Catching Flies

Without internet service yesterday, I had to resort to reading a book. As I perused my David Sedaris short stories, my little gray tabby cat jumped on the bed beside me. She took one look at the title, then opened her mouth wide and emitted a huge yawn. She finds Sedaris boring, I guess … but then, she can’t read.

When I saw the cat yawn, that elicited the same response in me. I then tried to get her to yawn, by holding her in front of me and yawning in her face, but she was uninterested. Have y’all ever tried to make a cat or dog yawn? You can’t do it.

But, in humans (and in chimpanzees) yawning is contagious.

See what I mean? Could you look at that and not yawn?

I remember learning how contagious yawning can be in Biology class in High School. Our instructor, a very stern woman, had invited a guest speaker to the class. She had warned us in no uncertain terms that if we wanted to pass Biology we would behave, because she highly valued this person’s opinion. Do y’all think it is possible for 9th graders to behave?

The speaker was mildly interesting, but the class cut-up, J.R., suddenly yawned an enormous yawn. The girl next to him “caught” it, and she yawned. In a matter of moments, everyone in class was yawning. Our instructor tried to stop us by glaring at us, but even she caught the yawn. Then, the guest speaker glanced up, saw us all yawning, and he lost it, too.

Fortunately, the instructor laughed about it (probably the only time we saw her smile all year), and the bell rang. Class was over, but we learned that day that yawns are definitely contagious. More importantly, my instructor learned never to invite a speaker whose high opinion she sought; and the guest speaker learned never to accept speaking engagements to 9th grade audiences!

As I thought about this, I began to ponder “yawns” and could hardly wait for my sweet husband to get the internet connection going again. Several hours of hard work on his part got me back in business, and I turned to Google for some research.

First, I wondered why we yawn. Sure, we yawn when we are tired, or bored. We yawn when we are hungry, too. I yawn when I see anyone else (or any critter yawn), or if I say or read the word “yawn,” or if I even think about yawns. In fact, I can consider synonyms for yawns (my Papaw called a “yawn” by another name — “catching flies”) and I cannot suppress the yawn!

I looked on Babelfish (a “translator”) to find the word for “yawn” in other languages. It’s not that I trust a Babelfish translation, since in Spanish they translate my name, “Shelly,” to a word that means “exfoliated.” I told you the story of my Babelfish woes. But, I still wanted to see what they had to say.

In Spanish, the word is “bostezo,” in German it is “Gegähne,” in French it is “Bâillement,” and in Italian it is “sbadiglio.” I didn’t know that before, but if you say “sbadiglio” to me now, I’ll yawn. Would I have yawned if you said “bostezo” to me a week ago?

I always thought that we yawn because of oxygen shortage or an elevation of CO2 levels. Actually, that isn’t the case, as I found when I read “The Incredible, Communicable Yawn” at Seed Magazine. In 1987, Robert Provine, a professor of psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County who studies the neurobehavioral development and evolution of yawning (yes, people get paid for stuff like that) did several tests that proved that yawning is not a “primary respiratory function.”

In fact, scientists think that it could be a mechanism for “alertness,” and if that is true it could explain why yawning is contagious. To quote the article :

“Though nobody knows for certain, researchers think yawning is an ancient form of social behavior, perhaps a primal form of empathy. An individual yawning could send yawns cascading through a group, synchronizing a clan for activity, such as hunting, going to battle or preparing to sleep.”

Maybe so. I can only say that I don’t want to be the one trying to research the phenomenon of yawning. Just writing this post has been the most difficult writing I’ve ever done. It’s hard to type and yawn at the same time!

Now, I have to go find something to do so I won’t think about yawning anymore. It’s a good thing I didn’t go to church with my husband this morning. I can’t stop thinking about it. Have you ever noticed how hard it is to “not think” about something? I wonder why that is?

Other posts you might enjoy:

1. Don’t Fret
2. Thursday Thirteen #44. Good Luck or Bad Luck?
3. A Good Sanctuary For Exotic Animals
4. I’m Not As Macha As I Try To Pretend

Tagged as: humor, Words