If you watch people talking from far enough not to hear what they are saying, but from close enough to clearly see their lips moving, the movement strikes you as ridiculous soon enough. The less the people grimace and gesticulate, and Northwestern Europeans excel in this regard, the more ridiculous are those quivering lips. The people talking look as though they have swallowed something not entirely to their liking, but they are too embarrassed to spit it out in one resolute blow.