# Origin of shaking head for 'no' **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 20, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-shaking-head-for-no/944695 "2021-06-20T18:26:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-shaking-head-for-no/944695/1 "2021-06-20T18:26:00Z")
After seeing my baby learn this gesture, I was wondering if it’s possible shaking your head to indicate ‘no’ comes from babies refusing food. Is there any evidence showing where gestures like this one originated? How many different cultures share them? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2021, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-shaking-head-for-no/944695/2 "2021-06-20T18:29:52Z")
That’s always been my assumption. Wiki sez: > **[Head shake | Origin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_shake#Origin)** > > There are varying theories as to why head shake is so frequently used to mean "no". It has been stated that babies, when hungry, search for their mother's milk by moving their heads vertically, but decline milk by turning their head from side to side. > An early survey of head shake and other gestures was The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, written by Charles Darwin in 1872. Darwin wrote to missionaries in many parts of the world asking for information on local gestures, and conclud... ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2021, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-shaking-head-for-no/944695/3 "2021-06-20T19:27:26Z")
Huh, I thought it would be too obscure for Wikipedia. That’ll teach me to check first! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2021, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-shaking-head-for-no/944695/4 "2021-06-20T19:29:37Z")
_Nothing_ is too obscure for Wikipedia. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2021, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-shaking-head-for-no/944695/5 "2021-06-20T20:50:41Z")
There’s a great book [The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language](https://www.amazon.com/First-Word-Search-Origins-Language/dp/0143113747/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=the+first+word&qid=1624220508&sr=8-2) that posits that gestures like the head-shaking “no” predate language and arose in the far evolutionary past. Other apes, particularly chimpanzees, also use the “no” gesture. Ape babies also use the “pick me up” gesture. The author discusses how, before we learned to speak, gestures were our main means of communicating. And many of them, like “no”, still persist, for instance putting your index finger to your mouth to indicate “be quiet”. It’s a fascinating read. ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-shaking-head-for-no/944695/6 "2021-06-21T13:23:00Z")
It does seem like turning your head away to the side is the best way to reject something so it makes sense that it would become the default “no” gesture. What’s interesting is that nodding isn’t entirely universal for agreement. This was explored in “The Human Animal” a miniseries by Desmond Morris produced by the BBC in the mid-1990s. In one culture (Greece?) they flick their head up in what looks more like a “huh neat” or “it’s over there” kind of gesture. In another culture (India?) they rock their head side to side in what looks more like an “eh maybe” or “I don’t know” motion. I don’t recall any others, or if there were peculiarities relating to “no” but the number of different gestures out there is quite fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-shaking-head-for-no/944695/7 "2021-06-21T13:27:13Z")
Wasn’t it a gag in The Gods Must Be Crazy that one tribe shakes their heads to indicate ‘yes’? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-shaking-head-for-no/944695/8 "2021-06-21T14:41:42Z")
No opinion but I thought the observation about babies was an intelligent observation and does make good sense. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-shaking-head-for-no/944695/9 "2021-06-21T15:25:27Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Wasn’t it a gag in The Gods Must Be Crazy that one tribe shakes their heads to indicate ‘yes’? It’s true in Bulgaria and a few other countries as well.