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Maree’s musings

March 19, 2018 March 2018 No Comments

SIGN LANGUAGE.

Talk … we all do it. We’d be nowhere without communication, a chat session is like a tonic. But watch anyone speaking and you’ll see a lot more going on. Yes … ‘sign language’: movements and gestures accompanying or replacing the spoken word. As kids, my brothers and I laughed watching our mum on the phone, all the while waving her hands around, albeit very expressively. Bless.

Think what you do with bits of your face. Frown. Are you cross, concentrating, or just confused? Smiling is nicer … really? Are you pleased, amused, or like Claudius, Hamlet’s brother, who murdered their father and married his mum? Hamlet’s opinion when he cottoned on – O villain, villain, smiling, damnèd villain! Very nasty. Have you noticed that people cover their mouth when they get a shock? (It’s thought to prevent our souls leaving our bodies.) More likely an instinct to protect your open mouth or conceal fear. At other times, a roll of the eyes, raised eyebrows, or a sneaky wink, with or without a nudge, can speak volumes.

Kissing! Great scope for variations there. Unless you blow one, kisses involve body contact, even if it’s only your cat. How the pash is despatched and where it lands is fraught with meaning. Babies get one on their forehead or maybe toes. A peck on one cheek is different from one on each, but don’t get too intimate with dignitaries who just offer a hand. Lips of course. The French add tongues: there’s a bonus – ‘tongue touching’ stimulates endorphins and reduces stress levels. A good excuse! Judas had one, appeared to be given in friendship, named after him, but didn’t end well.

Here in NZ: the Hongi – significantly the exchange of ha (breath) – implies the sharing of souls. Visitors become Tangata Whenua; ‘people of the land’, included tending crops or joining in battle. Nowadays, not so much; expensive meals and gifts are more likely.

Hand gestures are as common as muck. We wave hello, goodbye, to attract attention or shoo away a fly. Fingers feature frequently. Thumbs too. A famous scene in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has one Capulet chap taunting a Montague: “Do I bite my thumb at you, sir?” Rude! Nowadays one scorns by thumbing the nose and wiggling the fingers. A happy event often spurs a fist pump or a ‘high five’. There is a significance associated with the closed fist when used as a salute; of which there are many variations. The modern salute, a sign of respect, originated in France when knights greeted each other to show friendly intentions by raising their visors showing their faces, and identifying themselves; saying “This is who I am. I am not afraid.”

Tipping your hat [seriously old-fashioned] is replaced by a nod or a raising of a hand with one or all five fingers up. However, upraised fingers can get you in trouble. Two fingers with the palm facing outwards symbolises ‘Victory’: getting it right is vital as Churchill apparently discovered when it was (ahem) pointed out he had his hand facing inwards, which means something else entirely! No doubt it expressed his feelings towards Hitler anyway.

Why do we clap our hands when not trying to squash a bug or command attention? Audiences do it to show they enjoyed a performance, sometimes with stamping feet – designed to make a helluva noise. Confusing … is it ‘Encore!’ or SHUTUP?

The ‘thumbs up’ gesture and its reverse originated in Ancient Rome with crowds at gladiatorial contests deciding a chap’s fate. Did thumbs up mean saving a life? Research indicates the opposite. [Jolly bad luck for the gladiator if the crowd didn’t get it right!] Nowadays, feeling good, ready for take-off, and for the Chinese ‘you’re number one’.

It’s even snuck into computers with the  icon. We all ‘like’ that!

Finally, handshakes, which go back to the 5th Century BC. Handy (pun) to show you weren’t holding a weapon and ‘extending the hand of friendship’. Special ones convey membership to a club or clique. Notable among these are the Freemasons; I have no idea what their handshake is – it’s a secret! There’s a world record for the longest handshake. In 2011, it took place in New York Times Square. The hand-shakers – New Zealanders Alastair Galpin and Don Purdon and Nepalese brothers Rohit and Santosh Timilsina agreed to share the record [33 hours, three minutes]. They must have been great friends!

So now you know: many a true word is spoken in ‘gest’.

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