"Dave Fossett" <reply@via.newsgroup> wrote in message news:<zQcgb.498$Lz5.292@news1.dion.ne.jp>...
> Ken Yasumoto-Nicolson wrote:
> 
> > I'm yet to progress to the um-ing and aw-ing in Japanese phase, so I
> > don't know if it naturally follows, but I know a couple of gaigin who
> > regularly point to the nose, rather than to the chest, to indicate
> > "self". To me it always looks like a forced gesture, but I've never
> > actually asked the people who do it if it's natural or not, just in
> > case they get offended or something. I'm no psychologist or whatever,
> > but I would think that it must be forced. What do you lot think?
> 
> I'd agree with what 2-belo wrote. I'm pretty sure I point to my face rather
> than my chest, but it's not really something you think about consciously.

Ahh, I see now - one of the people was a long-time inmate of these
isles, but the other was fresh off the boat, so perhaps only one was
natural.

> You mean to say you don't bow when you talk on the phone? 

Heh, I would do that in English - well, at least nod - as I talked
long before I ever set foot in Japan.

Actually, last night I was phoning my brother's office back in
Scotland, and I said "gomen" to the receptionist at one point...

Ken