"If you find yourself listening to someone else talk for a long period of time, you are going to need something to do with your hands so that you can maintain the appearance of being attentive yet relaxed. Usually, putting your hands in your pockets works beautifully in this situation. But what happens when you are wearing something that doesn't have pockets?

First, you grope anxiously at your sides where your pockets should be. They aren't there, but you look for them anyway. Once you realize that there are no pockets and there never will be any pockets no matter how much you wish for them, you begin futilely cycling through a series of increasingly awkward hand positions; hands on your hips like a superhero, arms folded lightly over your chest like an insecure preteen, arms folded purposefully over your chest like an angry farmer, hands dangling limply at your sides - they all make you feel insecure and unnatural.

You become so focused on choosing the least awkward position for your hands that you lose track of the conversation entirely. This only adds to the problem because now you also have to worry about whether the stance you choose is appropriate for the conversation. You don't want to be standing there with your hands squarely on your hips like Superman if your friend was just talking about his dead grandmother."