Talk:hairy eyeball

Locale-specific phrase?
I grew up in Eastern Pennsylvania hearing the phrase "Hairy Eyeball" quite often. Recently I moved to Chicago, and used it at work -- but absolutely nobody had heard of it before. Are my coworkers just deprived souls or is this phrase strongly geographically bound? 165.124.111.179 18:41, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

This definition seems wrong to me. I always thought of the hairy eyeball as looking askance at someone. Typically this might be with head turned at an angle to the subject (i.e. looking at subject out of edge of eyes), one eye squinted. Herostratus 04:20, 1 February 2007 (UTC)
 * This seems true, e.g. Dictionary.com, therefore I have changed the definition. Herostratus 03:39, 26 December 2007 (UTC)


 * The "reference" you provided does not support that in any way. There is no reason to limit the definition to one particular type of hairy eyeball that you personally might be familiar with - the meaning is much more general.  --Connel MacKenzie 07:50, 26 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Your "polite" use of scare quotes around the word reference is uncalled for; it's a reasonable reference, given the obscurity of the term. If the meaning is more general, provide some quotes. The added etymology is unreferenced (and unlikely in my opinion) and I've removed it. Herostratus (talk) 18:09, 25 February 2012 (UTC)


 * Btw, doesn't "hairy eyeball" also means a look of disapproval? 71.212.131.198 19:39, 11 December 2018 (UTC)

A fond look?
I've never heard the phrase hairy eyeball used to describe something cutesy or schmaltzy like "a fond look at someone while batting one's eyelashes." 71.212.131.198 19:39, 11 December 2018 (UTC)