Handy Ways to Get in Trouble

Because the hands are so highly visible and because they do so much “talking” they get a lot of attention. They might help you make some foreign friends, or they might toss you into international hot water. Consider the potential for trouble in these situations:

• You’re meeting with a Japanese client. You hand him your business card. He looks taken aback. Why?

• You walk into an English pub and order two pints. The barkeep boots you out into the street. What have you done?

• You’re vacationing in Greece, watching the women on the beach. You give one particularly beautiful lady the thumps-up sign. She grasps, grabs her boyfriend, and two of them begin marching in your direction. Do they want to make your acquaintance, or should you start running?

• In Brazil, your pedicurist wants to know if she’s done a pleasing job on your toes. You’re on your phone, so you give her the symbol to indicate, “Okay.” She bursts into tears. Was she hoping for a thumbs-up sign?

You’ve just offended four lovely people without realizing it. Your errors were:

• With the Japanese businessman, perhaps you flippantly tossed the card his way. The Japanese usually pass business cards with both hands. When they accept them, it’s also with both hands, and they treat them as though they’re a gift.

• In the pub, you made the mistake of ordering by holding up two fingers with your palm facing towards you. This is an insult, akin to flashing your middle finger, so it’s no wonder you were bounced out into the night.

• Your intended friendly gesture on the beach carried just the opposite message; thumbs-up means “Up yours!” in Greece (and in Western Africa, South America, Iran, Russia, and Sardinia).

• In Brazil (and Greece, Turkey, Italy, and Russia), the sign Americans use to mean “Okay” is actually a grave insult. Better start gushing about how your toes have never looked better, or this girl might never return to the salon.

Are all of your favourite hand signals off limits overseas? Of course not! You can walk around London and Paris all day long flashing people the thumbs-up sign. They may find you highly irritating, but no one’s likely to take great offense at your gesture.