What Is The Meaning Of This?

[diverrick]

thanks for all the responses. I'll forward this to my wife.

 

[The Chairman]

The problem with getures is that their meanings are not always universal. This is the same in Scuba Diving. My signal for checking a guage is to draw a circle on my left palm with my right index finger. Diving with a fellow SBer, and she did a helicopter turn. I did it again and she did the turn again. So, I swam up and took a gander at her guage.

That was the signal one of her instructors used to do a helicopter turn. Bwahahahaha!

So it is with gestures. What someone intended to be obscene is seen and liked by someone who has no idea what it really means. So? They imitate it in what they think is a joking manner. Oooops! Go watch the movie "The Beverly Hillbillies" and see what I mean. The Clampets mistook the "One Finger Salute" to be a friendly gesture. Bwahahahahaha! They were flicking people off thinking that they were being friendly.

Ask questions first. Give people the benefit of the doubt. You can hold them accountable once you KNOW that they understand how inappropriate a gesture is.

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

The problem with getures is that their meanings are not always universal. This is the same in Scuba Diving. My signal for checking a guage is to draw a circle on my left palm with my right index finger. Diving with a fellow SBer, and she did a helicopter turn. I did it again and she did the turn again. So, I swam up and took a gander at her guage.

That's funny!

 

[WaterWayne]

...What someone intended to be obscene...

The near-universal hand OK sign is obscene in Brazil, on a level with the bird finger. I think I'm finally curious enough to search for related info, and see what Brazilian divers think/do.

On a related note, Venezuelans frequently point with their middle finger, with the other fingers curled in, just because it's the longest finger. It's not expressing their opinion of the pointee or destination.

More: in Latin American countries, there are two kinds of "come here" gestures. One is disrespectful and can even be insulting when used with a peer adult. Palm up, with fingers pulling back, is for adults; palm down, fingers curling under, is used for children and menial adults.

--Wayne

 

[Supernal]

I was really confused the first time one of my Sri Lankan students shook her head for "yes."

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Alfalfa used to do this in the Little Rascals every now and then. Tell the school to take a pill.

That was the woodchuck salute! I don't remember what their he-man woman haters club one was?:06:

 

[Jim Lapenta]

That's probably a little extreme there Jim. Me, and all my high-school buddies used that sign as a "go get lost" (but harsher) sign all the time. Most notably with/by a couple of near-deaf kids.

I don't know the origins of it, but if it does come from "connected" people, it has been common enough knowledge over the past 2 decades to sever any close ties.

It's been around alot longer than that my friend. I remember it being used by my grandfather 40 yrs ago. I remember cause I used it and got smacked for it! It was explained to me in no uncertain terms that children did not use that gesture. Which made me want to use it more! Was told that it came from the old country and could get you killed over there if you gave it to the wrong person.

 

[miketsp]

The near-universal hand OK sign is obscene in Brazil, on a level with the bird finger. I think I'm finally curious enough to search for related info, and see what Brazilian divers think/do.

..snip..

Confirmed, you have to be careful only to use it UW or among other divers. Among non-divers only use the thumb - up for OK, down for not-OK.

Coming back to the original gesture, a lot depends on how it is delivered.
If delivered with a shrug of the shoulders I've seen it used to indicate non-understanding.
If delivered aggressively with the chin held forward then it's like giving the finger.

 

[getwet2]

The gesture on that show, as I recall it, was to put one's hand beneath the chin and wave the fingers at each other.

Yes you're right, that was wave NOT flick, my mistake.

 

[divebrasil]

Sometimes this gesture means "I have no idea". You ask me "where is the remote control?" it's a way to say "I don't know, and I don't care".

I am Brazilian, that's what the gesture means to us.