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21 August 2007
GESTURES a neat blog about different cultures' gestures.
It looks like maybe it wasn't offensive, just confusing.
It looks like because the French start counting with their thumb, the thumb is assumed, even if it isn't there. Therefore, by having 3 fingers up, he was really asking for four, so he was saying 3 but showing 4.
Ah, I see. I read it a little more carefully this time.
The nose thing I assume ultimately stems from hygiene, but basically it's the equivalent of sticking your hand down your pants and rooting around in your butt. Simply not done in public.
* Interestingly, flicking the V dates back centuries, and indicates (to the French) that you've got your bow firing fingers, unlike maybe, the people you caught whose fingers you chopped off *
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
photo by Kronos_to_Earth
photo by ethylene
