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Good question. I always assumed they were unrelated to the official sign language but I don't actually know. I wonder if there are many commonalities between t
by elevaet 2y ago
Good question. I always assumed they were unrelated to the official sign language but I don't actually know.
I wonder if there are many commonalities between the informal gestures used in Italy and Brazil.
- riffraff 2y agoMany gestures are shared across cultures even without an obvious shared history (e.g. some simulation of an erect penis will mean "f*ck you", which you can do by raising a finger or by raising your forearm) so I bet there are some :) One gesture I know of which existed in Brazil and Italy is the "fig" sign[0]. AFAICT nobody uses it anymore in Italy, but it goes back to the Etruscans! Some years ago I came across a nice book (pdf) by some academic cataloguing a bunch of gestures across cultures, but I am failing to find it again ATM :( [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fig_sign https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fig_sign
- elevaet 2y agoI definitely remember seeing wood carvings of that fig sign. I never really knew what it meant and assumed it was an afro-brazilian thing, but sounds like it has european roots, interesting.