Cut-eye is a visual gesture using one's eyes and face to communicate displeasure or disapproval, and in some cases hostility. The gesture is usually performed by looking at someone out of the corners of one's eyes, then turning the eyes away quickly down towards the foot opposite the eye of the person the gesture is being performed at. The main focus of this gesture is the "cut" of the eyes, and can be performed by moving them in one direction or several sharp up and down movements, meant to convey a feeling of anger or disapproval."Cut-Eye and Suck-Teeth: African Words and Gestures in New World Guise"
/ref> This gesture has evolved into popular culture and has taken on new monikers while remaining similar to the original African gesture. The cut-eye gesture now is also identified with: stink-eye, evil-look, eye-roll, or death stare.Alim, H. Samy, et al
""Whatever (Neck Roll, Eye Roll, Teeth Suck)": The Situated Coproduction of Social Categories and Identities through Stancetaking and Transmodal Stylization."
Journal of Linguistic Anthropology., vol. 20, no. 1, 2010, pp. 179–194. The gesture also is similar in nature to the evil-eye gesture of the

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

and

Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

theologies.Idoyaga Molina, Anatilde. "The Evil Eye as a Folk Disease and Its Argentine and Ibero-American Historical Explanatory Frame." Western Folklore, vol. 75, no. 1, 2016, pp. 5–32.Elliott, John H., and John H Elliott. Beware the Evil Eye Volume 1 : The Evil Eye in the Bible and the Ancient World--Introduction, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Uses

The action of performing cut-eye is commonly associated with the suck-teeth gesture and a neck roll for maximum effect. In media depictions, the people who perform the neck roll are usually also portrayed as loud, tough, argumentative, and even combative. Cut-eye is used primarily to depict power over another person who has done something wrong or to the user's displeasure. The use of the cut-eye gesture is meant to send a feeling of anger or disgust without verbally communicating the same sentiment. The cut-eye gesture can be done with or without the knowledge of the recipient and has different meanings in each context. When done directly to the recipient of the gesture, the cut-eye conveys direct

anger Anger, also known as wrath ( ; ) or rage (emotion), rage, is an intense emotional state involving a strong, uncomfortable and non-cooperative response to a perceived provocation, hurt, or threat. A person experiencing anger will often experie ...

disappointment Disappointment is the feeling of dissatisfaction that follows the failure of expectations or hopes to manifest. Similar to regret, it differs in that a person who feels regret focuses primarily on the personal choices that contributed to a ...

, and disapproval. When done without the knowledge of the recipient, the cut-eye gesture can convey the same message but with the desire to have the sentiment remain unknown due to fear of the recipient or general lack of desire to verbally or blatantly portray anger. Cut-eye makes its full effect when the eyes of the person performing the gesture are turned the opposite direction from the person to which it is intended for. This sends the message that they aren't worth the attention. The gesture is used in many cases, most typically when a person is talking and is interrupted by another individual. In this case, a sharp cut-eye is given in order to show the level of anger and disrespect felt by the user. In addition, it shows the perceived irrelevancy of the individual who interrupted. It also gives the person to which the gesture is intended the same feeling of disrespect of anger the user of the gesture felt. By "rummaging" one's eyes over a person, one violates their personal space and sense of confidence. The victim cannot do anything in this situation to prevent this violation.

Origins

Africa

In Africa, the origin of the cut-eye gesture is the region in and around the modern-day countries of

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

and

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. In this region, the gesture began as a show of anger and conflict between two individuals and could be used with the intent of the onset of combat or without said intent.

Europe and the Middle East

In Europe, the origin of the cut-eye gesture is centered around the gesture of evil-eye in the context of its

biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

references. The original form in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

was far more serious than the nature of the gesture in the African setting as in the theologies of

and the Middle East, the gesture was believed to carry a supernatural power. In the

Eurasian Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents dates back to antiq ...

context, the cut-eye or evil-eye gesture would bring bad omens upon the recipient and was believed to bring sickness, curses, and possibly death; as a result the use of the evil-eye gesture could often lead to banishment or Eurasian version of the gesture is most represented in modern culture by the potential offense upon receiving the cut-eye, but also shows in the large range of severity the gesture can carry.

Translations

The visual gesture of cut-eye is found in many Ghanaian languages, including translations in

Akan Akan may refer to: People and languages *Akan people, an ethnic group in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire *Akan languages, a language group within the wider Central Tano languages *Kwa languages, a language group which includes Akan *Central Tano language ...

, Ga, and Ewe. * Akan – ''anikyibuo'' / ''anikyie'' 'the art of breaking the back of the eye' * Ga – ''o-kpâ-mi'' 'you cut-eye me' * Ewe – ''treåku'' 'seal eyes'Identity Meets Nationality : Voices from the Humanities, edited by Helen Lauer, and Jemima Asabea Anderson, Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central.

References

{{reflist Gestures Human eye