aeroplane with her son because ‘it is so stressful’.

She said: ‘I don't want to be that lady with the baby who’s screaming for four hours.’

The FlyBabies campaign was created in a bid to ‘inspire people to smile the next time they see a crying baby’ and have a bit more empathy.

Staff at JetBlue came up with the idea following a recent survey that revealed that 65 per cent of adults understand parents have no control over their baby's crying, but that 40 per cent said they get annoyed when a child cries on their flight.

Speaking to MailOnline Travel, a spokesman for JetBlue said: ‘In short, this Mother’s Day JetBlue is celebrating mums as they face one of their most challenging situations – flying with their babies.

‘We decided to launch FlyBabies to show that empathy towards mums travelling with little ones can be worth it and ask fellow travellers to think twice before giving the occasional side-eye.

‘Typically mums not only have the obstacle of travelling with blankets, strollers and more, but also that negativity from fellow travellers.

‘In the first and only ‘FlyBabies’ flight, JetBlue encouraged those onboard to rally behind mums travelling with young ones, rewarding customers for their support throughout the flight.

‘This Mother’s Day, we hope this video inspire people to smile the next time they see a crying baby. Mum’s everywhere will thank them.’

- JetBlue hands out FREE flights to passengers when babies cry in a bid to stop mothers with tots being given ‘the side-eye’, DailyMail.co.uk, May 4, 2016.

2. Dwyane Wade said his time as a professional basketball player made him a better father and husband.

The former NBA star, whose photographic memoir “Dwyane” hit bookshelves on Nov. 16, explained that there are more similarities between what he did on the court and how he and wife Gabrielle Union run their home than one might expect.

“I think trying to understand the game of basketball is learning how to work with others. To win a championship ... it’s all about everyone playing their role,” the three-time NBA champ said Tuesday on “Good Morning America.”

“We’re a team, me and my wife. We are leaders, we are partners,” he continued. “As a leader, sometimes you've got to stand back and you've got to allow others to lead, and sometimes, as a leader, you have to lead.”

With “Dwyane,” Wade said he wanted to “show the human side of the athlete,” adding: “I think we’re on TV and looked at as superheroes, but there is a human side to us.”

Part of that human side to the Miami Heat alum is showing what a family man he is to his four children – 19-year-old son Zaire, 14-year-old daughter Zaya and 8-year-old son Xavier from previous relationships, as well as his and Union’s 3-year-old daughter, Kaavia.

With Kaavia, who is already famous on Instagram, Wade said he is “in trouble” when it comes to her sassy personality and expert use of the side eye.

He recalled, “The other day I went in her room and I kissed her and I said, ‘Bye, baby. I’m going to work.’ I had to come back in the house for something and she [saw] me and looked at me and she gave me that eye and she said, ‘Daddy, go to work.’

- Dwyane Wade on how basketball made him a better father and husband, ABCNews.go.com, November 17, 2021.

3. The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s hush-money trial in New York City angrily cleared the courtroom in response to perceived hostility from a witness called by the defense late Monday afternoon.

Taking the stand was criminal defense attorney Robert Costello, who came to deal with Michael Cohen, 57, in the aftermath of the infamous FBI raid on his law office and a posh hotel room in April 2018.

One line of questioning led to a series of sustained objections from the state. But the witness apparently wanted to answer the questions and exclaimed, in apparent exasperation at the judge’s ruling: “Jeez,” according to a report by Law&Crime Network reporter Terri Austin.

“Excuse me,” New York County Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan asked, audibly shocked as the courtroom brimmed with silence. “Excuse me?”

A quick apology from the witness did not help matters much – as he also instructed the judge to strike his informal expletive from the record. Minutes later, the jury was sent away and Costello was instructed to remain seated for an upbraiding and etiquette lesson.

“I’d like to discuss proper decorum in my courtroom,” the properly annoyed judge told the witness, according to a report by MSNBC personality Katie Phang. “If you don’t like my ruling, you don’t say ‘Jeez.’”

The judge’s anger, however, had apparently been building.

Merchan continued excoriating the witness – an over 40-year veteran of the New York State legal system – for his earlier behavior.

“You don’t say ‘strike it,’ because I’m the only one who can strike testimony in the court,” Merchan explained, still relatively patient, according to a report by Newsweek reporter Katherine Fung. “If you don’t like my ruling, you don’t give me side eye or roll your eyes.”

The jurist asked the witness if he understood.

Costello replied in the affirmative but apparently, his eyes suggested a different understanding of the judge’s lecture.

“Are you staring me down right now?” the judge asked – finally sending even the press away to protests and shouting.

- ‘Are you staring me down right now?’: Furious judge in Trump hush-money trial clears the courtroom as defense witness gripes about court’s rulings and asks to ‘strike’ the record, LawAndCrime.com, May 20, 2024.

本文仅代表作者本人观点，与本网立场无关。欢迎大家讨论学术问题，尊重他人，禁止人身攻击和发布一切违反国家现行法律法规的内容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：张欣）