Dictionary of Gestures
Good Fit
- Readers curious about language, culture and semiotics
- Travellers and people working abroad who want to avoid misread gestures
- Writers, actors and illustrators who want to describe a character's gestures precisely
Not a Fit
- Anyone looking for a practical guide to «reading» people in meetings or dates
- Readers who want to read a book straight through like a novel
- Those expecting a focus on Turkish or Caucasian gestures
Caradec draws the boundaries clearly: the dictionary covers only gestures people make deliberately to communicate with others. Involuntary movements — «tics» — are happily left to psychologists. Specialised coded systems such as referees' signals, sign language and stock-exchange hand signals are excluded too. That matters for understanding the book: there's no pop psychology of the «liars touch their nose» kind here — it is a cultural dictionary.
The central thesis is simple: «there is no universal gesture». The first example sticks: the «O» made with index finger and thumb means «OK» in the US but is a serious insult in some Arab countries. Western manners require you to look the person you're speaking to in the eye; in Asia and Africa you must not stare at someone you respect. Even counting differs: Europeans start with the thumb, Americans with the index finger, and for the Japanese the thumb is five.
The introduction is also a lovely tour of the history of gesture. In 1832 Andrea de Jorio tried to prove that Neapolitan gestures could be seen on ancient vases and paintings; as Caradec drily notes, de Jorio at least proved that Neapolitan gestures hadn't changed in 170 years. Caradec quotes at length the silent gestural «duel» between Rabelais's Panurge and the English scholar Thaumaste, saying French literature has no other dialogue built from gestures at such length. Kafka's diary entry about an accident described entirely with the hands, and Queneau's terse «(silence) (gesture)» notes, are here too.
One of the most entertaining parts is Georges Polti's arithmetic: Polti counts the possible movements of each part of the body and arrives at more than eight million combinations for a single hand. Then come the gestures of orators, preachers and actors: Areopagus judges preferring to hear orators in the dark so as not to be swayed, a long verse lesson in gesture for 18th-century preachers, and a list of 31 «oratorical postures».
The dictionary entries are short and precise. Tossing the head sharply back means «no» in most Arab countries, Turkey, Malta and Sicily, and is called the «Greek no»; in parts of north-east Africa the same movement means «yes». Tugging the ear is recorded in Turkey as a luck gesture, like knocking on wood, while pulling the earlobe is a «watch yourself» threat in Turkey and Greece.
Its weakness is its limits. The author admits that, without the budget for research trips, the book couldn't cover international gestures fully and mostly relies on the sources in its bibliography. The result is mainly a catalogue of French and Mediterranean gestures. Some entries are also crude or obscene gestures, described frankly. That's not a flaw, but readers should know.
- A simple, clear drawing for every gesture
- Rich quotations from literature and history
- A convenient head-to-toe structure with a subject index
The classic study of how European gestures are distributed geographically
An illustrated dictionary of gestures around the world
A practical guide to reading body language — a different approach
The index-finger chapter tells the story of the «V» sign: Belgian lawyer Victor de Laveleye proposed it on 14 January 1941 as a symbol of resistance to the Nazis, Winston Churchill adopted it, and it spread worldwide. The same gesture with the palm facing yourself is a grave insult in England — a difference Churchill knew well. The insult's origin is unknown; it is thought to come from a threatening gesture by English archers.
The dictionary ends with the foot chapter. The Pope washing and kissing the feet of chosen poor people during Holy Week is listed as a gesture of humility. The last entries are the standing ovation, the stadium «Mexican wave» and kicking an opponent from behind. The book closes this last entry with a sardonic quotation from Léon Bloy, followed by the bibliography and index.
If you see a problem, write to us. Publisher, author, rights holder, or just a reader — it doesn't matter. If there's something problematic about copyright in this review, if the review's author has broken the site's rules, or if you simply have a suggestion or complaint, hey@kitabdanevar.com. We'd rather resolve this between ourselves than go to court: we review requests within 48 hours and, if needed, correct or fully remove the review.
