My uncle went to Brazil for a business trip. One of his friends offended a guy by snapping his fingers. It's amazing how one action can mean something so different to other cultures.
This applies to Canada as well, the A-OK symbol from the USA can be used both ways here depending on which province you're in, and how much we're used to American tourists (most people know what it means in the states.)
In the UK, the victory symbol with palms facing the other person means "peace". With palms facing yourself it is similar to the f-bomb. ..Although the whole v for victory thing was actually started by the British prime-minister during WW2.
The "peace"(Uk here) sign, originates from when the french said they would take over england, and cut of the english archers primary fingers.When the french had lost, and the survivors were fleeing, the we made that sign as an offensive gesture to the french, showing we still had our fingers
in Asia (or at least Korea that i know of) the same rule applies with the 'Come Here' hand sign. anything similar is used only for dogs and other lower animals and pets. if you want to tell a person to "come here" your palm should be face down and do a similar motion. and (in Korea) if you try to flag down a taxi just by waving your hand, they will breeze by you with no hesitation. its similar to the rude 'come here' signal fro a dog.
Brit here. V symbol with palm facing towards recipient = peace, see Winston Churchil "V for Victory". Palm towards person giving gesture = same as flipping the bird. Please note that flipping the bird US style will also work as intended.
Just to clarify, in Britain, the v sign with the palm and folded fingers facing outwards means peace, the v sign with the palm facing inwards is the equivalent of the middle finger.
Peace sign in Australia....wow out of all the other countries lol. Hope that isn't true as I am all about peace and always throw the peace sign when I meet someone or leave.
Also the stop hand sign is exactly the same in Greece. What you are reffering to is the mountza that is being done with palm and fingers spread. It means condemnation, but not to hell. It derives from Byzantine times, where for certain crimes, the judge would literaly make the mark of Saruman on the criminals face. Some say it even dates back to the eleusininan mysteries. Wikipedia has an article on mountza
The way the arms angled makes it look like it's your own hand from the back giving the peace sign. When you do the rude version the hand is always aligned straight with the arm.
The horns hand gesture was popularized by heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio who was a member of Elf (lesser known blues rock band), Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio, and Heaven and Hell (Black Sabbath under another name) until his death in 2010. He described it as an old Italian supersticious gesture meant to ward off evil. Ironicly there are quite a few ill informed people who think that it is a satanic symbolism. I would recommend looking up his music, he was an exceptionally skillful vocalist.
The V-sign only means "up yours" when combined with an upward motion, with the back of the hand towards the recipient i.e. quite vididly mimicking the phrase in question.
I was think this when he mentioned that, I've seen people from England, Ireland, Australia, etc. here in the U.S. use that with some of thier fellow countrymen, exactly how you explained it, some would get pissed off others would just laugh it off, I assumed the ones who laughed it off where mates or somrthing.
The two finger salute is still pretty similar, from I can remember it dates back to medieval times when the French used to cut the two fingers off of British archers if they were caught. So flipping the V sign became an insult to the French as if to say "Still got em', come at me bro!" - Or something like that, that's what I was told. :)
The Victory rule doesn't apply if the palm is facing towards the recipient. If you have your palm facing towards you then it applies and this apparently goes back to the 100 years war when our English and Welsh longbow men would show the French that they still had their shooting fingers.
Actually what karnowo123 means is that if you take the peace sign (showing the back of the hand) and turn your hand around so you can see some of your palm, this is the offensive gesture down on our side of the world.
The two hand gestures in this video referring to brazil are right but there's some considerations to do. The first one, that used in USA as OK, in Brazil (specially in northeast) they have a special way to do it, they do it like OK but showing the O in the hand to the person they're talking and with palm turned up. The second one is used like rock/metal sign as well, not just for refering to unfaithful spouse.
@ChappiePete Everyone know from the UK would consider the peace symbol as and the "f bomb" to be the same but the peace symbol you face the palm of your hand towards the person, if you face the back of your hand towards them it's basically the same as giving the middle finger.
@Rubixcubexx It depends on which part of the hand is facing the receiver of the signal. The back of the hand means something different than the front of the hand, but in American both sides mean the same thing when giving the peace sign.
Well, actually, many Americans do make the peace sign with their hand facing out. If you Google "peace sign hand" and click on "images", you can view several examples of this. If you Google "rapper peace sign" and click on images you can see even more. So while we appreciate fonz114's opinion, it is just that- an opinion.
@man8dude it has to do with college sports. \m/ is "hook 'em 'horns" for the Texas Longhorns. A similar hand gesture in Texas would be the thumbs up is "gig 'em Aggies" for Texas A&M. They are rival schools, especially where football is concerned. Hope this helps!
The first paragraph is correct. The second paragraph is historically incorrect. The English (or more accurately, the Welsh) longbow (as depicted in films about Robin Hood) was a devastating weapon against French knights in armour. It was the French who did the chopping. Look up the Battle of Crecy (1346) & the Battle of Agincourt (1415) if interested. The English would taunt the French by waving "two fingers" at them, basically telling them they were about to be shot full of arrows.
actually only a palm with the all fingers extended is offensive in greece.and it has to be a part of within '' in ur face'' motion,or it will be simply considered the same as saying five
THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I HEAR THIS AND I AM GREEK.....WE DO THE THUMBS UP GESTURE...THE INSULTING ONE IS THE MOUNTZA (extending all fingers of one or both hands and presenting the palm or palms towards the to-be-insulted person in a forward motion)
In Britain we hold our hand the other way round, palm forward. Then it means victory, or more commonly nowadays, peace. Doing it with the back of your hand is offensive.
It depends on whether you turn your palm in or out, I believe. Doing the victory sign with the back of your hand to the other person (and your palm facing you) is rude. Doing it with your palm out and the back of your hand facing you is what Churchill did. I think :).
@Maloccoda being from New Zealand and i'm sure its the same for most australians, i had no idea that thats what it meant and it gave me no offense for that reason, but it does happen occasionally oddly enough
The Australia/NZ signs were a tad wrong. Doing the "rabbit ears" with your palm towards the person means peace, but with the back of your hand facing someone it becomes an insult. A bit like flipping the bird.
The victory sign isn't really rude in Scotland. That's in the UK. Also, it's only rude if back hand shows to another person whilst doing the victory sign. If the back of your hand is not showing them, it means peace. :)
thumbs up just means thumbs up, okay sign is anything that's excellent, stop sign is just fine too (holding your fingers together - not apart) the horn sign is the horn sign (only metalheads use it) and the sign for cuckold is the victory sign behind our head, or index fingers on forehead. got it?
@ChappiePete I don't know where in Britain you live, but where I am if someone were to do that it would basically be considered to be the same as the middle finger.
little finger extended means cuckhold in France, and in the UK the V sign is fine and means victory if the palm is towards the recipient. The V sign with the back of the hand towards the recipient, much like the raised middle finger gesture, is insulting.
the victory gesture in america it means the same in the UK or peace depending on context its when your knuckles are pointing away from yourself that it an insult
are there any hand gestures or whatever from other countries from other countries that would be considered offensive in the u.s. but considered completely normal in x country?
you'd only flip someone off in the UK if you had the back of your hand facing people, your palm facing people and the V sign with your fingers mean, 'victory', not offensive.
Lesson: When in Greece, keep your hands in your pockets.
guys, im greek, and half of those gestures arent even insulting, infact we actually use most of them :-)
Cheers from Greece!
The middle finger is almost universally offensive.
When you turn the peace sign around in Australia it means "two beers please."
My uncle went to Brazil for a business trip. One of his friends offended a guy by snapping his fingers. It's amazing how one action can mean something so different to other cultures.
I lived in the Philippines and I've done that plenty of times to get my kid's attention and I've never gotten arrested.
This applies to Canada as well, the A-OK symbol from the USA can be used both ways here depending on which province you're in, and how much we're used to American tourists (most people know what it means in the states.)
HOW DOES THIS NOT HAVE MILLIONS OF VIEWS?!?!
That is an excellent question. It would definitely require further research.
Same here in New Zealand, and I presume Australia too. Thanks for clarifying the distinction for everyone.
We appreciate hearing your opinion.
In the UK, the victory symbol with palms facing the other person means "peace". With palms facing yourself it is similar to the f-bomb.
..Although the whole v for victory thing was actually started by the British prime-minister during WW2.
ahahahahaha! I LOVE THIS! He says it so naturally like nothing matters "In greece it means it sh*t" XD
I am tying my hands together next time I travel.
The "peace"(Uk here) sign, originates from when the french said they would take over england, and cut of the english archers primary fingers.When the french had lost, and the survivors were fleeing, the we made that sign as an offensive gesture to the french, showing we still had our fingers
We still have the peace sign in Australia, but when you flip it around (back of your hand outwards) it becomes an insult.
I'm from Belgium and the sign at 0:33 means something is extremely good, mostly used when eating something and someone asks how it was.
thankyou!!
in Asia (or at least Korea that i know of) the same rule applies with the 'Come Here' hand sign. anything similar is used only for dogs and other lower animals and pets. if you want to tell a person to "come here" your palm should be face down and do a similar motion.
and (in Korea) if you try to flag down a taxi just by waving your hand, they will breeze by you with no hesitation. its similar to the rude 'come here' signal fro a dog.
Brit here. V symbol with palm facing towards recipient = peace, see Winston Churchil "V for Victory". Palm towards person giving gesture = same as flipping the bird. Please note that flipping the bird US style will also work as intended.
Just to clarify, in Britain, the v sign with the palm and folded fingers facing outwards means peace, the v sign with the palm facing inwards is the equivalent of the middle finger.
The two finger thing with the palm faceing the person is ok in the uk it means peace just dont do it the other way round
@Maloccoda Yes, you will note that in the video that the knuckles are facing outward.
I love how the victory or peace sign is offensive in the UK but Winston Churchill used it after the Allies won WWII
Peace sign in Australia....wow out of all the other countries lol. Hope that isn't true as I am all about peace and always throw the peace sign when I meet someone or leave.
@TuxTurner Yes, you will note that in the video that the knuckles are facing outward.
Also the stop hand sign is exactly the same in Greece. What you are reffering to is the mountza that is being done with palm and fingers spread. It means condemnation, but not to hell. It derives from Byzantine times, where for certain crimes, the judge would literaly make the mark of Saruman on the criminals face. Some say it even dates back to the eleusininan mysteries. Wikipedia has an article on mountza
yay now im going to go do some of those! :D
@LightningStripeDFTBA Yes, you will note that in the video that the knuckles are facing outward.
@blackmancer Yes, that's why the illustration depicts the hand with the knuckles facing outward.
The way the arms angled makes it look like it's your own hand from the back giving the peace sign. When you do the rude version the hand is always aligned straight with the arm.
The horns hand gesture was popularized by heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio who was a member of Elf (lesser known blues rock band), Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio, and Heaven and Hell (Black Sabbath under another name) until his death in 2010. He described it as an old Italian supersticious gesture meant to ward off evil. Ironicly there are quite a few ill informed people who think that it is a satanic symbolism. I would recommend looking up his music, he was an exceptionally skillful vocalist.
He also said it was usually not ok "only for today" or something like that.. which as an American I didn't get until now.
"But in Greece, it means eat sh*t"
I spent my holiday in Novosibirsk, Tomsk, and Altai. Some of us avoid big cities when we travel!
I live in Brisbane too and I'm not at all offended with the peace sign.
it seemed so normal till the settle down part where he seems to just rush through it, i was laughing at that bit XD
@PimsleurApproach i love how your responses were the same
The V-sign only means "up yours" when combined with an upward motion, with the back of the hand towards the recipient i.e. quite vididly mimicking the phrase in question.
I have never seen that used in Australia...
I was think this when he mentioned that, I've seen people from England, Ireland, Australia, etc. here in the U.S. use that with some of thier fellow countrymen, exactly how you explained it, some would get pissed off others would just laugh it off, I assumed the ones who laughed it off where mates or somrthing.
Since when is \m/ "Texas Longhorns" Pretty sure its more widely considered a sign for heavy metal.
RIGHT! LOL I was thinkin the same thing.
That is why the knuckles are facing outward in the video, to denote the back of the hand.
@1.20 that is not a violation when u do the point finger back and fort.. it means you want to get into a fight like one on one
The two finger salute is still pretty similar, from I can remember it dates back to medieval times when the French used to cut the two fingers off of British archers if they were caught. So flipping the V sign became an insult to the French as if to say "Still got em', come at me bro!" - Or something like that, that's what I was told. :)
@Maloccoda The first part is true, however the longbowmen thing is a common misconception.
Yes, that is why the illustration shows the knuckles facing out.
I'm Russian, and I'd like to give this video a thumbs up.
The Victory rule doesn't apply if the palm is facing towards the recipient. If you have your palm facing towards you then it applies and this apparently goes back to the 100 years war when our English and Welsh longbow men would show the French that they still had their shooting fingers.
Actually what karnowo123 means is that if you take the peace sign (showing the back of the hand) and turn your hand around so you can see some of your palm, this is the offensive gesture down on our side of the world.
The two hand gestures in this video referring to brazil are right but there's some considerations to do. The first one, that used in USA as OK, in Brazil (specially in northeast) they have a special way to do it, they do it like OK but showing the O in the hand to the person they're talking and with palm turned up. The second one is used like rock/metal sign as well, not just for refering to unfaithful spouse.
@ChappiePete Everyone know from the UK would consider the peace symbol as and the "f bomb" to be the same but the peace symbol you face the palm of your hand towards the person, if you face the back of your hand towards them it's basically the same as giving the middle finger.
@Rubixcubexx It depends on which part of the hand is facing the receiver of the signal. The back of the hand means something different than the front of the hand, but in American both sides mean the same thing when giving the peace sign.
Same in Australia
In the UK, we use the peace sign. It offends nobody in my area. If you do it with your palm turned towards you, then it is swearing.
Same in Colombia and Brazil \m/
exactly.......
Well, actually, many Americans do make the peace sign with their hand facing out. If you Google "peace sign hand" and click on "images", you can view several examples of this. If you Google "rapper peace sign" and click on images you can see even more. So while we appreciate fonz114's opinion, it is just that- an opinion.
0:29 Turn it around and is internationally peace and victory.
@man8dude it has to do with college sports. \m/ is "hook 'em 'horns" for the Texas Longhorns. A similar hand gesture in Texas would be the thumbs up is "gig 'em Aggies" for Texas A&M. They are rival schools, especially where football is concerned. Hope this helps!
The first paragraph is correct.
The second paragraph is historically incorrect. The English (or more accurately, the Welsh) longbow (as depicted in films about Robin Hood) was a devastating weapon against French knights in armour. It was the French who did the chopping. Look up the Battle of Crecy (1346) & the Battle of Agincourt (1415) if interested. The English would taunt the French by waving "two fingers" at them, basically telling them they were about to be shot full of arrows.
actually only a palm with the all fingers extended is offensive in greece.and it has to be a part of within '' in ur face'' motion,or it will be simply considered the same as saying five
Exactly I can't see how that is a bad symbol because there are pently of pic of Churchill with the peace sign
the front of the hand is peace and victory, but i thought the back means "up yours" in america as well!
THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I HEAR THIS AND I AM GREEK.....WE DO THE THUMBS UP GESTURE...THE INSULTING ONE IS THE MOUNTZA (extending all fingers of one or both hands and presenting the palm or palms towards the to-be-insulted person in a forward motion)
In Britain we hold our hand the other way round, palm forward. Then it means victory, or more commonly nowadays, peace. Doing it with the back of your hand is offensive.
It depends on whether you turn your palm in or out, I believe. Doing the victory sign with the back of your hand to the other person (and your palm facing you) is rude. Doing it with your palm out and the back of your hand facing you is what Churchill did. I think :).
It's fine to do the victory gesture; just make sure you point your hand palm-out.
But the 'come here' gesture is totally true.
@Maloccoda being from New Zealand and i'm sure its the same for most australians, i had no idea that thats what it meant and it gave me no offense for that reason, but it does happen occasionally oddly enough
The mst3k version of pod people had a guy flashing the ok sign and saying it stinks
What is the last one
The Australia/NZ signs were a tad wrong. Doing the "rabbit ears" with your palm towards the person means peace, but with the back of your hand facing someone it becomes an insult. A bit like flipping the bird.
The victory sign isn't really rude in Scotland. That's in the UK. Also, it's only rude if back hand shows to another person whilst doing the victory sign. If the back of your hand is not showing them, it means peace. :)
@waytomuchsparetime
In Greece thumbs up means the same as in America...
now i know where i am using the peace sign
and now i know!
thumbs up just means thumbs up, okay sign is anything that's excellent, stop sign is just fine too (holding your fingers together - not apart) the horn sign is the horn sign (only metalheads use it) and the sign for cuckold is the victory sign behind our head, or index fingers on forehead. got it?
@ChappiePete I don't know where in Britain you live, but where I am if someone were to do that it would basically be considered to be the same as the middle finger.
1:16 the cuckold (horns sign) is not used in slovakia...it is used as a normal horns/metal sign here
little finger extended means cuckhold in France, and in the UK the V sign is fine and means victory if the palm is towards the recipient. The V sign with the back of the hand towards the recipient, much like the raised middle finger gesture, is insulting.
yes, that's true. Persian's call the thumbs up "Belakh" and it means "up yours" as well.
well, that was handy...
My softball team uses this to insult each other without out coaches realizing it XD
so what's the thumbs up icon in greece?
or the like icon in greece?
The moral of the story: If you're in another country simply run around waving your middle fingers at everyone and you will be loved by all.
the victory gesture in america it means the same in the UK or peace depending on context its when your knuckles are pointing away from yourself that it an insult
i don't get the last one... and i am greek
also for the "stop" one, the hand needs to be open wide (the fingers separated from each other)
are there any hand gestures or whatever from other countries from other countries that would be considered offensive in the u.s. but considered completely normal in x country?
oh pimsleur, you livesaver, you
You are wrong on the peace sign in Australia. Its only when you turn your hand around so back of your hand is facing the person. I'm from Australia
what was the last one about? D:
I'm from Portugal, and here(atleast where I live) we don't actually use the Texas Longhorn as an insult. In fact, it's more of a "Peace" gesture.
Using the "Victory" sign in Australia is not offensive.
you'd only flip someone off in the UK if you had the back of your hand facing people, your palm facing people and the V sign with your fingers mean, 'victory', not offensive.
In Japan, men often put their middle finger on their cheek or use their middle finger to point/follow along with lines of text.
200 years ago this might have been true, but nowadays these signs are internationally understood and mean the same thing all around the world...
0:29 actually it's only offensive if the back of your hand is facing the recipient.
That is considered offensive in most countries.
Dang, Grecce has alot of different meanings.