I’m just curious if there are certain hand gestures that are good in some countries but bad in others. I remember when I was a kid, someone told a story about driving in Greece. He said that everyone that passed him was giving him a funny waving gesture. He just thought, “Man, these Greeks are nice.” Then he found out that the gesture was along the same lines of flicking someone off. I once gave an “a-ok” gesture when I was eating in France and out that it means asshole when you do it in France.
I’m just curious if there are more of these sorts of things…
In the early 90s, George Bush Snr came to Australia. He gave the ‘V’ for Victory sign out of his limo window - palm inward! “Up yours too George!”, we all thought.
I understand the thumbs up sign here in the States (meaning Good Going or Good Job or I Hear You, etc) means the same as extending the middle finger in the UK.
The “OK” sign (thumb and index finger forming a circle, with the rest of the fingers straight up) is obscene in Brazil and perhaps some other places. For a museum exhibition we once had a photo session with some Brazilian Indians in Washington. They were quite startled and shocked when the photographer gave them the “OK” sign after she got a good shot.
I don’t know about the UK, but this is definitely true in Iran. My US-born college roommate told me a story about playing soccer with a cousin who had recently arrived from Iran. Cousin scored a goal, and my roommate gave him a double thumbs up. Apparently it took three guys to hold back the cousin who was in a full beserker rage.
Put the tips of your forefinger and thumb together, with the other three fingers extended as they would normally. Shoiw that ‘zero’ you’ve made to your buddy, and the meaning is very posiitive: “AOK” or “Perfect” here in the US.
But in Italy, I’m told, it has a whole different meaning: “You asshole!”
Pretend you’re taking a photo of someone. You want her to back up. Holding the camera to your eye, with one hand, you give the standard “Back-up” gesture:
palm facing the person, you hinge the hand forward until the palm is parallel to the ground.
That same gesture in Cuba means “Come here.” Honest. Used to confuse me no end.
No; as in Australia (per LoadedDog) the corresponding gesture is the “V For Victory” sign but with the back of your hand facing the other person. It may not always be quite as crude as “The Finger” in the US - I’ve seen plenty of BBC sitcoms where people would do this while blowing a raspberry. Sort of a milder “Get stuffed” thing. IIRC Ms. Slocum on “Are You Being Served” did that a lot.
My mom used to teach ESL at high school and she had to take a number of anthropology classes. One thing she told me about was that in Vietnam (or maybe it was Korea) the “come here” gesture that we use (palm facing you, wave fingers back towards yourself) is only used to wave a dog over and is thus pretty insulting to do to a person.
Never saw the episode but was he biting his thumb at someone? Make a thumbs up gesture, stick the thumb tip behind your top teeth and flick it at the person? That shows up as a nasty insult in “Romeo And Juliet” and provokes a sword fight. I believe it was the equivalent of the various modern “Fuck you” gestures.
It’s actually all but died out here now. Many Australians under, say, thirty would probably never have given a two finger “up yours” and might not even know what it meant. The US one-finger salute has taken over.
Aah, okay. You can do it in Vietnam, but you need to do it palm downward, fingers pointing down. Palm upwards is for animals.
The gesture described by Monty is one the Vietnamese lads I know taught me slightly differently. It’s not merely crossing the fingers, but you hook the tip of your middle finger over the fingernail on your first finger, and then pull back. This makes a certain shaped air space between them. It can actually be quite difficult to do.
Another little bit of advice is for anybody travelling in Thailand. Don’t point. Especially never point at another person or, even worse, at a Buddha image. Some Thais will point (I think this is increasingly common nowadays especially with the young), but for the visitor to Thailand, just play it safe and don’t do it at all, because many Thais will be offended. If you need to point something out, either do it verbally (eg. “Can you please pass me the second bowl?”), or point with your chin by tilting your head in the direction of the object in question.
Australian Aborigines have also traditionally used this chin-pointing technique. I’m not sure that it is because pointing with a finger is offensive. I don’t think it is, it’s just not the way they do it.
That’s exactly the way I learned it, also, from Vietnamese refugees who attended high school with me back in the 1970s. Just as with any other word, a very slight mispronunciation may be overlooked by the hearer (or in this case, viewer of the gesture). For some people, it’s quite difficult to do, just as the so-called Vulcan salute is for some. For others, it’s quite easy.
A slightly amusing anecdote: While taking a Vietnamese course in Davis two years ago, for one session only a few of us could show up. The instructor suggested we conduct the session at a local Vietnamese restaurant. We students agreed. During the meal, we got to discussing hand gestures that are okay in America but not in Vietnam. Of course, the crossed fingers gesture was mentioned. One young lady (whose parents are Vietnamese immigrants and she took the class to learn their language as she didn’t speak Vietnamese herself) asked, “You mean like this?” and made the gesture. The elderly waiter was a bit shocked to see a young Vietnamese woman doing that in a nice public place.
And whatever you do, don’t point at a picture of the King or the Royal Family.
okay…what does it mean?