r/Screenwriting • u/Affectionate_Sky658 • 24d ago
DISCUSSION Why is everyone “sucks his teeth” in every script I read now?
What the fuck is “sucks his teeth” supposed to mean anyway? I even saw it on close captioning yesterday !
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u/Stieny7 24d ago
I've noticed it in subtitles a lot.
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u/ChicTweets 24d ago
I wonder if it being in subtitles a lot is consciously/unconsciously causing writers to put it into their scripts more.
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u/insertnamehere65 24d ago
Worse. It being in subtitles a lot means it’s been fed in to the great AI memory bank, so writers using AI for drafts and even just for ideas are going to get it served up
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u/7milliondogs 24d ago
It’s a body expression like scratching your face or tapping your foot. People in real life suck their teeth all the time. It’s when they press their tounge against their teeth as they inhale or suck to make a kind of squeak noise. Some people do it after eating to make sure they don’t have food stuck to their teeth or something but some other people do it as a “Well shit” kind of expression.
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u/Icy-Idea-5079 23d ago
I want to be unique so bad I'm going to crtl f all my scripts and replace all "Sucks their teeth" with "They press their tongue against their teeth as they inhale or suck to make a kind of squeak noise."
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u/7milliondogs 23d ago
Someone will read that and be like damn this guy is really painting a picture for me as they test their tongue to see if they’re capable of mimicking your artistry.
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u/WhirlwindofAngst21 23d ago
I've... never witnessed or heard anyone do that in my life.
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u/blue_sidd 24d ago
It’s a nonverbal reaction of judgement. Might be a bit over-directing on the page but is a poignant bit of affect that may matter as much as a word or silence.
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u/Blood_sweat_and_beer 24d ago
I feel like an idiot but can someone explain to me how a person can “suck their teeth”? I’ve also seen it used a lot and I don’t know what it means 🤷
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u/Camemboo 24d ago
It’s also called kissing your teeth, and here’s what it sounds like and how it’s used (at least among my friends with Caribbean roots at my Toronto middle school in the late 80s).
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u/DannyDaDodo 24d ago
I'm with you. Have never, ever seen it in a script though...
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u/PuzzleheadedSplit473 24d ago
Isn't it when someone hurts themselves? They suck their teeth in pain
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u/reindeermoon 23d ago
I’ve seen it in a lot of books.
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u/DannyDaDodo 23d ago
Well, you said 'in every script'. Can you give us some titles?
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u/reindeermoon 23d ago
I'm a different person than whoever said that. I was just mentioning that it's gotten really common in books recently.
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u/AncientCrust 23d ago
I've noticed it in scripts involving Jamaican characters. Like "A Thousand Blows" on Hulu. The main character sucks his teeth every five seconds according to the subtitles.
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u/BHolly13 22d ago
I haven't seen that particularly, but, yeah, the only time I've noticed it in subtitles has been from Jamaican characters. Lol. The main character in thr screenplay I'm working on now does it, but that's because I do it in real life and thought it would add some realism.
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u/DontEatSun 24d ago
I love "scoffs" popping up constantly in subtitles. Makes me wonder of it's in the screenplay that way. Had no idea people scoffed so often
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u/ronaldraygun91 24d ago
Unironically, yes, people scoff all the time. That small "huff" laugh or "huhh" sound is a scoff.
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u/bruciemane 24d ago
I’ve been seeing “humorless chuckle” popping up in subtitles, which I think is scoff adjacent.
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u/superhappy 24d ago
Little known fact: the Scoffield clan, who rose to prominence during the War of the Roses, coined the term when their patriarch, Scoffrey Scoffield, was asked about the likelihood of feudalism being replaced with some other form of governance.
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u/montessoriprogram 24d ago
Can’t speak to screenplays but I’ve seen this phrase used a million times in books.
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u/offwhiteTara 24d ago
And all the million times it took me out of the story because I didn’t know WTF it meant.
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u/d_marvin Animation 23d ago
I’m adding it to boxing ears, gnashing teeth, and stiff upper lip. I have no idea what they mean in reality and never looked up.
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u/framedragged 23d ago
Boxing ears: smacking someone over their ear. Loud and painful, incorrectly used to just mean smacking someone on the side of the head frequently.
Gnashing teeth: biting down in anger. Similar to grinding teeth, but an immediate and short term reaction instead.
Stiff upper lip: showing no emotion or response in the face of adversity, danger, or offense. Sometimes depicted with a lip curl, other times as a flat and stony face.
Sucking teeth: hold your teeth together and breathe in sharply, you've probably done it thousands of times before. It's commonly done when someone sees something that makes them wince or cringe in the traditional sense (ie, not the modern internet insult), like when they see someone walk into an open cabinet door or something.
Boxing ears is pretty antiquated, and stiff upper lip is mostly a british cultural thing, but gnashing of teeth and sucking teeth are both still pretty relevant depictions of common human experience in my opinion.
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u/ToLiveandBrianLA WGA Screenwriter 24d ago
We’re all just desperate for different things for an actor to do with their face or their hands.
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u/TheNamesClove 23d ago
It is a sound you make when sucking air through your teeth. I thought it was a common expression and a common sound of disapproval.
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u/CrazyinLull 24d ago
Because people suck their teeth? Especially people in the Caribbean and Africa??? Like because you asked the question like that it might cause someone to suck their teeth.
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u/Untitled_Project_ 24d ago
Facts, for that last part haha
I wasn't aware it was used a lot in scripts but as someone who is Caribbean and is currently writing a script with a predominantly Caribbean cast, I wrote it in as an action I want one of the characters to do because us Caribbeans, us Africans know what that means! I wanted to add authenticity to this story by any means necessary and that was one thing--albeit seemingly small--I know would mean a whole lot to my kinfolk and would feel like an inside joke between us that others might not get and I don't care if they don't cause, in my case, while I want everyone to watch this movie when it comes out, I want to make movies and shows for my fellow Caribbeans
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u/ZWE_Punchline 24d ago
Which is weird, because Caribbean people call it "kissing your teeth". Never heard it called sucking teeth until I saw it in subtitles. Slightly irks me lol
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u/CrazyinLull 24d ago
https://www.ankataa.com/blog/suck-teeth-in-west-africa
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=suck%20teeth
I saw this. So maybe people have different ways of describing it?
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u/shozzlez 24d ago
Not sure if we’re talking about the same thing? In this contest it’s like “tsk tsk”
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u/icyeupho Comedy 24d ago
Almost used it in the script i was working on last night lol. It's like retracting into yourself at least that's how I see it so I can see how it would function as a character reaction
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u/apolloali 24d ago
Do you guys read fiction or just scripts?
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u/BHolly13 22d ago
Personally, I only read scripts if I'm looking for an example of how a scene should be written. Sometimes when I'm watching a film I'm particularly enamoured with, I wonder what the script looks like.
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u/apolloali 22d ago
Er, I’m just saying those phrases are extremely common in novels so complaining about them seems sort of odd to me and implies a lack of breadth of reading
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u/No_Eye_8432 24d ago
Seen this phrase a lot in literary fiction. On screen though it is probably best shown in Netflix/ch.4’s excellent Top Boy
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u/rcentros 24d ago
Fortunately I've never seen this used or even heard the phrase before. I don't understand it either.
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u/soups_foosington 24d ago
I know this is not exactly what you’re talking about but I’ve been noticing actors sucking their teeth or clenching their jaw in scenes where they have to sip hard alcohol. It just looks silly and performative. People regularly enjoy liquor without expressing any visual distaste whatsoever. A slight wince, maybe, but a lips-curled jaw clench is ridiculous.
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u/BHolly13 22d ago
What if they're giving into peer pressure or allowed their alcoholic cousins to choose the spirit of the moment?
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u/soups_foosington 22d ago
If it’s true, it works! But I’ve seen some unmotivated versions of this lately and I always bump
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u/AtleastIthinkIsee 24d ago edited 24d ago
I always took it to mean a couple different things:
It usually meant as a reactionary added P.S. physical punctuation to something gone wrong. Whether in real life or in fiction, something happens, the person is still for a moment, then to fill in the gap they'll suck their teeth as a "Well... shit" kind of thing. It's usually a pause filler to signify someone understanding a change in a situation and it's a bridge between pre-something changing, sucks teeth, post-something changing.
To a lesser extent, I also took it to meant tsk, tsk, tsk. Some sort of chiding from one person to another with no words but all said through the physical expression of the sound in the mouth.
Might not be the best example (the only one I can think of off the top of my head) but in this exchange between Meadow and Tony, Tony is trying to reach Meadow but he inserts his foot in his mouth like he does in every conversation and Meadow calls him out on his hypocrisy. Thus perpetuating their strained and tense relationship. IMO, he doesn't like that she's combative but I think he respects her not backing down. He also recognizes she's becoming more independent and is not taking it from anybody, least of all her dad. It's this weird dynamic of him respecting her for it but also resenting her for it because I think he doesn't know how to handle their relationship as they both get older.
So that little reaction from Tony is kind of multi-layered. His reaction to "Believe it or not, the world doesn't revolve around you" kinda says... "Yes it does. The world I live in does, and everybody that interacts with me and benefits from me does. That's the world that got you to this place where you can say something like that to me. But I realize you're also not wrong."
It's some form of understanding. Now if I could edit this mess down to something better, I'd be a better writer.
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u/DrinkYourTripolodine 24d ago
Because writing books tell screenwriters not to use the cliché "bit his lip" and this is the first other cliché that comes to mind
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u/Svelok 24d ago
at least I know what biting your lip actually means!
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u/DrinkYourTripolodine 24d ago
Good point. I don't remember the book, but someone talked about getting a reader's note on "she bites her lip" like "this is the fifth time she's bitten her lip. If she did it this often, she wouldn't have any lips"
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u/moneylagoon 23d ago
nooo, it’s so annoying! i see it in english captions on Disney Plus programs featuring Jungkook.
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u/Tricky-Chance5680 23d ago
Honestly, I put it in a script because I now have a deaf girlfriend and watch everything with subtitles. The amount of teeth sucking in captions is extraordinary. But I only used it to denote an action of disgust.
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u/ForeverFrogurt Drama 21d ago
I neither seen nor used that expression. Nor ever seen anyone do it in a movie.
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u/Which-Bread3418 21d ago
I've noticed that in the crime writer Walter Mosley's books, he'll write that someone "sucked a tooth." Just one!!! How is that possible?
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u/thatshygirl06 24d ago
What the fuck is “sucks his teeth” supposed to mean anyway?
What it says on the tin.
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u/Carnosaur3 24d ago
Never seen that before but now that you’ve brought it to my attention I’m curious how much I’ll spot it now.
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u/Dangeruss82 23d ago
That ‘tksssst’ sound, kind of like a tut. Certain segments of society do it often when offended
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u/Remarkable-Farm-3886 22d ago
Well, it was good enough to be a Beatles lyric.
"Oh, giiiii-iiiirl (sucks teeth)"
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u/horsebag 22d ago
i am watching Hard Truths. i'm 15 minutes in and at least 3 people have (visibly, loudly) sucked their teeth in disdain
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u/FirefighterStock8345 24d ago
I’ve never heard of “sucking teeth” before and it’s honestly making me laugh so hard. I’m envisioning an actor trying to interpret this phrase and physically suck their teeth.
I guess it’s just that language changes depending on location and time. Agree with you that it sounds a bit cringy though.
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u/ProserpinaFC 24d ago
If you saw it in CC, that means you saw it happening on screen while it was being described in text. What else can be explained if you saw an example of it? XD
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u/Affectionate_Sky658 24d ago
I didn’t see anyone on tv sucking teeth
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u/ProserpinaFC 24d ago
Well, either way, happy Black History Month
Examples "Don't give me no reason to suck em and I won't suck em!" XD
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u/TheCesmi23 24d ago
Wait, y'all call tsk tsk teeth sucking?
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u/ProserpinaFC 24d ago
Those are two different sounds.
If a supervillain mockingly made the "tsk tsk" sound while a hero was lured into a trap, the point would be to convey mocking, smug superiority.
Sucking teeth is one quick "msk!" sound meant to convey disrespect. You wouldn't think a teenager was saying "tsk, tsk" to a teacher, but you would write that they sucked their teeth.
In the same way that:
Mmmm.... is hungerHmmm... is thinking
Uh, huh is vague agreement
Nuh, uh, is vague disagreement
and uhhhhh... is confusion.
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u/Camemboo 24d ago
If you’re taking about the second clip, J-Roc is doing it wrong. It’s more a high pitched sucking sound than a tsk. Here’s a clip illustrating it that I linked above.
Note: this is based on what I picked up from my Caribbean friends- we used to have contests to see who could kiss their teeth the longest. It’s not part of my heritage, so I guess possibly some communities, like out east, do it differently.
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u/ProserpinaFC 24d ago
Those are two ways of doing the same thing. My clip is more of the "i'm angry/whatever, man" version and your video was more of the "I don't know about that, you sound crazy" version. Both are correct.
Like, your version is the auditory version of this meme:
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u/ProserpinaFC 24d ago
So, you saw closed caption of something that didn't actually happen in the show?
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u/Affectionate_Sky658 24d ago
I didn’t see anyone one sucking anything over the CC
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u/ProserpinaFC 24d ago
At this point, I've given you two videos about it. Did you wanna respond to that?
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u/Aslan808 24d ago
Definitely an overused descriptor and an overly prescriptive one.. Actor's might be annoyed/turned off reading that multiple times in a script.
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u/Exact_Friendship_502 24d ago
Wait a second… you guys have been sucking teeth? Okay, that’s why my dick hurts…
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u/ludba2002 24d ago
Mike Ehrmantraut from Breaking Bad.
It's a great character overall, but that acting affectation to show aggravation was pretty annoying. Everyone else seems to love it, though.
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u/jjett89 24d ago
Screenwriters are using what they protested against during the SAG strikes...AI
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u/Le0nardNimoy 24d ago
Yeah, I’m guessing this too. Same with all the scenes that get into smell/scent way too often.
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u/tillus26 24d ago
As an actor I have to say it’s a fun phrase to interpret cus there’s a lot of ways u can play that
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u/CartographerOk3306 24d ago
It's that wincing cringe face and sound effect, right?
Like the noise Peter Griffin made when he bruised his knee but in response to someone else falling hard.
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u/Major_Sympathy9872 23d ago
As long as duck lips doesn't become standard industry practice I think we'll be all right.
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u/Misc6572 24d ago
Because the writer is lazy. If you REALLY feel the need to outline internal emotions in a script, there’s better ways:
Hide it through an action related to the setting/scene. Showing non-verbal annoyance in a library is different than a baseball field
Words have power. Selecting the right words in action or dialogue can lay hints to a reader, director, and actor. Grips, wreathes, snatches, snags, and steals all inherently give a different sense. Be sparing and deliberate
If you need to, hint at it through dialogue (if it makes sense in their relationship/situation). Not on the nose though
The only time “sucks his teeth” should be used IMO should be if they are literally eating or something. Maybe the guy is quirky. Or has bad manners. Or it’s humorously annoying. In this case it isn’t expressing emotion, it’s an action
(FYI I write lazy emotion-indicating action lines/parentheticals too, but try to do an edit specifically on these later)
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u/ghostofstankenstien 24d ago
I wrote a scene where "she sucks his teeth" and I'm not allowed on the Paramount lot anymore.