The knee jiggling thing. Who does it? And why only some people?

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I'd say I spend about 6 hours / day jiggling one or both legs. Especially if I'm listening to music on headphones while I work...it's like dancing in your chair, with your legs on speed...

― paulhw (paulhw), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:29 (twenty-one years ago)

apparently it means that you are undersexed

― VIC MACKEY (nordicskilla), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh.

― paulhw (paulhw), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:32 (twenty-one years ago)

sorry

― VIC MACKEY (nordicskilla), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Which brings up the question, can you ever really be oversexed?

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, if you have so much sex that you can't move any part of your body, even your eyelids.

― VIC MACKEY (nordicskilla), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:34 (twenty-one years ago)

It's means I'm hyperactive and ADD-addled as all hell. I can't sit still, either. Not only do I do the leg thing. I often intentionally leave the phone on the other side of the room to give myself a good excuse to jump up.

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I definitely do it, though not constantly.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I've heard that people who do it burn calories and tend to be skinny. Sometimes I try to make myself do it.

It bugs me when people do it when sitting in a row of seats, like at the airport waiting area, and cause everyone's seats to vibrate.

― Maria D. (Maria D.), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:35 (twenty-one years ago)

i heard that peeling the label off your beer bottle means you're undersexed too

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:36 (twenty-one years ago)

And eating ice is like putting a big "Blow Me" sign on your back.

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:36 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah! and wearing purple means you need to get laid.

they say.

― VIC MACKEY (nordicskilla), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:37 (twenty-one years ago)

i think Prince got a lot of action tho

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:38 (twenty-one years ago)

i do it all day long, its from my anxiety.

― Chris 'The Nuts' V (Chris V), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:38 (twenty-one years ago)

why did i write 'action'? why can't i just say SEXUAL INTERCOURSE?

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Because "sexual intercourse" sounds like being stuck at a boring meeting.

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Just say sex.

― Maria D. (Maria D.), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:39 (twenty-one years ago)

What does walking around pantless with a sign that says, "PLEASE MERCYFUCK ME!" mean?

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I do it all the time. I try to stop if I notice it, but mostly I don't notice it.

― luna (luna.c), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Because "sexual intercourse" sounds like being stuck at a boring meeting

attended by executive fuckateers

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:41 (twenty-one years ago)

ADD?

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh for gods sake... I only ever do the knee jiggling thing if I'm anxious and nervous... or else EXTREMELY PISSED OFF. (American sense, not British.)

― Masonic Cathedral (kate), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I never do this (except maybe when highly caffinated).

― teeny (teeny), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:42 (twenty-one years ago)

what is the american sense?

crosspost

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I would probably do this, but my feet are never of the ground. And plus I just get bruises from hitting the edge of me desk.

I whistle a lot though, it's not cool.

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm basically with Kate on this one. Anxious, nervous, annoyed.

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:43 (twenty-one years ago)

American pissed = ANGRY

as opposed to

English pissed = DRUNK

― Masonic Cathedral (kate), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:44 (twenty-one years ago)

i also go through a pad of paper a week...doodle doodle all day long.

― Chris 'The Nuts' V (Chris V), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I do this all day long. One, the other, or both.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:47 (twenty-one years ago)

i thought it was from anxiety too.

i used to do it a lot more.

if its good for you maybe i should start it up again.

― AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:50 (twenty-one years ago)

scratch that. i do now recall doing it at many a borin office meeting. unless that's just anxiety to get out.

― AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I do it when I've had too much caffeine. My high-power exec sister does it all the time. Then she becomes conscious of it and stops doing that and starts chewing the inside of her cheek instead.

― Maria D. (Maria D.), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I do this, but not nearly as much as I did when I was a kid when it was pretty much constant. I used to get erections in class sometimes too.

― Markelby (Mark C), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Gym class?

― VIC MACKEY (nordicskilla), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:58 (twenty-one years ago)

P.E.

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:58 (twenty-one years ago)

"It's means I'm hyperactive and ADD-addled as all hell. I can't sit still, either. Not only do I do the leg thing. I often intentionally leave the phone on the other side of the room to give myself a good excuse to jump up."

^^^^^

― Cabaret Voltron (PUNXSUTAWNEY PENIS), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:59 (twenty-one years ago)

does anyone have a good attention span, these days?

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I've heard two theories:

1) that it was due to lack of exercise and it was your leg muscles' reflexive instinct.

2) that it was due to stagnancy and it was your body's way of increasing blood flow back up your veins from your toes.

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:01 (twenty-one years ago)

P.E.

― VIC MACKEY (nordicskilla), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:02 (twenty-one years ago)

all the time. mostly right knee.

― Ronan (Ronan), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I do this all day long too. In fact I was doing it when I saw this thread. I am also a skinny-ass motherf**er, so maybe there is some correlation.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:10 (twenty-one years ago)

It always seemed to be guys who did it, the kind who covered their notebook with pictures of robots and drummed on the desk constantly with pencils. Hyperactivity?

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I've heard it means you're AWESOME.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:12 (twenty-one years ago)

no, no you didn't.

― VIC MACKEY (nordicskilla), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I never drew pictures of robots, but yes -- hyperactivity.

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:13 (twenty-one years ago)

IT MEANS YOU'RE SQUIRRELLY. This is not a value judgement.

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:14 (twenty-one years ago)

EXECUTIVE FUCKATEERS
EXECUTIVE FUCKATEERS
EXECUTIVE FUCKATEERS

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I do this like forever and ever! Stick some drum pedals under my feet and call me Dave Lombardo!

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Usually I don't even notice I'm doing it - then suddenly I get self-conscious and wonder if other people sitting near me are noticing my spastic leg. Then I stop for a minute before it starts again. I think I do it with my right leg more than my left. I don't know if it has any correlation with exercise. I just went running last night, and today my leg is getting hella jiggy anyway.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Aaargh! I hate it when people do this! Mind you, I'm terribly irritable and most habits annoy me. My boyfriend does this and I can see his leg jiggling away out of the corner of my eye when I'm trying to watch telly. I've been known to turn round and scream "STOP IT! I HATE YOU!" during calm placid t.v watching moments because I've put up with it for long enough and it builds up and up and he's still doing it and is he doing it to annoy me? Does he know he's doing it? Hold on it's stopped, no it's started again and it's all I can see even if I sit like *this* or like *this* and now I'm not even watching the telly, just his leg jig jig jiggling "FUCKING STOP IT!"

And then his wee hurt face... awww.

― Rumpsy Pumpsy (Rumpie), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 5 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Bob Dylan does it in "Don't Look Back"

― Silky Sensor (sexyDancer), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:32 (twenty-one years ago)

haha Because he's on a lot of fuckin' speed, yo.

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't think I do it as much as I used to but I might be wrong

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Peter Buck does it! Always gets mentioned in interviews. Made me feel better about it as a teenager

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Once I was sitting on the couch with my friend and cousin, both of whom do this all the friggin' time and with much vigor. It felt like I was in a Sharper Image chair.

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:41 (twenty-one years ago)

i like spencer's assessment best. but maybe we should ask the restless leg syndrome foundation

― lolita corpus (lolitacorpus), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:50 (twenty-one years ago)

oh ugh, i do this. it's crazy embarrassing.

― ai lien (kold_krush), Friday, 18 March 2005 19:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't do this. If I'm around people who are, it makes me nervous. Calm down, kids.

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Friday, 18 March 2005 19:54 (twenty-one years ago)

According to Freud, it means you're a compulsive masturbator and are unconsciously fantasising about being found out.

― moley, Friday, 18 March 2005 21:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I've noticed that our fat blowhard of a CEO does this at staff meetings while he's speechifying. it's kinda weird. I attribute it to his being high-strung.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 18 March 2005 21:43 (twenty-one years ago)

It's v common among schizophrenics.

I jiggle both legs. People go, 'Is there an earthquake?'

― moley, Friday, 18 March 2005 21:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Has anyone ever known women who do this, honestly? I'm not trying to turn this into women...like this threads, but I wonder if it is sex-linked.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Friday, 18 March 2005 21:47 (twenty-one years ago)

people who do this make me nervous

― phil-two (phil-two), Friday, 18 March 2005 21:48 (twenty-one years ago)

jocelyn is on to something here. I have never seen a woman do it.

― moley, Friday, 18 March 2005 21:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I knew a woman who used to rock back and forth quite energetically whenever she was driving. Not quite the same as the leg jiggling thing, but similar - and also somewhat disconcerting to those riding with her.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 18 March 2005 21:49 (twenty-one years ago)

hmmm, teenage girls seem to do it. I can't think of a time where I've ever witnessed a grown woman doing it (unless they were just antsy from, er, chemical stimulation)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 18 March 2005 21:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Now that I think of it, I only do this at work. I think I hate my job and am unconsciously fantasising about being found out.

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Friday, 18 March 2005 21:52 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm a woman. i do it. next.

― lolita corpus (lolitacorpus), Friday, 18 March 2005 21:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing. I don't ever do this at home. It's only at the office. I think it's some kind of sublimated aggression at the forces that require me to sit in one position for 8 hrs every day.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 18 March 2005 21:54 (twenty-one years ago)

my mom does it all the time.

― teeny (teeny), Friday, 18 March 2005 21:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I also rock. But that's mainly on stage.

― moley, Friday, 18 March 2005 21:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I clap a lot, sometimes so much that my hands hurt!

― VIC MACKEY (nordicskilla), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Wow, a VP-type just asked me to stop tapping my foot!

― Silky Sensor (sexyDancer), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:07 (twenty-one years ago)

my mom does this. In high school my sister would punch both of us in the knee during dinner frequently, as the table would be shaking.

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:09 (twenty-one years ago)

actually, I'd get punched in the knee and my mom would get told to "STOP. NOW." Sort of like our diplomatic policies re: Iraq and North Korea respectively.

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:10 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm not certain, but judging from photos, i think luna may be female, too.

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 18 March 2005 23:07 (twenty-one years ago)

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 18 March 2005 23:14 (twenty-one years ago)

is that supposed to be sarcastic?

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 18 March 2005 23:14 (twenty-one years ago)

i do this like a bastard

― peter smith (plsmith), Saturday, 19 March 2005 01:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm a woman. I'm doing it right now. And wearing purple.

― pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Saturday, 19 March 2005 01:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I do it if I'm in a public place and bored, but it tends to be in the ankles too.

― Sara Sherr, Saturday, 19 March 2005 03:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I do the leg shaking thing too, but I don't think it's in any way connected to sexuality, because that's the thing I think about the LEAST! *laughs* Instead, I think the people who are saying that it's either due to anxiety or being high-strung is perhaps going to be the most accurate assessment.

― Surreal Addiction (Dee the Lurker), Saturday, 19 March 2005 05:32 (twenty-one years ago)

i do this during sex. NEXT

― amon (eman), Saturday, 19 March 2005 05:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Me and my mum both do it, and we're both female. I've done it since I was a kid, so I don't think it's connected to sexuality.

― lupine lupin (lupinelupin), Saturday, 19 March 2005 06:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I do it very freq and am female too. At school I always did that and the drumming with pens. I now do lots of finger drumming/moving. I'm tired lots though, and not at all thin. I have problems wih grinding my teeth nowdays but I did the leg jiggling way before that. Many many year. I think maybe it's just a comfort thing? it makes me feel sort of cosier. I hardly ever notice I'm doing it - only if others point it out (my sis sometimes has to call "earthquake legs!" when sitting at a table with me).

― cuspidorian (cuspidorian), Saturday, 19 March 2005 12:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I clap a lot, sometimes so much that my hands hurt!

are you tom cruise? heh.

how do you jiggle your ankle? i think i got the translation wrong.

― nathalie barefoot in the head (stevie nixed), Saturday, 19 March 2005 12:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Put your foot flat on something or tip toe and then jiggle. I always find new and exciting ways to be a spaz.

― Sara Sherr, Saturday, 19 March 2005 18:24 (twenty-one years ago)

one guy at work does this butterfly bellows thing with his legs that is 19 degrees of wrong. next time he's doing it in my peripheral vision I'm going to ask him to stop.

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 19 March 2005 18:27 (twenty-one years ago)

What's a butterfly bellows?

― Sara Sherr, Saturday, 19 March 2005 18:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I wiggle my ankles and feet, my knees tend to stay put

― latebloomer: damn cheapskate satanists (latebloomer), Saturday, 19 March 2005 18:46 (twenty-one years ago)

I do this weird thing where I play the piano, unconciously. Um, without a piano. My fingers play, and I'm usually not aware of it. meanwhile, I'm not a terribly good piano player.
As an adult student, I've noticed a lot of leg shaking from young men in class. Not so much from the girls. i always figured it was youth and caffeine. And maybe some ADD.
The piano playing thing is interesting because, when I become concious of it, I notice I am trying to recreate keyboard skills. I want ot hit the high C, but my hands are in place on middle C. And I tend to play along with music, and get frustrated when the music is not in a major key.(I'm not fond of flats or sharps, I guess.)
Anyway, I didn't notice this until it was pointed out to me, and then I tried to figure it out. It's some synapse that needs recognition, i guess. I also tend to do it when I'm nervous, especially. Then my fingers really start to fly, but i'm just playing scales.
Weird. I have two clients with extreme epilepsy, and I have to document their seizures. Seizures are always dramatic, but there is a fugue state that comes before, or afterward, at times. Watching their bodies seize, and their bodies go akimbo, reminds me of the uncontrolled jitters we all seem to exhibit.You kind of get to know when the seizure is going to happen - movement stops completely, and there's this silence that is very intense. it's like time has stopped....and then time starts again way too dramatically.
My finger movements don't seem that important when i watch a seizure. But i think there is something my brain is trying to work out. Maybe it's a sonata.

― aimurchie (aimurchie), Saturday, 19 March 2005 19:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Hmm, this musical thing is interesting - I can play the drums OK, and tend to invent beats (in my head) that I drum out, with various kick-drum, hi-hat combinations. With some caffeine, I often get the double-kick going.

― paulhw (paulhw), Sunday, 20 March 2005 02:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I have no idea what you people are talking about

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Sunday, 20 March 2005 02:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Occasionally, only one leg.

― Let's keep the afterbirth and throw Ian Riese-Moraine away! (Eastern Mantra), Sunday, 20 March 2005 03:32 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.gurdjieff.org/dushka1a.jpg

― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Sunday, 20 March 2005 05:23 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it is our big brains working out patterns - musically. We want to know, but are not yet capable. it's very similar to code. Once you know the pattern everything makes sense.
Sometimes I get frustrated with my disability.(Or greater ability) My hands want to do what my mind can't.
How many musicians have died because of this pattern? trying to find the exact relationship between notes?

― aimurchie (aimurchie), Sunday, 20 March 2005 06:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, anxiety.

― Katie. (Argh.), Sunday, 20 March 2005 11:47 (twenty-one years ago)

When you're imagining sending someone an email, and mentally writing the email, do you type an imaginary keypad? I do. I also pull faces. People get worried and edge away from me.

― moley, Sunday, 20 March 2005 12:00 (twenty-one years ago)

four weeks pass...

I'm sitting at my desk, and have just realised that I've been violently shaking my left foot for the past five minutes. Aargh, too much caffeine.

― caitlin (caitlin), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 11:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't stop, either! Every time I stop consciously thinking about it, it starts again! It goes like this:

* realises foot is jiggling rapidly

. o O (Must not jiggle foot!)
. o O (Must not jiggle foot!)
. o O (Must not jiggle foot!)
. o O (Ooh, look, a decoy...)

* foot starts jiggling again!

― caitlin (caitlin), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 11:33 (twenty-one years ago)

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