You know what I mean. Just don't. Please. I suppose the academic nod by the senior professor to encourage the postgrad giving their first paper can just about be understood, but it's patronizing as hell.
But maybe I'm wrong to get so wound up about academic conference nodding. According to some research, nodding is about 'self-validation'. Says Prof.Richard Petty, “If we are nodding our heads up and down, we gain confidence in what we are thinking. But when we shake our heads from side to side, we lose confidence in our own thoughts...nodding your head up and down is, in effect, telling yourself that you have confidence in your own thoughts – whether those thoughts are positive or negative.” So are all the academic nodders trying to persuade themselves that they do indeed think what they think they're thinking? Are the worst academic nodders those least sure of their own ideas, or most afraid of not being sure about their ideas? Are they not, actually, expressing their agreement with the speaker, or, as they often seem to be doing, signalling to everyone that, of course, they already know everything the speaker is saying, and rather better than the speaker evidently does him/herself?
So, maybe the nodding serves a purpose. It still makes me want to strangle people, though.
