Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
By Barbara McAllister
Word of the Day: Supercilious
The word “supercilious” refers to someone arrogant, haughty or pompous, someone who appears or behaves as if they are superior to their fellow human beings. The word comes from the Latin word for eyebrow, literally “above the eyelid.” Supercilious people are often pictured as peering haughtily through raised brows. In fact, the word “haughty” goes back to the French “haut,” for high.
Human eyebrows, besides being expressive, are thought to function by keeping the eyes clear of sweat and dirt. The shape diverts substances around to the side of the face to keep salty sweat or water out of our eyes. Eyebrows are almost a uniquely human feature possibly deriving from humans’ general lack of hair and an extension of the primates’ muscular brow structures. Animals like pigs, dogs, cats and horses all have a ridge above the eyes that look like eyebrows. Some even have a few long hairs, but these are thought to be for feeling things and are not hairy like human eyebrows.
Besides protecting the eyes, human eyebrows are critical for non-verbal communication and a surprisingly crucial part of facial recognition. A study at Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that participants couldn’t identify photos of celebrities with their eyebrows removed. (The eyebrows were removed on the celebrities, not the participants.) Famous faces were recognized only about 46% of the time without eyebrows. In a much less scientific claim, eyebrows may be seen as indicators of personality traits. Straight brows are thought to mean a forceful and direct personality while arched or curved brows mean someone more people oriented.
The average person has about 250 hairs per eyebrow, and they can turn gray just like the hair on our head. They also regularly fall out like the hair on our head except the lifespan of an eyebrow hair is about four months while the hair on our heads has a longer cycle of three to seven years. That means there are roughly nine new sets of brows for every new head of hair, something eyebrows can surely feel supercilious about.
