Nothing more than a fist with the thumb poking out from between the index and middle fingers, the mano fico (literally “ fig hand”) is a gesture of Roman origin, used as a positive gesture to encourage good luck and fertility, and ward away the ‘evil eye’. While there isn’t really an equivalent in Western culture, the cutis in Indian and Pakistani culture is basically a thumbs-up, except you push the nail on your thumb against your front teeth and flick, while saying “cutta!” It basically amounts to “screw you,” and famously appeared in the media when Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar made the gesture in Melbourne as he left the field for a rain delay during the 2004 test series against Australia. You probably wouldn’t learn that in most of your traditional German courses. Not so, however, in a few countries in Europe, where the numerical interpretation gives the signal an insulting overtone – essentially you’re telling them that you think they’re a “zero.”įar worse, however, is the meaning in Brazil, Germany and a few Mediterranean countries: the circular shape of the gesture gives it the meaning of “anus,” and is therefore used to call somebody an “asshole”, or, by extension, a homosexual. “This application has performed an illegal operation – now, eat shit!”. Roughly translating as “animal,” the signal is similar to the moutza in every way except they tuck the thumb into the palm.Īmusingly, Microsoft used to use a very similar-looking hand signal as an icon for warning dialogues in previous versions of Windows – what Greek users must have thought of that, I don’t know. The Japanese use a very similar sign to insult their old enemies, the Koreans. The gesture is also an insulting one in Pakistan and many parts of Africa. With fingers slightly apart, you thrust your hand into your target’s face, usually coupling the gesture with a brash “na!” meaning “here you go!” The basic suggestion is something like “eat shit”, implying that you’re not particularly impressed and would rather the target of the moutza leave you alone – comparable to the American interpretation of the same signal as “talk to the hand, because the face isn’t listening”. In Greece, however, the gesture is known as a moutza, and is one of their most traditional manual insults. Opening your palm to your target and stretching out your fingers seems harmless enough to most Westerners. “The Moutza” by Michael Vadon via Wikimedia Rather more charming is a thumbs-up in Germany and in the less-Westernised areas of Japan – they just see it as the hand signal for the number one. Also, it’s generally not recommended to use the thumbs-up around the Middle East as it’s pretty much the biggest insult out there – and even worse if you pull off the emphatic version with both hands – so no Fonzie impressions, please. In part of Latin America and West Africa, as well as Greece, Russia, Sardinia and the south of Italy, the thumbs-up basically means the same as the middle finger: “sit on it and swivel”. While Western culture has become used to the thumbs-up as a positive, informal signal, generally indicating a job well done (probably stemming from World War II pilots using the signal to communicate that they were “good to go” with ground crews), there are cultures where a thumbs-up may land you in trouble. There’s no evidence for this, and it’s just massively unlikely. The “Thumbs-Up”įirst of all, let’s quash the urban legend of the “thumbs-up/thumbs-down” being used by the audience in the Roman coliseum to vote on the life or death of a defeated gladiator, as furthered by such movies as Gladiator and Spartacus. Tony Blair was caught doing this gesture during his adolescence, which caused quite a stir when people found out! 2. Interestingly, in Greece and Portugal, the gesture is made with the palm facing the ground, implying that the person is rather fonder of wanking other men as opposed to himself.
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