The only universal sign seems to be to flip someone off...

Hey people,

So I’ve been thinking a bit about hand gestures. Growing up only in England, I would never have imagined that any hand gestures I did were solely a cultural thing. But going abroad, and learning about different cultures and languages, I learn more and more that hand gestures, amongst other things, are almost as important as language when it comes to understanding.

A minor one, which occurred to me when I was walking to the shop today, was that when you cross a road in England, and a car stops to let you cross, you put your hand up, palm forward, to show your thanks. (Well, I do it at zebra-crossings too, although I’m constantly told I needn’t) It’s rude if you don’t do it in England. But today, I went to cross, the car was there so I stopped, and it let me cross. Instinctively, I put my hand up, and the driver stares at me as if I’d gone to throw a brick through his windscreen. Now, I don’t know if you’re “supposed” to do it here, and no one does, or if it’s just something that no one does here. But I do it EVERY SINGLE TIME purely because I do it every day in England. Things like that I can’t stop myself from doing.

A more serious one, and I say serious just because it gets me every time, is the “two fingers in a V” sign. Ya know, like this:

(yes, I did it the wrong way, I was supposed to be Chinese and epically failed at the V sign Asians make).

But anyway. It shocks me whenever I see someone doing that to me. Not just the Spanish, but other nationalities too. The first time it happened to me was when I was working in Barcelona; I was at a family meal with a family friend, who was sitting opposite me. She was talking about two boys, and to demonstrate that there were “two” she did that sign to me. I was visibly shocked, and I think I scared her for a minute, but then she carried on as if nothing had happened. Why did I feel so offended? It took me about 5 minutes to realise exactly why it wouldn’t even occur to them to think that this sign would offend me.

I’m a bit shaky on the details, but basically there was a war/battle between the English and French; when the French captured the English, they would cut off the two first fingers on one hand, so that they were unable to pull the triggers on their rifles. And, as such, whenever the English then saw the French, they would stick their two fingers up at them, to show them that they still had their fingers, and could therefore still shoot them.

I’m not sure how ingrained this is in a lot of English people, but it is something that I was taught is very offensive, and it’s just something that you don’t do. But I’ve had it done to me MANY times since I’ve been here, and although every time it shocks me a little, every time I get a little bit more used to it.

English sensibilities these days...I feel so conservative!

UPDATE: My mother informs me that I am completely wrong, and it was a lot earlier than when they had rifles, it was actually to do with archers and using their bows. So there you go, it's even deeper ingrained than I first thought!