Tongue Out Tuesday: Apparently That’s a Thing Now

Okay guys, this one stumped me. Like, a straight up WTF moment, in reality, for all to see.

So once a week I make a little car journey across town to go and pick up the Pettis County Sheriff's reports. And there I was, minding my own like anybody else who's avoiding Broadway and Limit as much as possible, going down Lamine, when it happened.

If you know that area, you'll know that the area right by the Courthouse is a full on parking frenzy sometimes. It's busy, particularly in the mornings. A lot of spots were full. That was okay by me, I was planning to park further away and walk. Gotta get my steps in. Anyway, that area being popular for parking means the actual driving space of the road is somewhat smaller than normal. Imagine that, ok? You're there in your mind?

That’s when it happened.

This greyish brownish SUV was coming down Lamine towards me, and had taken up the entirety of the lane. They were right in the center. They weren't going too fast or driving crazy or anything, but they were in the way.  It's a big vehicle - I get that sometimes it's hard to drive, and sometimes it's easy to forget how big they really are. The driver looked like a middle aged woman, kinda like me, but she was obviously skinnier with longer hair. Anyway, she didn't move her SUV to the side at all, so I had to stop and wait for her. Which is no big deal, I just stopped about... twenty feet away (about a full car length, somewhere in there) from her and waited.

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So she pulled up, moved over the schosh bit I needed, and then.... stuck her whole tongue out.

Just… plop.

Tongue. Out. At me. And not like how a kid does it when they're being silly. Think 'Miley Cyrus doing something at an award show' kind of tongue.

And then, just drove away.  Like it never happened.

Now, I’ve been honked at. I’ve been flipped off.  I've gotten the "go ahead" wave, and I've gotten the "thank you" wave. But never — never — have I been hit with a full, deliberate tongue-out. It was definitely...... odd. So confusing! I immediately had dozens of questions.

What did it mean? Was it playful? Was it aggressive? Was she challenging me to a duel? Was it a weird flirtation? It was so strange, I was still  thrown off while I was parking the car. And it stuck with me when I walked in the office, got back in the car, and came back to the station. Just... floppin' in the breeze.

Do I give “stick your tongue out at me in public” energy? Do I need to work on my "passing you" face?

To the woman in the SUV: I don’t know what I did, but I hope it was iconic enough to earn that level of sass. I respect it. I fear it. I’ll be thinking about it forever. Next time I see you on the road, I might just blow you a kiss and keep driving. Let the emotional chaos continue.

Confusingly yours,

Behka