The CIA says this one body language gesture is a dead giveaway you are an American
It's called the "American Lean."
Americans are known to do this body language gesture, according to the CIA.
Americans have unique body language and gestures that set them apart from other countries and cultures. These American quirks—such as pointing and eating while walking—are easily picked up by non-Americans who are quickly able to identify us.
Besides a certain demeanor, other American indicators include clothing choices like backwards baseball caps and wearing sunglasses on one's head.
According to Jonna Mendez, the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) former Chief of Disguise, there is one specific posture that has been deemed a dead giveaway of an American identity. It's called the "American Lean."
@magni.fy Only Americans Do This #travel #funfacts #culture #USA #bodylanguage The "American lean" is a cultural quirk where people from the U.S. instinctively lean on walls, railings, doorframes, or furniture when standing in public. It’s casual, relaxed, and often signals comfort in occupying space... but where did it come from?
American body language identifiers
In a 2019 interview with NPR, Mendez and former Director of the CIA, Gina Haspel, explained more about how American body language differs from European body language.
"They wear their wedding rings on different fingers. They eat differently than we do. They don't shuttle that fork back and forth," she explained.
Haspel also commented on Mendez's description of the "American Lean," adding, "They think that we are slouchy, a little sloppy. And they think that they can almost see that in our demeanor on the street because they stand up straight. They don't lean on things."
Mendez expanded on American appearance and body language during an "Ask Me Anything" interview on Reddit.
"More broadly, generalizing (and it is always a little dangerous to generalize) Americans are seen as a bit more casual in their dress on the street than other nationalities. Casual might be too soft a word. Sloppy? Nobody else seems to be wearing sweatpants and shirts on the streets," she explained. "We are also thought to be loud, for instance you can identify the group of Americans in front of the tourist office by the noise that they make. We are not disparaged everywhere, but we do tend to stand out."
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Why Americans do the "American Lean"
On Reddit, curious Americans tried to explain their leaning habits. Many offered their opinions:
"Idk why it’s an American thing, but I’m American and I lean on things because I feel uncomfortable and awkward all the time and having a third point of grounding (2 feet + shoulder/back) is more comfortable." - a_sternum
"American and I've gotta lean on everything because every job I worked was aggressively against us sitting in case the customers saw us comfortable [I guess]? There's a weird notion that sitting equals lazy." - pickleruler67
"Not allowed to sit at work so we tend to lean against things. The phrase 'time to lean, time to clean' is also very prevalent. We're not okay btw." - W3R3Hamster
"idk but apparently it's enough of a thing that my school advised us to not do it while studying abroad so as not to make ourselves targets as tourists/foreigners/Americans 😅." - uhhwhatamidoing
"1) Americans are less formal in most situations, good posture is less emphasized. 2) It’s cool.. think James Dean or fashion models. 3) Laziness." - No-Oil-1669
Others explained how different cultures "rest" in different positions.
"Drive down the street in South Korea and you see folks squatting instead of leaning," one shared. Another added, "The Slavic squat is an alternative."