Fickle Fingers of Fate

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'The same gestures do not mean the same things in other parts of the world. This is the first-grade part of it,' declares Axtell, who has clasped hands with Arab businessmen, hugged Argentine co-workers and bowed to Japanese hosts, all part of his mission to find out what embarrassing things people around the world are saying to each other by means of errantly moving body parts.

It's the socially acquired gestures that get us into trouble, the ones that are so built into our daily lives that they become knee-jerk responses. Of these, hand signals seem to be the biggest culprit. Besides the okay sign, other bad moves include the vertical horns-when your pinkie and forefinger stand upright like a rowdy concertgoer's-and the 'V' for victory or peace sign, which, when done with the palm facing inward, invites former and current subjects of the British queen to do the same thing the upturned middle finger suggests in the U.S. George Bush insulted thousands of Australians on a 1991 visit to Australia with a V for victory that signified something less than victorious. Meanwhile, the vertical-horns gesture is an accusation of cuckoldry in Italy, a good luck sign in Venezuela. In India, it's the symbol for bovines.

Even some of the most basic gestures in your repertoire can mean something completely different somewhere else. In Greece and Turkey, for example, nodding your head up and down signals no, and shaking it side to side means yes. For most people, that's like writing with the wrong hand for a day-incredibly unnatural. And the truth is, that's the way it is with so many gestures from other cultures. They just don't feel right. But neither does a glass of Fanta tossed in your face.

Varying notions of personal space can also get body signals off to an awkward start. The Japanese maintain some of the biggest personal bubbles, routinely standing at more than an arm's length apart (except on crowded subways, where they avert their eyes and cram on in). But in the Latin world or the Middle East, you could easily bump stomachs with your newest acquaintance. In countries where zones of personal space are nonexistent, you could be grabbed for a bear hug at the drop of a vodka glass.

FromEscape(November 1999). Subscriptions: $18/yr. (4 issues) from Box 462255, Escondido, CA 92046.

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