The Three Most Common Cross-Cultural Gestures
Allan and Barbara Pease
1.The Ring
This gesture was popularised in the USA during the early nineteenth century by the
newspapers that were starting a craze or using initials to shorten common phrases. There are
any different views about what the initials 'OK' originally stood for, some believing it stood
or 'all correct' which was regularly misspelled as 'oil korrect', while others say that it means
the opposite of 'knock-out' that is, KO.
'OK' to a Westerner,
'money' to a Japanese,
'zero' to the French
insulting to the Turks and Brazilians
Another popular theory is that it is an abbreviation of 'Old Kinderhook', from the birthplace of
a nineteenth-century American president who used the initials as a campaign slogan. It's
obvious that the ring itself represents the letter 'O'in the 'OK' signal. The 'OK' meaning is
common to all English-speaking countries and its meaning is fast spreading everywhere due
to American television and movies, but it has other origins and meanings in certain places.
For example, in France and Belgium it also means 'zero' or 'nothing'. In a Paris restaurant one
evening, the waiter showed us to our table and asked, 'Is the table OK?' We flashed him the
OK signal and he responded, 'Well, if you don't like it here we'll find you another table...' He
had interpreted the OK signal as meaning 'zero' or 'worthless' - in other words, he thought we
had communicated that we didn't like the table.
Use the 'OK' gesture to tell a French person their cooking is wonderful and
they'll probably throw you out.
2.The Thumb-Up
In places that have strong British influence, such as Australia, the USA, South Africa,
Singapore and New Zealand, the Thumb-Up gesture has three meanings: it's commonly used
by hitch-hikers who are thumbing a lift; it is an OK signal; and when the thumb is jerked
sharply upwards it becomes an insult, meaning 'up yours' or 'sit on this'. In some countries,
such as Greece, the thumb is thrust forward and its main
meaning is 'get stuffed'!
As we have already demonstrated, when Europeans count from one to five, they use the
Thumb-Up to mean 'one', the index finger becomes 'two', whereas most English-speaking
people count 'one' on the index finger and 'two' on the middle finger. In this case the ThumbUp
will represent the number 'five'.
This can mean 'Good', 'One',
'Up yours' or 'Sit on this'
depending where you live
3.TheV-Sign
This sign is common in Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain and carries an 'up yours'
interpretation. Winston Churchill popularised the 'V for victory' sign during the Second World
War, but his two-fingered version was done with the palm facing out, whereas the palm faces
towards the speaker for the obscene insult version.
This can mean 'two' to
an American,
'Victory' to a German
and 'Up yours' in Britain
Its origin can be traced back centuries to the English archers who used these two fingers to
fire their arrows. It was considered the ultimate degradation for a skilled archer to be captured
and, rather than be executed, have his two shooting fingers removed. The two-fingered V sign
quickly became used as a goading signal in battle by the British to show their enemies 'I've
still got my shooting fingers.' In parts of Europe, however, the palm-facing-in version still
means 'victory' so an Englishman who uses it to tell a German 'up yours' could leave the
German thinking he'd won a prize.
To Touch or Not to Touch?
Allan and Barbara Pease
Dr Ken Cooper also studied touch frequencies in a number of countries and recorded the
following results for touches per hour - Puerto Rico 180, Paris 110, Florida 2, London 0.
From our research and personal experience, here's a ready reckoner of places where it's
acceptable to touch or not:
Don't touch
Germany
Japan
England
USA & Canada
Australia & New Zealand
Portugal
Northern Europe
Scandinavia
Do Touch
Middle East
Parts of Asia
India
Turkey
France
Italy
Greece
Spain
Pease, Allan and Barbara, The definitive book of body language, Australia: Pease
International, 2004, print.
Gestures in practice
Italian Without Words: Using Hand Gestures in Conversation
By Dianne Hales
Italians, with their innate passion to communicate, have never let words get in the way. In
Italy the shrug of a shoulder, the flip of a wrist or the lift of an eyebrow says more than a
sacco di parole (sack of words).
Gestures are to Italian conversation what punctuation is to writing. Hands become
exclamation points, periods, commas, question marks. Italian gestures are a huge part of what
makes an Italian, well, an ITALIAN!
Even before the law banned talking on cell phones while driving, Italians would pull over to
the side of the road because they couldn’t drive and carry on a conversation. In the old days of
telephone booths, Italians would step outside so they would have space to express themselves
fully.
[http://www.gonomad.com/1766-italian-without-words-using-hand-gestures-in-conversation]
Italian hand gestures trump deaf sign language
By William Mager See Hear
In Italy, the local sign language for deaf people isn't legally recognised. But the well-known,
expressive hand gestures have their own dictionary and wider appeal, to the frustration of deaf
people.
There are many things we associate with Italian culture - espresso coffee, scooters, gelato,
expensive designer clothing. But perhaps more central to the Italian character is the way they
use their hands to animate their speech.
Whether rubbing thumb and forefinger to signify money, flicking the chin to show how little
you care, or even tapping underneath the eye with an index finger to show agreement, gesture
is widely used and understood.
Prof Isabella Poggi at Roma Tre University recently formally categorised around 250 gestures
in a detailed research paper that also explored the use of rhetoric, irony and context.
She told See Hear, the BBC's programme for the deaf community, that gestures may be more
important in Italian culture than in any other. "We inherited the language of gestures from the
Greeks," she says. "When the Greeks moved to southern Italy and colonised Naples, the
Italians used gestures as a way to communicate without being overheard [but] the gestures
continued to have a tradition as a way of communicating."
…
[http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-ouch-26737781]