# "Gesticulating Wildly" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 14, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701 "2012-09-14T15:59:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701/1 "2012-09-14T15:59:33Z")
What literary character does this phrase bring to mind? . . . . . . . . . . . . Is it just me who associates this with Gandalf? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701/2 "2012-09-14T16:02:48Z")
I don’t think of any single literary character. I think of a stereotypical urban intellectual crank, presumably with flyaway grey hair and dowdy clothing. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Doom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dr\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701/3 "2012-09-14T16:06:26Z")
In contrast to “ **Gesticulating in a Civilized and Reserved Manner** ”? But yes, I’d agree with your choice. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701/4 "2012-09-14T16:08:16Z")
Daffy Duck. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701/5 "2012-09-14T16:09:26Z")
More like Doc from Back to the Future. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701/6 "2012-09-14T16:12:42Z")
I sort of think of Frasier. He often waves his arms about wildly when agitated. StG ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701/7 "2012-09-14T16:13:44Z")
Kermit the Frog. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701/8 "2012-09-14T16:14:39Z")
Don Quixote. Just seems like something he would do. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Doom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dr\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701/9 "2012-09-14T16:16:16Z")
I find it odd that Daffy Duck, Doc from Back to the Future, Frasier, and Kermit the Frog are all being considered “literary characters”. Where is this crazy library housing these legendary literary gesticulators? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701/10 "2012-09-14T16:23:23Z")
> [@Dr\_Doom](#): > > I find it odd that Daffy Duck, Doc from Back to the Future, Frasier, and Kermit the Frog are all being considered “literary characters”. > > Where is this crazy library housing these legendary literary gesticulators? Been to a library lately? Ours has more videos than books. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701/11 "2012-09-14T16:25:23Z")
The first person I thought of was Hercule Poirot. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701/12 "2012-09-14T16:29:50Z")
Probably because I just re-read it lately, but I instantly thought of Hal Incandenza at the beginning of Infinite Jest. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701/13 "2012-09-14T16:37:09Z")
> [@Dr\_Doom](#): > > I find it odd that Daffy Duck, Doc from Back to the Future, Frasier, and Kermit the Frog are all being considered “literary characters”. How 'bout the robot from _Lost in Space_? > [@Jas09](#): > > Probably because I just re-read it lately, but I instantly thought of Hal Incandenza at the beginning of Infinite Jest. So that’s where you’ve been for the last two months. Now, if the phrase had been “howling fantods”, you’d be right on the money. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701/14 "2012-09-14T16:53:28Z")
Arthur Dent for me ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701/15 "2012-09-14T17:05:22Z")
I think of a guy who owns some property next to my primary work site. He’s a tall, thin, grey-haired character who is always overseeing the haphazard work of his employees with a lot of sweeping, vigorous, angry-looking arm movements. We call him “The Gesticulator” ;). He _could be_ a literary character - he sure looks like one. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701/16 "2012-09-14T17:30:37Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever pictured Gandalf as every gesticulating, wildly or otherwise. Dude’ll blow you a sweet smoke figure, but a wild gesticulation is bound to unleash a fireball from his sleeve. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701/17 "2012-09-14T17:49:22Z")
> [@Miss\_Mapp](#): > > The first person I thought of was Hercule Poirot. Ahhh, au contraire madame. Poirot does not make ze wild gesteeculations, as zey tend to deeslodge ze boutonniere. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701/18 "2012-09-14T17:51:21Z")
And yeah, Gandalf would be very far down on my list of gesticulators, for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![jayarrell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@jayarrell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayarrell)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701/19 "2012-09-14T17:55:14Z")
Stan from Monkey Island was the first thing to come to my mind (though he may not quite fit the literary character requirement). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701/20 "2012-09-14T18:15:28Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > I don’t think I’ve ever pictured Gandalf as every gesticulating, wildly or otherwise. Dude’ll blow you a sweet smoke figure, but a wild gesticulation is bound to unleash a fireball from his sleeve. Agreed. I never pictured him as “gesticulating wildly” when I read the books the first time, and no depiction of him in film has spown him that way. “Gesticulating wildly” suggests mental agitation and indecision, which doesn’t characterize Gandalf at all. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gesticulating-wildly/634701.md?page=2)