

Excellent body language resource - pbhjpbhj
http://westsidetoastmasters.com/resources/book_of_body_language/chap5.html
Just came across this web based book - 19 Chapters no author name I could find - which I've barely been able to put down. Body language fascinates me and this book provides lots of stuff to interest including little anecdotes about use of various signals by the famous (mainly heads of state).<p>Example:
<i>In Japan it can mean 'money'; if you're doing business in Japan and you make this sign for 'OK' a Japanese may think you're asking them for a bribe. In some Mediterranean countries it's an orifice signal, often used to infer that a man is homosexual. Show a Greek man the OK signal and he may thinkyou're inferring you or he is gay, while a Turk might thinkyou're calling him an 'arsehole'. It's rare in Arab countries where it is used as either a threat signal or as an obscenity.<p>In the 1950s, before he became President, Richard Nixon visited Latin America on a goodwill tour to try to patch up strained relations with the locals. As he stepped out of his plane he showed the waiting crowds the American 'OK' signal and was stunned as they began booing and hissing at him Being unaware of local body language customs, Nixon's OK signal had been read as 'You're all a bunch of arseholes.'</i><p>Entertainingly written and bite-sized chapters that will doubtless help you in your daily face-to-face communications.
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drenei
A link to the table of contents, rather than the 5th chapter:
[http://westsidetoastmasters.com/resources/book_of_body_langu...](http://westsidetoastmasters.com/resources/book_of_body_language/toc.html).

I'll save this to read for later - the topic fascinates me. I was reading
Gladwell's recent collection, What The Dog Saw, and found the article on The
Dog Whisperer very interesting because of its discussions on body language.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Yeah sorry I felt this chapter was probably a good intro to the resource and
probably most easily applicable to the majority US audience in a business
setting. However I did supply a blurb, where has that gone?

I think this was the excerpt/teaser I chose:

> _In Japan it can mean 'money'; if you're doing business in Japan and you
> make this sign for 'OK' a Japanese may think you're asking them for a bribe.
> In some Mediterranean countries it's an orifice signal, often used to infer
> that a man is homosexual. Show a Greek man the OK signal and he may
> thinkyou're inferring you or he is gay, while a Turk might thinkyou're
> calling him an 'arsehole'. It's rare in Arab countries where it is used as
> either a threat signal or as an obscenity._

> _In the 1950s, before he became President, Richard Nixon visited Latin
> America on a goodwill tour to try to patch up strained relations with the
> locals. As he stepped out of his plane he showed the waiting crowds the
> American 'OK' signal and was stunned as they began booing and hissing at him
> Being unaware_ of local body language customs, Nixon's OK signal had been
> read as 'You're all a bunch of arseholes.'

~~~
NathanKP
I think the lesson to learn is that when you are in other countries, just
don't use hand gestures at all unless you are completely sure they are good.

~~~
riffraff
that woul be true for most non verbal human communications, I'm afraid. My
latest experience is with Norwegians, who seem to make an aspirated "uh!"
sound for the equivalent of the conversational "mh-mh, keep going". I thought
for a while they were perpetually stupefied people.

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euroclydon
From the article:

 _Here's a picture of George W Bush using the signature gesture of the Texas
Longhorn football team, of which he is a supporter. The index finger and
little finger represent the horns of the bull and this football gesture is
recognized by most Americans.

In Italy this gesture is known as the 'Cuckold' and is used to tell a man that
other men are screwing his wife. In 1985, five Americans were arrested in Rome
for jubilantly dancing and using this gesture outside the Vatican following
the news of a major Longhorns win in the USA._

~~~
pbhjpbhj
That was my second choice for an excerpt.

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z8000
I like this one for holding up your index and middle finger in a V formation:

"Ancient Rome: Julius Caesar ordering five beers"

~~~
z8000
I will be very impressed if the collective mind of HN stopped voting this
comment up/down when it hit 5. :)

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olliesaunders
This is a copy of, or at least heavily-based on:
[http://www.amazon.com/Definitive-Book-Body-
Language/dp/05538...](http://www.amazon.com/Definitive-Book-Body-
Language/dp/0553804723)

How do I know? I've read it. It's a good, light-hearted, book although there
may be better on the subject.

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dkarl
I find it strange, perhaps ironic, that an association devoted to learning how
to best present oneself has such horrible web design. It isn't just this link;
the front page (<http://westsidetoastmasters.com/>) is actually much worse.

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nihilocrat
I took a look at Chapter 6 (about thumbs) and noticed something that I get a
very different signal from. There's a picture of a woman with her hands in her
pockets with the thumbs exposed. The writer suggests this is a sign of
authority, but to me it feels either like a flirty signal or a sign of
readiness or expectancy (which obviously can go hand in hand). It kind of
gives me the same vibe as the 'face platter', but in this case the woman is
showing off her figure instead of her face.

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xtho
Such simplifications are always nice. After reading the explanations for the
hand signs I don't know anymore where I live.

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NathanKP
From the selected examples in the article it looks like the biggest mistakes
one could make would be in Greece and the Mediterranean. Many of the hand
gestures which are innocuous in the West are quite vulgar in the Mediterranean
area.

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petsos
As a Greek I can assure you that only G is an insult. Judging from this I
would guess there are more mistakes there.

~~~
baha_man
Yes, in the part about the 'v sign':

* Winston Churchill probably used the palm inwards version until it was explained to him that it was a rude gesture.

* The 'archers' explanation is very likely wrong.

* You hardly ever see it in England nowadays, it's been replaced by the single middle finger.

As you say, it makes you wonder how reliable the rest of the article is.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
It's certainly in need of a second version and some editorial oversight but I
think the core is good. For example under the "what do these hand signs mean"
part I was expecting the OK sign to also say "wanker" as with movement and
orientation this is a UK version. OK is definetly out of use here (as a hand
sign) and thumbs up is quite childish/dated (like saying "fab").

~~~
baha_man
As far as the 'thumbs up sign' goes, it's still common enough that it's hard
for novice scuba divers to remember that it means 'ascend now' rather than
'everything's OK'.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Oh yeah, it's used (it's the BSL sign for "good", I use it quite a lot) but
it's kinda cringe-inducing.

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mahmud
This has been covered in the excellent documentary, The Human Animal. See it
in 4 parts:

<http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=The+Human+Animal>

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Goladus
Reading through this book, I got the feeling that there was a lot of excellent
information alongside a lot of very questionable or dated information, and it
can be hard to tell the difference.

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Daniel_Newby
Vulcan never gets any love.

