Gestures can represent a world

Every day we perform a wide variety of gestures voluntarily. We do them because through them we transmit information that other people understand. The frequency with which this happens, we make gestures and others understand their meaning, sometimes causes us to assume that a gesture has a meaning. On the contrary, Gestures have no meaning, the meaning is given to those of us who interpret it..

When we travel to places where people have different cultures, the mimicry of people can seem strange to us. We may not understand the meaning of signs very similar to those we make in our daily lives. The truth is that Each gesture is a world, or at least it can be.

The winks

Take a wink as an example. This gesture consists of closing one eye for a short period of time, while the other remains open. Is a gesture easy to recognize but not so easy to interpret.

Imagine this situation. On a terrace of a bar there are several people drinking coffee. A boy winks at the girl who is looking at him. At another table, another boy who doesn’t look at anyone directly also winks. The girl returns the boy’s wink while another girl, who observes the three winks, winks.

How to resolve this intersection of winks? If you want, think about what the meaning of each wink is so that as you continue reading you can compare them with the real meaning. Below we present the interpretation of this story:

The first boy who winked did so intentionally. His intention was to draw attention of a girl he was attracted to. The gesture of intentionally winking has a meaning as a courtship ritual and serves to show intentions, sexual interest. It is also a gesture that sometimes aims to confirm or highlight complicity. In another context, it can also mean mockery, especially when accompanied by sarcasm. The second boy who winked did so involuntarily. This boy had a tic and that’s why he winked. Because he was a twitch, he didn’t direct his gaze at anyone. As for the girl who winked back at the boy, his intention was to look good. The girl was not from the same country and she had another culture. In her culture the act of winking has no meaning. This girl returned the wink because she thought it was something culturally acceptable, as if it were a greeting. Finally, we are left with the girl who sees the scene and winks. This girl winks simply because something has entered your eye. The act of winking, in this case, is a reflex action to remove the particle that has entered your eye. Therefore, the wink is involuntary.

With this story, despite being invented, we demonstrate that winks can have various meanings and can be both voluntary and involuntary. Have you guessed the meaning of any wink? Imagine how difficult it can be to interpret a sign. Without evidence about the meaning that a sign usually has in a context and at a given time, guessing the meaning of a sign can be very complicated.

Saussure: meaning and signifier

For Ferdinand de Saussure, signs are composed by the union of the signified and the signifier. The meaning is what it means while the signifier is the word that represents it, both its writing and its pronunciation. In the case that concerns us, that of gestures, the signifier would be the gesture.

The union of both, between signifier and signified, does not present any motivation, so their relationship is arbitrary.. This means that a simple hand movement can have an unrelated meaning. That’s why, sometimes, it is so difficult to know the meaning of gestures.

Gestures in other cultures

Different cultures often have gestures with different meanings. Some of these gestures, which have different meanings, at least in Spain, are the following:

Raising your thumb means everything is going well. But in Germany it is number one and in the Middle East it is a gesture of anger towards someone. Finishing all the food on the plate means that the food was very good. However, finishing all the food on the plate in China and the Philippines indicates that the portion was small and that the host was a stingy.Extending the palm of the hand outward is a sign we make to tell someone to stop or wait. In Greece, placing the hand like this means the name of a criminal or murderer. Cuckolding can have very different meanings. In Spain it is used to indicate that someone’s partner is unfaithful but in Hawaii it is used to welcome. In Africa, this gesture indicates a curse and in the United States it is the symbol of Austen University.Giving flowers serves to show love or sympathy. People normally don’t stop to count the number of flowers, but in Russia giving an even number of flowers represents the wish for you to die.

The next time you travel, be careful with the interpretation you give to the signs And, much more careful, with the gestures you make. When we do not know a culture or the context we can lead to absurd conclusions. When in doubt, a question can solve a conflict.

The best gesture: the smile

The smile is a universal gesture. It can indicate happiness, sympathy, joy, but it can also be a hypocritical gesture in an uncomfortable situation. Even so, a sincere and spontaneous smile is one of the best therapies to make ourselves and others happy. Its contagion effect is important and when we encourage someone it can be a great tool.

How do you know if a smile is authentic? Fernández, Avero and Gutiérrez (2012) They point out that the mouth and eyes are the main markers to know if a smile is real. The authors state that “A genuine smile involves changes in the mouth area and others that are less obvious in the eye area”. Specifically, they talk about the Duchenne smile.

The Duchenne smile consists of the contraction of the zygomaticus major and minor muscles that cause the lips to extend to the sides. And on the other hand, the orbicularis muscles around the eyes also contract. When our gesture is sincere, it can be very useful to us since we can make those in front of us happy or we can awaken positive emotions in others.

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