Quote Originally Posted by Knit_Wits_Vintage View Post
Please take time to read threads properly before replying. I emphasised the point "........impossible WITHOUT seeing the person"
Absolutely correct. It's so annoying when a point which has already been covered is raised. What Merking describes is certainly not epilepsy!

It brought to my mind the stage act (later transferred to film in the "Carry On" series) of Jack Douglas in his character of Alf Ippititimus - the tic and jerk coupled with the "phwaay" sound he would produce; apparently this character was based on somebody he knew in the theatrical business.

A late cousin of mine, who was an M.D. said it made him think of Tourette's but he wasn't at all happy about its being used for humour.

The "coprolalia" (involuntaryt swearing) mentioned earlier is not common to all who have Tourette's, and is in fact very rare.