THE THOUSAND YARD STARE

Or the two thousand yard stare according to the Americans who always want to do things bigger.

This describes the blank look of a shell-shocked soldier.

It is a useful deployment when walking up or down Queen Street while running the gauntlet of beggars, buskers, panhandlers, bums, bible-bashers, charity collectors, opinion surveyors and hare krishnas.

With the stare you can walk past them and entirely avoid the need to interact. You don't in fact get asked for anything as the other party immediately moves on to a more promising contact.

it is also useful when pretending to not look at the attractive female coming along in the opposite direction.