Gestures and Insults without Words

What are others saying or recommending?

This is a blog without a committment to great research. Yet, a few minutes with your favorite search engine help to get facts right or see what opinions other people have.

Gestures, using hands, feet, the head, are an important part of a culture and have provided some widely known and amusing or embarassing stories. Like one people where shaking your head means yes, and nodding signifies no.

Do Germans use gestures at all? Aren't they kind of stiff-ish?

If you get your knowledge of Germananic gestures from Hollywood movies ca. 1940 and later, you know the one gesture where they extend the right arm, holding the hand straight out, palm downwards. Click heels for emphasis.

That gesture can get you prison time in modern day Germany!

The other gesture we have seen in these agonizingly slow German cop shows is the Germanic handshake. Firm and reassuring. That one is perfectly legal and used frequently.

A short time ago, the need to research (equals: one Google search, reading no more than five of the results) burst forth again.

I found the website http://www.culturecrossing.net and browsed.

On their "gestures" page they say this:
1. When gesturing or beckoning for someone to come, you should face your palm downwards and make a scratching motion with the fingers.
2. Waving the hand back and forth with the palm up usually signifies “no”.
3. The OK sign and thumbs up are understood, but do not tend to be used that often. 
4. At the end of a presentation or performance, Germans often signal their approval or thanks by gently rapping their knuckles on the tabletop instead of applauding.


Hold on, that's sort of right and wrong at the same time, I thunk. Let's look at each of them in detail.

When gesturing or beckoning for someone to come, you should face your palm downwards and make a scratching motion with the fingers.

The krautnewsman says: This is the clandestine, close proximity version, most commonly used to tell your dog or your kid to come hither.  Or summon a partner in crime, you see. The arm hangs down the side. the hand never higher than your hip.

At any normal distance and under normal circumstances, you angle your arm forward, palm facing towards your chest, move all fingers back and forth. Or you can do the energetic American waving your hand as high as you want with optional yelling.

Waving the hand back and forth with the palm up usually signifies “no”.

Krautnewsman says: Me no understand. Must have been copied and pasted from another country's gesture page. The palm should be down, fingers level or slightly up. Then a couple of short, quick, lateral movements means NO.

The OK sign and thumbs up are understood, but do not tend to be used that often. 

Krautnewsman says: OK. The OK sign with the index finger touching or almost touching the thumb is hardly ever used. If used, it tends to signal not OK but excellent. As in excellent food.

At the end of a presentation or performance, Germans often signal their approval or thanks by gently rapping their knuckles on the tabletop instead of applauding.

Krautnewsman says: Yes, and they can do this not just gently but will occasionally turn up the noise level to just under airplane takeoff. Beware of that cute American move where a speaker applauds the audience for being a good audience and to thank them in return -- Germans do not do this, and do not understand it, it looks as if you as the speaker are conceitfully applauding yourself (padding yourself on the back). If you do want to thank a German audience, say Thank you, or do a one arm thank you wave, like a "hello" or "hi" gesture.

How to insult a German without a single word

Do you have heath insurance yet? Okay.

Stretch out your index finger, fold all other fingers tightly. Yes, just as if you were pointing at something.
Now raise the hand up close to the temple, and point that index finger towards your temple.
Give someone the bird is what they call it.

Alternatively, younger Germans can be given the finger, largely thanks to Hollywood and soap operas.
The stinky finger is their verbal expression for the gesture.

Gesturing during conversation

There is no general rule. We think of Italians, Spaniards or others as GWT (gesturing while talking).
Many Germans do it!
Women more often than men; folks in the South more often than those further North; young people with more abandon than older people.

Just follow the lead of whoever you are talking to.