A dictionary of gestures with over 880 entries

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gestures are an important part of nonverbal communication during public speaking. In the catalog for my local public library system I found an interesting 324-page book from 2018 by the late Francois Caradec (1924 to 2008) titled Dictionary of Gestures, and subtitled Expressive Comportments and Movements in Use around the World. The MIT Press description of this translation by Chris Clarke of a 2005 French original says it is:

 

“An illustrated guide to more than 850 gestures and their meanings around the world, from a nod of the head to a click of the heels.”

 

Those 884 gestures are divided into 37 chapters as follows:

 

Head 1.01 to 1.35

Temples 2.01 to 2.10

Ear 3.01 to 3.22

Forehead 4.01 to 4.19

Eyebrows and Eyelashes 5.01 to 5.07

Eye 6.01 to 6.26

Nose 7.01 to 7.43

Mouth 8.01 to 8.42

Lips 9.01 to 9.13

Tongue 10.01 to 10.13

Teeth 11.01 to 11.09

Cheeks 12.01 to 12.23

Chin 13.01 to 13.26

Neck 14.01 to 14.19

Shoulders 15.01 to 15.14

Armpits 16.01 to 16.03

Arm 17.01 to 17.45

Forearm 18.01 to 18.14

Elbow 19.01 to 19.09

Wrist 20.01 to 20.19

Fingernails 21.01 to 21.10

Hand 22.01 to 22.87c

Fist 22.88 to 22.112

Both Hands 23.01 to 23.84

Hand to Hand 24.01 to 24.24

Thumb 25.01 to 25.18

Thumb is Not Alone 25.19 to 25.42

Index Finger 26.01 to 26.68

Middle Finger 27.01 to 27.10

Ring Finger 28

Little Finger (Pinky) 29.01 to 29.06

Torso 30.01 to 30.04

Chest 31.01 to 31.29

Hips 32.01 to 32.06

Waist and Stomach 33.01 to 33.13

Buttocks 34.01 to 34.08

Groin, Genitals, Thighs 35.01 to 35.12

Knees, Legs 36.01 to 36.13

Foot 37.01 to 37.12

 

The largest category, with 112 gestures, is for the Hand and Fist.

 

An article about it at the CBC Radio program As It Happens on August 9, 2019 is titled ‘This book can save your life,’ says translator of French Dictionary of Gestures. It explains:

 

“For instance… there’s a gesture that, to us, means ‘halt’ or ‘stop,’ with the palm face-out. Abd if you curve those fingers you wind up with what [Caradec] describes as a Greek gesture called the ‘mountza,’ which came from public shamings where you would actually hurl refuse into the face of the person being shamed.

 

But with the flat palm out, [it’s] also an Arab greeting. So we had American GIs who were telling people coming up to a check point, ‘Stop, stop, stop.’ And the people though they were being greeted and waved on and so they just kept coming, and there were shootings.

 

That’s why one reviewer said, ‘This book can save your life,’ which is clearly a bit of hyperbole. But at the same time, you want to know the difference when you’re traveling in certain cases.”  

 

The cartoon came from page 5 of the April 29, 1916 issue of Puck magazine at the Internet Archive. 

 

UPDATE

There is an excerpt titled An Illustrated Guide to Mouth Gestures and Their Meaning Around the World.