On Nodding & Shaking Head

[englishteacher]

First off, i love what you’ve done with the place.

Now, as far as the gesture thing goes, you referred to Greeks using the thumbs up as an abusive gesture. having successfully been a greek myself for the past 38 years, I can guarantee that this is not the case. There is an abusive gesture involving use of the thumb in Greece, but it is slightly more complicated: it involves tucking the thumb inside your closed fist and exposing the tip of the thumb between the index and middle fingers. (That’s a handful!) However, this particular gesture was by no means used all over the country (mostly up North) and it seems to have totally disappeared now. While I remember both my parents admonishing me for using it when I was seven or eight, I don’t recall having seen the gesture used in the past twenty years or more.

Anything other info you need on modern Greek culture (if such a thing exists), just drop us a line.

Cheers!

[bibliophage]

Welcome to the SDMB, englishteacher.

A link to the column you’re commenting on is appreciated. Providing one can be as simple as pasting the URL into your post, making sure to leave a blank space on either side of it. Like so: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_450b.html

[Baldwin]

@englishteacher

There is an abusive gesture involving use of the thumb in Greece, but it is slightly more complicated: it involves tucking the thumb inside your closed fist and exposing the tip of the thumb between the index and middle fingers.

That sounds like “the fig”, which has been around quite a while; I believe Dante refers to it.

[AskNott]

In the nod-means-yes societies, such as ours, a person struggling to stay awake could unwittingly signal agreement. Misunderstandings, even date rape :eek: could result. Maybe that’s why some cultures don’t use the nodding yes.

“I see that Nott has agreed to write the newsletter for the coming year.” Huh?