
What the Indian head wobble really says - MiriamWeiner
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20180722-cracking-indias-mystifying-nod-code
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mark212
I can’t believe this was posted to the BBC website and didn’t have a single
GIF or video.

This was amusing:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj56IPJOqWE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj56IPJOqWE)

This was helpful too:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RaBxH_MKQI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RaBxH_MKQI)

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reallymental
Besides the heterogeneous nature of being an "Indian", the wobble is just
agreement.

The person who's wobbling their head is agreeing to what is being said. It's
not a yes/no.

It's mostly a "Go ahead and say what you want, I'll do what I want to do after
you're done".

I didn't grow up in India, so I can see it for what it is, but I am Indian, so
the subtleties are visible to me.

And aptly, people who don't need to take any shit/be kind in that
instance/appear submissive don't "wobble" their heads. Those people mostly
reserve it for their elders (parents/elder relatives mostly).

Take all of this with a huge grain of salt.

~~~
masklinn
> The person who's wobbling their head is agreeing to what is being said. It's
> not a yes/no.

> It's mostly a "Go ahead and say what you want, I'll do what I want to do
> after you're done".

So "sure"/"ack" ("it resolves")? That's roughly how I'd interpreted it from
interacting with colleagues, an acknowledgement.

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namanyayg
Yes, it's an agreement, or like "sure yeah".

~~~
noir_lord
As some from Yorkshire I like 'aye' it's an anachronistic affirmative yes, old
people still use 'nay' as well.

Language is a wonderful thing.

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th1nkdifferent
Just FYI - India is not a homogenous society. It has 22 official languages, 29
states + 7 union territories, 9 officially recognized religions.

So, no, there is no "Indian head wobble". What the fine article describes is a
distinct cultural thing amongst a very specific subset of India's population
that western society has encountered so far.

~~~
carlmr
It's common enough that you can call it Indian head wobble.

Not all Americans are fat, you can still talk about the American obesity
problem even if a few of the states are fitter than the European average.

People talk about American accent, but a Texan, a Californian and a New Yorker
(just to pick 3 of many examples) will sound very distinct.

People talk about beer tasting German, but it's very distinct between Bavaria
and Cologne.

Not talking about the Indian head wobble is just unnecessary hair splitting.
It's an interesting phenomenon which is spread widely enough in India and
throughout the Indian diaspora that you can call it that.

~~~
kranner
> Not talking about the Indian head wobble is just unnecessary hair splitting.
> It's an interesting phenomenon which is spread widely enough in India and
> throughout the Indian diaspora that you can call it that.

I don't know if you're Indian or very familiar with India, but this really is
not true.

I'm from Punjab and the first time I travelled to Karnataka the head wobble
was something of a culture shock to me. The way people constantly shook their
heads to signal being attentive towards another person who is speaking, the
way I saw an auto driver do a slow 180-degree shake to signal "yes I'm
familiar with the address" while I thought he was trying to say "I've never
heard of that place in my life", we have nothing similar in Punjab or its
neighbouring states.

Maybe it's common in the Indian diaspora, because there is a lot of cross-
Indian-state intermixing outside India, but that is not the case within India
itself.

~~~
selimthegrim
I have seen it in Pakistani Punjab, from an employee of the PTDC office in
Lahore

~~~
kranner
Unless you've also seen the South Indian headshake, you might not know exactly
what I meant by the culture shock. No Punjabi would do a long, slow sweep of
their head to say "yes".

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axilmar
Greek here, never been to India, never hanged out with Indians. The head nod
is very easy to interpret. It means 'I am willing to talk to you and even
agree with you if you play nice, but at the same time I am looking at you,
inspecting you and trying to understand where this is going'.

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Angostura
Given the fact that you lack any Indian cultural references, and given that
your interpretation seems to differ from those suggested in the article, what
makes you think that your interpretation is anything other than something in
your own head?

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axilmar
My interpretation doesn't actual differ a lot from that in the article. I have
watched enough videos, you can easily understand what is going on by
interpreting the full body language of the participants, part of which the
head nod is.

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omeid2
My understanding is that it is an affirmation of understanding and only of
understanding, á la Roger in radiophone.

It is not same as Wilco, Correct, or Negative, it is just and only just Roger.

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puranjay
Do people writing about India in the west even know that there is an entire
part of the country where people look more "East Asian" than "Indian"? Are
writers generally aware of the North-Eastern parts of India at all?

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codingdave
As the article and the comments say, it is a gesture rich in context. While
there is some common meaning, that meaning can differ based on the situation,
the people, the relationships. And if you spend enough time with your team,
you'll get to know them and you will understand them, with this gesture or any
other. Trying to write up a black and white interpretation of such things is
no more effective than it would be if the article was reversed, trying to tell
people in India what it means when Americans move their eyebrows.

Just get to know the people you work with -- it will all fall into place.

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unlimit
I have never seen this in eastern and north-eastern India. I think its mostly
done by people from west and south India.

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perl4ever
This is the second time I've seen this article or something similar recently.
I don't think this is exclusive to Indian culture. A non-committal reaction,
where you don't want to nod or shake your head "no" is common in other parts
of the world. I do it and I'm neither Indian nor have I worked in India.

~~~
ajkjk
The 'Indian head wobble' is a very distinct thing, separate from, at least,
anything I've ever seen in any western culture.

~~~
lgvln
Not sure why this post is being downvoted but I agree with this. It’s not
entirely unique to India but its frequency/speed of wobble is distinct from
others. Perhaps it has to do with their languages. Most of the languages have
up and down tone that goes along with the wobble.

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known
It's similar to
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_humour](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_humour)

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sonabinu
The node code is very confusing when working with cross cultural teams

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ainiriand
Very bad article... Not a single GIF or video to demonstrate the movement? You
prefer decribing the motion instead of showing it? Are you the BBC or some
sort of amateur blog?

