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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| A crash course in Italian hand gestures | A crash course in Italian hand gestures |
| (3 months later) | |
| Apparently, Italians use around 250 gestures daily, according to an article in the New York Times. Isabella Poggi, a professor at Rome Tre University who conducted the research, says that these signs comprise "a lexicon of gestures that is comparable in size and sophistication to the lexicon of sign language for the deaf". She says she started by listing all the different "forms of the hand" used for gesturing – hand open and aloft, hand closed aloft, hand closed with one finger released, as in waggy finger-pointing pose, and then explored how many meanings each could convey. Curiously, she says, there is no gesture for "please" – although there is one for pleading for help from above. Simply press your palms together in prayer. Pozzi thinks the prevalence of gesticulation in Italy is due to competition in the busy cities of the south, and that one reason people gesture is "to make yourself more visible, to make the body move more – to take up a bigger space". | Apparently, Italians use around 250 gestures daily, according to an article in the New York Times. Isabella Poggi, a professor at Rome Tre University who conducted the research, says that these signs comprise "a lexicon of gestures that is comparable in size and sophistication to the lexicon of sign language for the deaf". She says she started by listing all the different "forms of the hand" used for gesturing – hand open and aloft, hand closed aloft, hand closed with one finger released, as in waggy finger-pointing pose, and then explored how many meanings each could convey. Curiously, she says, there is no gesture for "please" – although there is one for pleading for help from above. Simply press your palms together in prayer. Pozzi thinks the prevalence of gesticulation in Italy is due to competition in the busy cities of the south, and that one reason people gesture is "to make yourself more visible, to make the body move more – to take up a bigger space". |
| There are gestures to indicate character traits – knock with the fist of one hand on the palm of the other for "stubborn" or pull down the skin below your eye with your index finger to indicate "cunning, and not necessarily in a good way". There are gestures for nouns (rub thumb and first finger together for money; make a 'V' for a cigarette) and gestures to express how you are feeling. Raise both hands to say "So sorry", "I surrender" or "Thank you!" – choose your context carefully. Press your index finger into the flesh bit of your cheek and turn to say "That tastes good!" Unsurprisingly, there are lots of gestures with which to insult people. Make horns by leaving your thumb and little finger out of a closed fist, as Silvio Berlusconi has been photographed doing, in order to refer to someone as a cuckold. You can appraise relationships with gestures. Put your two index fingers side by side and press together, and people are getting along, and possibly having sexual relations. Set the same fingers with the tips against each other and people really aren't getting on (and possibly having sexual relations anyway). | There are gestures to indicate character traits – knock with the fist of one hand on the palm of the other for "stubborn" or pull down the skin below your eye with your index finger to indicate "cunning, and not necessarily in a good way". There are gestures for nouns (rub thumb and first finger together for money; make a 'V' for a cigarette) and gestures to express how you are feeling. Raise both hands to say "So sorry", "I surrender" or "Thank you!" – choose your context carefully. Press your index finger into the flesh bit of your cheek and turn to say "That tastes good!" Unsurprisingly, there are lots of gestures with which to insult people. Make horns by leaving your thumb and little finger out of a closed fist, as Silvio Berlusconi has been photographed doing, in order to refer to someone as a cuckold. You can appraise relationships with gestures. Put your two index fingers side by side and press together, and people are getting along, and possibly having sexual relations. Set the same fingers with the tips against each other and people really aren't getting on (and possibly having sexual relations anyway). |
| It would be nice to think that all of these could be learned and strung together when on holiday in Italy, but it is hard to imagine the tourist trail that could lead to this. Perhaps: | It would be nice to think that all of these could be learned and strung together when on holiday in Italy, but it is hard to imagine the tourist trail that could lead to this. Perhaps: |
| 1 "Come here!" Wags hand downward | 1 "Come here!" Wags hand downward |
| 2 "Can I have a cigarette please?" Makes V with first and second finger, pulls to and from mouth? | 2 "Can I have a cigarette please?" Makes V with first and second finger, pulls to and from mouth? |
| 3 "What? No?" Arms open, hands out in front. You can shrug shoulders for extra effect. | 3 "What? No?" Arms open, hands out in front. You can shrug shoulders for extra effect. |
| 4 "I can't believe I'm hearing this! What are you saying?!" Press the heel of your hands and your fingertips together to make an artichoke: move up and down. | 4 "I can't believe I'm hearing this! What are you saying?!" Press the heel of your hands and your fingertips together to make an artichoke: move up and down. |
| 5 "Yeah? Well, I don't give a damn anyway" Swipe the back of the fingers of one hand under your chin and pull forward (Hopefully, by this point, they'll give up and hand over something – even if it's only an artichoke, depending on how well you did sign No 4 – to make you go away. Then you can say: | 5 "Yeah? Well, I don't give a damn anyway" Swipe the back of the fingers of one hand under your chin and pull forward (Hopefully, by this point, they'll give up and hand over something – even if it's only an artichoke, depending on how well you did sign No 4 – to make you go away. Then you can say: |
| 6 "Delicious!" Rub finger into your cheek. Look happy. | 6 "Delicious!" Rub finger into your cheek. Look happy. |
| In fact, you don't even need to go to Italy to try these out. Luca Vullo, a film-maker from Sicily who lives in London, has made a documentary about gestures in Italian called La voce del corpo (The Voice of The Body). He is enough of an expert to be giving a talk at the National Theatre on the subject this week. He thinks that "The British are modifying their approach to gesticulation. Not in the same way we do, but they are trying to gesticulate more. It's only an impression, but it's how it seems." | In fact, you don't even need to go to Italy to try these out. Luca Vullo, a film-maker from Sicily who lives in London, has made a documentary about gestures in Italian called La voce del corpo (The Voice of The Body). He is enough of an expert to be giving a talk at the National Theatre on the subject this week. He thinks that "The British are modifying their approach to gesticulation. Not in the same way we do, but they are trying to gesticulate more. It's only an impression, but it's how it seems." |
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