TALKING WITH YOUR HANDS.

Yeah, well you lot are a bunch of uncivilized former convicts.



I do think Foofie is on to something though I'm sure there are regional variations.

So are you. We got all whited out because you miserable yokels rebelled, and England had to stop sending its convicts to you.

I guess I don't see New Englanders using their handa a whole lot in my imagination, so I guess you are right re regions. I bet EVERYONE (who has hands) uses them though.

This happens in more than just conversation. Have you ever seen someone who has never held a video game controller before play a video game? Its like a dance.

'zactly. New Yorkers are famous for talking with their hands, Minnesotans not so much. I don't think New Englanders, in general, are that physically expressive but I bet there are cultural pockets everywhere. (Italian and Jewish culture = generally a lot of hand-talking.)

Speaking of talking with your hands, I always loved this old commercial for exactly that:

I believe the acronym is alway capitalized - WASP. And, in the U.S., if I had it all to do over again, I would have been born a WASP for one simple reason; they can "fit in" anywhere in the U.S. Ethnics, I believe, tend to stay in certain demographics/regions/locales.

It would also be nice to have had ancestors that came here before mine did (late nineteenth century).

However, there are younger Jews that are sort of WASPirants, in my opinion, and use WASP's as a role model of how to act, talk, think, live. I suspect that there are educated Catholics that are similar. In effect, the dirty little secret might just be that anyone in the U.S. that aspires to upward mobility sees WASP's as a role model.

Then there's the old joke relating to business: Dress British, think Yiddish. Being Jewish myself (secular), I say that with no intent to offend anyone.

Why?

I think mine came early to mid-nineteenth century, by the way, but I don't quite understand the relevance?

I was originally a shy irish american born in california, and still am at heart but have gotten more expressive, first with learning about drawing and painting. And then, in the field, talking about design re the land. And then on visits to italy (no, no, they are not all doing hand jive all the time). In fact, my first impact of language, verbal or by hand in italy was on the subway, where the language was a kind of music.

But, re hand movement, I can now apprehend how some other folks think of americans as frozen bots.

The "relevance" is in context of a correlation, I believe, between the time one's family is in a country, and the rapport one gets from other people of "old line" families. Newcomers to a country often, I believe, cluster in enclaves that slow down the process of assimilation into a country's culture.

My experience, as the daughter of immigrants, was very much the other way.

The established families where I grew up very much tried to hold newcomers at a significant distance. They clustered - they turned their backs on newcomers.

I can never quite understand this attachment to ones parents or even great great grand parents as relative to your personality. Irish , they are not shy , im half Irish but consider myself English, are you not just an American? Sorry to derail this thread but your comment struck me as strange. Its the bloody minded Irish in me, sorry..

That was to explain that I'm not from a heritage group that is regarded as expressive with their hands, at least in my experience. I also started out as a very shy child. My mother remained shy all her life. I have become way less shy, and much more expressive with my hands, via the means I described.

Feel free to consider my comments strange.

Hi Xris.
A colleague at work once told me that he was half-jew on his father's side. I had a sudden urge to shake some sense into him, but just asked him if he followed the jewish culture. He told me his father had died when he was a baby, and he didn't know about the jewish faith. Blooming heck he was hard work!
I, by the way, am human animal by birth.
Best wishes xris.
Mark...

We have to hang our hat somewhere just as long it does not make us feel superior to our fellow man. I dont like connotations of claiming a certain origin but I have a post code.

I thing your trying to give more detail of what you are saying by using sign language of hand , and you see like you have some control of your surrounding
this is my opinion

Old thread, but it's interesting.

I don't think the question can be removed from 'why do we use body language?'

However, hands are the most expressive of the gestures. Not necessarily the most meaningful. But certainly the most expressive. Which in a way, matches our voice, which can be very expressive.

In reality, if you look at how a person speaks, their hand gestures will match it :
- quicker speech / quicker gestures
- sharper speech / sharper gestures
- louder speech / larger gestures
- calmer speech / slower gestures
- warmer speech / more rounded gestures
- critical speech / sharper gestures
- confused / oscillating gestures
- etc

Gestures don't tend to match only when people are saying one thing, but thinking another (which can be for many reasons).

So why do we use them? I've come to believe they reflect what part of our brain we are using, and how we are using it. That reflects what we are feeling (and a bit more) at any given time (and is particularly relevant when we are talking). This in turn can be interpreted by others, who subconsciously recognise what part of the brain the other person is accessing...and from there has a chance to understand what the other person is feeling.

It is my belief that the above is why reading body language consciously, can often be difficult. That is, because it is not a direct reflection of our emotions, but how our mind is functioning at any given time (which if affected by singular emotions can be quite clear...but...)

In some cases, it's cultural, too. Both the French and the Italians commonly use their hands expressively when they speak, although not in the same ways. In contrast, gesturing with one's hands is far less common among Anglo-Saxons, and their American "cousins." I can't say about other nations or ethnic groups.

I move my hands quite a bit when talking and if I am becoming more emotionally charged the hands get more active.

Additionally, I have several facial expressions according to my mood and shrug my shoulders too when my interest or caring about an issue is not in existence or if I realize it is pointless to try and continue the conversation with a ninny with a closed mind.

Yep, culture affects such. It's also interesting to note that cultures tend to use certain parts of their minds more often than other cultures. There's a reason specific cultures get a reputation for (entire culture) emotional/drive traits:
- passionate
- power
- sensual
- cowardly
- loyal etc

And anything you practice, even as a group, affects how you use your mind. Examples of training your mind include:
- muscle memory training
- role-playing
- repetition / affirmations etc
So as a culture, it's quite possible to train minds to 'function/think/go down a path' is a particular way.