Can you read my lips?

Anybody can lipread that. That phrase is often said without voice, so the listener automatically looks at the moving lips. I don't know whether it started by George H.W. Bush saying his famous one-liner, "read my lips, no new taxes", or it is just that obvious. Even a horrible lipreader can lipread "can you read my lips".

So whenever somebody asks me, "Can you read my lips?" I don't say yes. Saying yes to that question is a mistake. Imagine a conversation going like this:

"Can you read my lips?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Okay, blah blah blah bla-bla-lalala-blah"
"WHAT?"
"blah blah blah bla-bla-lalala-blah"
"Huh? I still don't understand what you're saying?"
"But I thought you could read my lips?"
"Well... uhh..."
*awkward moment ensues*

This has happened a hundred times over the course of my life. Even so, people have considered me an elite lipreader. I wouldn't know if I'd put myself in that category, but the skill of lipreading often takes a lifetime to master. Even a master lipreader won't get everything that was said. Any lipreader that tells you he can understand 100% is either lying or actually hears what you're saying.

Despite that, I stopped saying "yeah I can read lips" a long time ago. Now, whenever someone asks me if I could read lips, my answer typically is:

"Oh, that depends."

That spares us an awkward moment if I don't understand a word they're saying. Plus, if they come back with "depends on what?", there's a golden opportunity to explain how some people are easier or harder to lipread than others, and how you can better communicate.