Some Arab friends of mine tell me the thumbs-up sign is also considered obscene in the Arab world, literrally meaning “up yours.”
While growing up I lived in the Philippines for a while. Filipino’s say “yes” by raising their eyebrows, but they also push their lips out at the same time (as if prepping for a kiss, though it has nothing to do with kissing). Only raising the eyebrows is considered an acceptable greeting (in passing).
A Korean friend of mine used to tell me that their yes/no signals weren’t exactly a nod or shake, but I forget how it was different. Can anyone confirm that?
I’ve never been there, but I hear that in India (or, quite possibly, parts of India, I’m not sure) the gesture for ‘no’ is to raise your chin and the gesture for ‘yes’ is to wave your head from side to side. This is sort of the reverse of how we do it in the western world, but not quite since the gestures are distinct from our nodding and shaking.
Yes, the Indian headshake is more like a infinty, or sideways figure eight. And it variously translates as yes, no, I dunno, and who cares? Quite a useful signal, I always thought
Yet another difference in gestures comes from the Italians and the Indians.
When the Italians put their fingers together and move the hand up and down with a grumpy look on their face they mean "What the Hell? " (actually they use a stronger term in place of the hell)
The very same gesture ( minus the look on the face )to the Indians would mean “Are you hungry?”
They’re fairly distinct, but close enough to cause some confusion. I’ve had a lot of Indian coworkers in the past few years, and the difference between our vertical yes and horizontal no and their mostly vertical no and horizontal yes is disconcerting – particularly since it’s a nonverbal cue. As experiment, try nodding while saying “no” out loud, or shaking your head and saying “yes.” It’s doable, but (in me, at least) produces some amount of cognitive dissonance.
We’re pretty used to it on both sides now, though.
A friend of mine who’s Mexican-American says that among Mexicans, flexing the index finger up and down is universally understood as “yes”. This gesture is used when one’s mouth is full or when one is otherwise in no position to vocalize the answer.
