Path: ccsf.homeunix.org!ccsf.homeunix.org!news1.wakwak.com!nf1.xephion.ne.jp!onion.ish.org!news.daionet.gr.jp!news.yamada.gr.jp!newsfeed.media.kyoto-u.ac.jp!headwall.stanford.edu!newshub.sdsu.edu!elnk-nf2-pas!newsfeed.earthlink.net!attbi_feed3!attbi.com!attbi_s54.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "Marc" Newsgroups: fj.life.in-japan References: <4KjTb.45370$6O4.1330875@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net> Subject: Re: Country X Gestures Lines: 32 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1158 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 66.30.127.129 X-Complaints-To: abuse@comcast.net X-Trace: attbi_s54 1075791140 66.30.127.129 (Tue, 03 Feb 2004 06:52:20 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2004 06:52:20 GMT Organization: Comcast Online Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2004 06:52:20 GMT Xref: ccsf.homeunix.org fj.life.in-japan:11799 "ifignow" wrote in message news:4KjTb.45370$6O4.1330875@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net... > As of the 1980s, it was considered very rude in Japan to say that a pregnant > woman is "pregnant"; instead, people made elaborate gestures with their arms > to show that the woman is pregnant. If you were puzzled and imitated their > strange gestures, then they assumed you understood what they meant. Later, > when you asked if they meant the woman is pregnant, they would get very > angry. > > Is this still true? I don't think it was true even in the 1980s. Looking at someone and pulling down your lower eyelid was a peculiarly Japanese gesture that was designed to get someone mad, although mostly only kids use it. The fist with the little pinky stuck up in the air, presented in a sly but knowing manner.... not necessarily rude, but commonly used to refer to someone's "main squeeze", and so not to be mentioned out loud. No words are to accompany it, except perhaps a vague "kore" -- as if it was a little secret that can be conveyed only by discreet hand signs. I used to know several obscure hand things that were unique to Japan and all vaguely obscene, but somehow they didn't make enough of an impression to stick in my memory.