I am noticing a growing trend in what I like to call “palate clicking.” (This was obviously written by a BT, because it is not a growing trend, palate clicking has been around for centuries, we practically have a mesorah for palate clicking)
Bradley Morgan sent this to me.
What is palate clicking? Palate clicking is that sound frum yids make just prior to making an important point. It involves putting the tip of your tongue on the palate of the mouth just behind the front teeth and then making a clicking noise. Normally it is preceded by a pause accompanied by a slight bobbing movement of the head or even yeshivish arm movements to indicate something thoughtful is about to be said.
Sometimes, depending on the intonation of the palate click and how significant the clicker finds what he just clicked about, a “you hear?” may even follow. But only sometimes. I notice that frum people that palate click do not know they do it and when I describe it they are confused and think I am just another crazy bt (which I am). Finally, most clickers are men but now that it has become so ubiquitous I am finding a lot of women also do it. But more rebbetzins than regular frum girls. I just picked up the habit and it makes communication with other yeshivish people a lot easier.
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