You might think you are just signalling a person with your hand but you might end up having a bad blood with them if you don’t get these gestures right.
1. The Finger
Arguabley this is the most universally recognized hand gesture, sincerely, meaning “fuck you”.However, in many Asian countries, especially Japan, the middle finger is commonly used to point, similar to using the index finger to point in the Western world.
2. The “V-sign”
The age-old ‘V sign’ comes in two formats: one with the palm faced outwards, and one with the palm inwards. In America the two hand signals mean the same thing – ‘victory’.
However, if the outside of your hand is facing your target, you’re giving somebody a long-established insult in Great Britain and many English-speaking countries such as Australia, Ireland and New Zealand.
The V sign is also considered rude in Italy, especially if you place your nose between the two fingers, making the gesture resemble a crude vagina.
3. The A-Ok
Mainly used by scuba divers to mean “OK” (to prevent ambiguity with the thumbs-up sign, which means “ascend”), this hand gesture is generally called ‘A-OK’, and in America and the UK is often used to tell somebody that they’ve made a great meal.
However the meaning in Brazil, Germany and a few Mediterranean countries: the circular shape of the gesture gives it the meaning of “anus”, and is therefore used to call somebody an “asshole”, or, by extension, a homosexual.
And it is not so “great” in Europe too, as it could mean you are insulting them by saying that they are zero.
4. The “Thumbs-Up”
While Western culture has become used to the thumbs-up as a positive, informal signal, generally indicating a job well done there are cultures where a thumbs-up may land you in trouble. In most of Latin America and West Africa, as well as Greece, Russia, Sardinia and the south of Italy, the thumbs-up basically means the same as the middle finger.
Also, it’s generally not recommended to use the thumbs-up around the Middle East as it’s pretty much the biggest insult out there – and even worse if you pull off the emphatic version with both hands – so no Fonzie impressions, please.
5. The “Dog Call”
Beware, of using this gesture in the Philippines – it’s a method of communication considered worthy only to use on dogs, and is actually punishable by arrest. Worst of all, they’ll break your index finger in order to prevent you from committing the same crime again!
6. The “Moutza”
Children in grade school in many countries may raise their hand in a fashion called the “Moutza” to respectfully ask the teacher to speak.
In Greece, however, the gesture is known as a moutza, and is one of their most traditional manual insults. With fingers slightly apart, you thrust your hand into your target’s face, usually coupling the gesture with a brash “na!”, meaning “here you go!”. The basic suggestion is something like “eat shit”.
7. The “Corna”
The gesture carries only a vague meaning, implying the presence of Satan,in some European culture.However, the symbol basically means “cuckold” (or rather, “your wife is cheating on you”), and is mostly popular in Spain, Portugal, Greece, Colombia, Brazil, Albania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and seems to be used most often to disagree with football referees – perhaps their wives are taking advantage of their husband’s occupation to score with hunky football players.
8. The “Fig”
The sexual nuance of this gesture comes from from the hand’s resemblance to the female private parts which originated in asia. This hand sign is also highly disparaging to Italians and Turks, and in India would be taken as a threatening gesture.
The mano fico (literally ‘fig hand’) is a gesture of Roman origin, used as a positive gesture to encourage good luck and fertility, and ward away the ‘evil eye’.
9. Upside-Down, Empty Glass
In an Australian bar, this is taken to mean that you can win a fight with anybody else in said bar.
10. Pinky(Little) Finger Up
Holding just the pinky finger up fist has a wide range of meanings in different parts of the world. Apparently,in Japan, it can be refer to a woman who is involved in some way, though in a vulgar tone, like that she may be a married man’s mistress. In Indonesia, it can denote that something is bad, while in the Mediterranean region, it can rudely let someone know that you think they have a small penis.
11. Pout
Since the use of index finger is crime in Philippines, so what do you do if you genuinely need to point to something? Why, you use yourlips of course! You need to pout them as if you are making a kissy-face and do so in the direction of the thing that requires the attention of the conversation.