Nor does it in Thailand. Here it basically means you were, like myself, born on a Tuesday. Or a student of Chulalongkorn University (King Chulalongkorn was born on a Tuesday). Or a supporter of the present king, who was born on a Tuesday.
What colors are associated with being born on other days of the week? I was born on a Wednesday, and Mr. Neville was born on a Thursday.
Sunday: red
Monday: yellow
Tuesday: pink
Wednesday: green
Thursday: orange
Friday: light blue
Saturday: purple
So you twowould have to wear green and orange. Sounds like a high-school football team.
It’s kinda old fashioned though. It’s been superceded by bird-flippage I think. The last people I saw doing that v sign were The Commitments.
I don’t think so. We use it that way in Sweden as well, where “wrong” is “fel”.
While we get butterflies in our stomach, Spanish speakers get them on their skin instead of goosebumps. Not sure what they get in their stomachs, or if they have any use for geese.
The French have a hand gesture for signifying someone is a lush, almost like if Pinnochio were polishing his nose.
Germans do a gesture with their index finger under their eye, the meaning of which escapes me, something, I think, to do with indicating you’re on the ball. Maybe a German doper can explain it.
OK, we (Israelis) have that too, and it means, roughly, “yeah, right… :rolleyes:” You’re supposed to actually pull your eyelid down when doing it, not just touch your face under the eye.
No idea if the German gesture is identical nor whether it means the same thing…
Pink was associated with Mars, the God of War, while blue was associated with the Virgin Mary. Blue’s association with virginity meant that it was the most popular colour in many Western countries for wedding dresses prior to Queen Victoria’s desicion to wear white. Hen ce the “something blue”. For along time afterward it was considered the most suitable colour for a widow/divorcee to wear if remarrying.
In most Asian cultures white is the colour of mourning (thus unsuitible for weddings), while red is the colour of joy & the most popular choice for wedding dresses. In Japan however a bride does traditionally wear a white kimono, but that’s because she’s supposed to in mourning over leaving her birth family. After the wedding she changes into a red one. These days most Japanese brides just wear a Western-style white dress and get married in a mock-Christian service.
I think I realized where some of the confusion may have come from.
In Spanish (and I’ve heard similar expressions in Italian), the kind of behaviour which warrants that response is known as tocar los cojones, which for some reason I’ve met several people who insisted in translating into English as “sucking someone’s dick”, and no me toques los cojones or tócame los cojones as “suck my dick”. No: despite the anatomic neighborhood, someone who’s “touching your balls” is being a pain in the ass, telling someone not to do it is literal (if symbolic) and telling someone to do it is ironic - they’re doing it and you’d appreciate it if they stopped thinking they’re your urologist.
Never heard about butterflies on the skin, but goosebumps are piel de gallina: hen’s skin.
That sounds about right. I didn’t explain the meaning very well but I meant something along the lines of what you explained much better than me! Thanks.
Hunh, good to know. Like I said, I’ve never spent time in a regular Finnish school so the basic conventions are a bit foreign to me. On the other hand, I did once get yelled at by a Saudi friend’s father because I was sitting by a table resting my legs on it and inadvertently waving (the soles of) my feet at him, and some Chinese students’ parents found St. Patrick’s Day celebrations unbelievably hilarious because of the green hat thing, so I can’t complain, I guess.
Americans do it too - or at least, their space marines do.
(Actually, it may be a military gesture originally. One laughing eye, one angry eye…)
The middle finger doesn’t have Japan also does not have any special significance. My daughter learned a song there they use the fingers to show Daddy, Mommy, Brother, Sister and Baby. A quick search can find a little Japanese girl flipping you off.
No.
White symbolizes purity for a bride the same as white wedding dresses.
I have read that calling a woman a “fox” in China has a somewhat negative meaning, because in Chinese mythology fox-women are essentially evil spirit fairies who lure men to a bad fate.
Adds a twist to “foxy lady”. 
I’ve got a giant vessel from India with an enormous swastika beaded on the side. We generally keep it in the closet. The shape of the vessel is beautiful and so is the beadwork, but we’re a little hesitant to display it.
When I was in India, most people we met who were friends of the family would gently hold my and my husband’s heads together with their fists almost like they were about to head or smack our heads together like a pair of coconuts, lightly tapping on the sides. My husband told me that was a blessing. I hope he wasn’t lying. 
And in Venezuela, saying someone is very clever, whether you say it sarcastically or not, is equivalent to telling them they’re a stupid asshole.
Hmmm…the more you know.
The one at 1.37, right? I didn’t know the Spanish do that too.
Yes, it means something like “I adore you and would sacrifice everything for you.” I am sure they don’t mean it literally, but that’s what it means.
The fourth-season intro for Buffy the Vampire Slayer had Spike giving the gesture - which makes sense, as the character is English, but the network would never have allowed them to use the equivalent American gesture.
Thank goodness. It’s good to know no one actually wants to smack our heads together. Or at least if they do, they’re not saying so outright.