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ble to Europeans, and it may arouse violent anger in them as a consequence. In Africa, laughter is used by black people to express surprise, wonder, embarrassment and even discomfiture; it is not necessarily, or even often a sign of amusement; the significance given to “black laughter” is due to a mistake of supposing that similar symbols have identical meanings. Thus it is that even if the behavior were present, its cultural and emotional functions may differ.

3.1.5 Gestures

Gestures can be particularly troublesome, for a slight difference in making the gesture itself can mean something quite different from which intended. A wrong interpretation of a gesture can arouse quite unexpected reactions.

A well-known case is a gesture made by Winston Churchill, the doughty prime minister who led Britain through the Second World War. As he appeared before a large crowd, he was greeted with cheers and applause. The occasion was a momentous one and Churchill flashed the “V for victory” sign—with the forefinger and middle finger raised to form a “V”. Whether by mistake or ignorance, instead of facing the palm of his hand to the front, he made the “V” with the back of his hand towards the audience. Some in the crowd applauded; some gasped; some broke out in laughter. The prime minister’s gesture, as given, meant quite something else. Instead of “V for victory”, it meant something dirty; it was an obscene gesture!

Although we are normally not aware of it, most of us use gestures when we are talking. And we have found that gestures used within one culture are quite different from those used in another culture. Let’s take the sign for beckoning for example. In America, when a person wants to signal a friend to come, he or she makes the gesture with one hand, palm up, fingers more or less together and moving towards his or her body. In Japan, when beckoning someone to approach, one extends the arm slightly upwards and cups the hand, with the fingers pointed down, making a clockwise motion. While in Germany, a beckoning motion is made by tossing the head back. The use of head movement to indicate “yes” or “no” also varies with cultures. For “yes”, some cultures (e.g. the Western Europe and the United States) use a top –to-bottom movement, others (e.g. the Eastern Mediterranean) use a bottom-to-top movement, and still others (e.g. the Indian subcontinent) use a diagonal movement.

People all over the world use their hands, heads, and bodies to communicate expressively. Without gestures, our world would be static and colorless. The social anthropologist Edward T. Hall claims 60 percent of all our communication is nonverbal. In that case, how can we possibly communicate with one another without gestures?

Gestures and body language communicate as effectively as words, maybe even more effectively. We use gestures daily, almost instinctively, from beckoning to a waiter, or punctuating a business presentation with visual signals to airport ground attendants guiding an airline pilot into the jet energy or a parent using a whole dictionary of gestures to teach (or preach to) a child.

Bear in mind that the following gestures are in general used, but there may always be exceptions. In recent years, Western and contemporary values and ideas have become more popular and has either influenced, altered, and even replaced, some of the more traditional gestures,