Why does my fellow commuter squeak?

March 9, 2009 9:28 PM

Every morning on the bus to work there is a young woman who makes a stream of odd sounds - little squeaks, yips and moans. Every couple of minutes. I can't see if she is using her mouth (I usually sit further back in the bus than her) but they sound to me like she makes the sounds without opening her mouth. I have been tempted to ask her, but I think it would be very rude and probably embarrass her. So, can anyone please tell me - why does she squeak? (Or at least proffer a plausible guess).
posted by awfurby to human relations (27 comments total)

Tourette Syndrome could be a possibility
posted by gnutron at 9:30 PM on March 9

Tourette's, maybe?
posted by spockette at 9:30 PM on March 9

Might be interested in watching Twitch and Shout a documentary about people with Tourette's. [part1, part 2] to see if it looks familiar.
posted by jessamyn at 9:36 PM on March 9

There are numerous different tic-producing disorders, of which Tourette's is one. But odds are it's something in that category. It would indeed be rude to ask.
posted by Askr at 9:38 PM on March 9

Certainly sounds like Tourette's, and it would be rude to ask.

Or she has a small dog in her purse.
posted by mmoncur at 9:53 PM on March 9

Rude to ask. I've known individuals who had this behavior and it was involuntary, but could also be stress (in the sense of activated nervous system) related. Likely she is quite aware of it, very self-conscious of it, and if she had the means (money and appropriate medications) to resolve it she would. Chalk it up to humanity and enjoy your bus ride.
posted by meinvt at 9:54 PM on March 9

I would definitely guess something neurological, in which case it would be rude to ask, as you've figured out. Why does she squeak? I can't address this woman's situation specifically, but I do work with a little girl who has apraxia of speech, which prevents her from forming words. She's quite adept at getting her meaning across, though: when she's happy, she makes a series of burbling, squeaking sounds without opening her mouth, and manages to steal my heart every time.
posted by corey flood at 10:01 PM on March 9

Not saying it's not Tourette's, but I have a friend who does this just when he's not paying attention. It could just be a nervous tic, is all I'm saying.

Yeah, don't ask her.
posted by OrangeDrink at 10:04 PM on March 9

Aside from the previously mentioned and obvious, other possibilities exist:

1) She's a researcher doing a study on rudeness and is tallying up the number of people who ask her.

2) She's got britches on with a remote control vibrating attachment, and this is how she passes the time on her bus ride.

3) She likes making people vaguely uncomfortable.

You're never gonna know on this one.
posted by adipocere at 10:14 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]

You don't live in Nashville by any chance, do you? One of my best friends from high school lives there now and she used to squeak and such randomly all the time. Not tourette's--just an indefatigable playfulness. Maybe its her!
posted by jefficator at 10:46 PM on March 9

You don't live in Nashville by any chance, do you?
Close, but not quite - Hong Kong.

I hadn't considered Tourette's as a possibility. However, looking at the Wikipedia page on Tourette's, the condition is characterized by the presence of multiple physical (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) tic. The person I am talking about doesn't have (as far as I can tell) a physical tic - she sits quite still in her seat and looks out the window.

I'm not sure about the apraxia either - she's just sitting there. She's not trying to talk to anybody. I was wondering if maybe she was deaf and perhaps she didn't even know that she was making these sounds. Could that be a possibility?
posted by awfurby at 11:00 PM on March 9

The person I am talking about doesn't have (as far as I can tell) a physical tic

Tourette's tics are basically compulsions that are incredibly hard to resist, and there are all *kinds* of tics, so there's no way Wikipedia can fully detail them. Hers could be limited to vocal tics, or she may have physical ones you couldn't even see. My dad, for example, sometimes clenches his jaw. Not obvious right away. But whatever the case, it sounds like she has some kind of tic disorder, and please don't ask her.
posted by katillathehun at 12:13 AM on March 10

Could a physical tic be small, such as hands or feet moving and you can't see them?
posted by jesirose at 12:13 AM on March 10

I know someone with a seizure disorder and she has vocal tics. They aren't quite like Tourette's, but similar. She had hiccups and other odd noises. I'm just thinking it could be something neurological, but not exactly Tourette's.
posted by lilywing13 at 1:59 AM on March 10

One of the more common physical tics is blinking or squinting. It is possible you just haven't see these. Tic disorders are a lot more common, IMO, than many people think--you probably know a few people with simple tics. Once you start noticing them, you'll see them everywhere. Really fascinating, really.
posted by thebrokedown at 5:03 AM on March 10

My young son has a motor tic, which manifests itself as an arm movement and small vocal noises. One of the common settings for this is during a car journey, where he's watching the world go by in a relaxed, unfocused state, and not really paying attention to anything.

This could be the same. For heaven's sake, don't ask her.
posted by dowcrag at 5:14 AM on March 10

I guess it shall remain a mystery, and for all of you enjoining me not to ask her - have no fear - as I implied in my question I had decided against asking her.
posted by awfurby at 5:41 AM on March 10

I dated someone with a mild case of Tourette's. It rarely reared its head, coming out occasionally as a low moan, or as "Hi, hi, hi, hi."
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 6:04 AM on March 10

Try and get a seat next to her and see if you can chat.
Is this OK in HK?

I was talking to a random passenger in Portugal once who had an incredible stammer. I mean, really debilitating; but I was interested in talking to her, and she to me, so we ignored it. (I was, however, fascinated by it.)
After a while talking though, she mentioned her stammer and we had a good conversation about it and how it was affected by foreign language, situation or confidence.

That conversation alone was worth any number of frosty smiles/looks of incomprehension I've also had!

Being friendly, being unafraid of looking an ass and being gallus can be very rewarding!
posted by BadMiker at 6:46 AM on March 10

My sister has chronic hiccups, and the first time an old roommate met her, she asked, "Um...did you notice that your sister kind of...squeaks?" I'm so used to it I don't even hear it anymore, but my roommate was a bit startled. So perhaps it could be that?

Regardless, I wouldn't ask the girl.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 6:48 AM on March 10

Check for earphones? Maybe she's 'singing along' to her Ipod music, sub-vocally?
posted by eaglehound at 7:20 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]

Many people you encounter in public have interesting peculiarities, but you are not allowed to ask. Sometimes you forget this rule, and are deeply embarrassed when the answer reveals something you realize is soooo none of your business. I tell you this from experience.
posted by theora55 at 7:45 AM on March 10

Tourettes is vocal and motor tics together. Tics however, can be motor or vocal, so it may just be that she has the vocal form of tics, it's less common than the motor form.
posted by katers890 at 7:58 AM on March 10

I think the OP could be right about the deaf thing. I remember playing sports with deaf kids in highschool and some made a lot of vocalizations while they played that they probably weren't aware of, so maybe she's just lost in thought and not aware of the sounds.
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:08 AM on March 10

I have Tourette Syndrome and I take the bus everyday.

I generally hold my tics back in public a bit, just an unconscious thing from knowing people are around me. I behave differently sitting on a packed bus than I would if I was walking home on an empty street (in which case I would be babbling to myself on a fairly constant basis). So, yeah, it's unlikely anyone would see me have motor tics.

However, when I'm on the bus, I'm generally kind of relaxed and drifting off and mind wandering, so unlike a situation where I was kind of tense and on best behavior and working really hard to control my tics,* things are going to slip out of my mouth, little fragments of sentences and noises and such. Maybe "beep beep" or really embarrassing declarations of love for my boyfriend who I always think about on the bus or who knows, everyone's Tourette's Lexicon is different.

I can see myself being that person on your bus, and though I think everyone else covered this point I would be extremely uncomfortable if you started chatting me up about it. Take it this way: you didn't know what Tourette Syndrome was until this thread. I, or maybe she, has to deal with it all the time, and am kind of tired of thinking about it; it's an interesting quirk but it's not funny or endlessly fascinating when you've had it since childhood and are used to it. It's not my responsibility to offer explanations to people I'm mildly annoying, since I have a pretty damn good excuse, and there's no way I can explain a complex neurological disorder to someone on a five minute bus ride when all I want to do is go home.

She probably is experiencing nervous tics. It may or may not be related to the tic disorder Tourette Syndrome. It's impossible to diagnose from second-hand observations. You will never know for sure, and that's ok, because it's not really your business.

This is my answer to a somewhat similar "does this girl have TS?" question. Apologies if I am overly sensitive about the topic, I know you've already decided not to ask her. I really don't mind when my friends or family make jokes or ask questions or call me "an absurdity generator," but the idea of being confronted about it by a stranger makes me really uncomfortable. I'm happy when people understand that asking a perfect stranger about something so personal and difficult to explain is not much more sensitive than asking someone in a wheelchair "what happened to your legs?"**

*Example: I met the BF's parents last week, we choose not to bother explaining that I have TS for such a short visit, and I had to work really hard to crush the bones of his hand as a tic instead of squeaking or yelping or slapping the table which is what I really wanted to do. It's possible to control, or at least, make it look normal, but this is too much work to do every day on the bus.

**I'm not saying that TS is anything like being in a wheelchair, I'm just saying, social faux-pas, y'all.
posted by Juliet Banana at 9:06 AM on March 10

To bring up another posibility - I have back pain issues, and if a driver is unsteady or the road rough, I often find myself grunting with pain. Could it be related to the road or your bus simply being jerky or bumpy?
posted by strixus at 9:47 AM on March 10

Try and get a seat next to her and see if you can chat.
Is this OK in HK?
Well, I've never seen it happen - people keep to themselves on the bus, and like I said, I'm not going to approach her about it.

Check for earphones?
No earphones.

Could it be related to the road or your bus simply being jerky or bumpy?
The road is pretty smooth, and while HK bus drivers do like to fling it around a bit, there is a section of road where we get stuck in traffic and she still makes the noises even when the bus is not moving, so I don't think this is the issue. Also I've heard her do it standing in line for the bus.

Oh well, case closed I guess.
posted by awfurby at 8:00 PM on March 10