IIRC Konrad Lorenz pointed out in Solomon's Ring that rooks will exhibit "infantile behavior" when grooming in a mated couple which, well, humans do it when they cuddle too.
As an aside: my favorite italian gesture is "tasty" (put index on cheek and spin back and forth) which is only used by and for children. I'm on a lifelong mission to spread it everywhere.
My first thought was "is it only Italians and Dutch, or are the two the only groups they could cover with their given funding?".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG0FAKkaisg
Oh, rooks! I though you said rocks. Never mind!
For example we gesture when something tastes good and I don't even say "tastes good" out loud i just wave my hand next to my cheek. But quickly learnt that people think you're crazy in the head instead of complimenting the chef.
In this case the gesture is to not speak with a mouth full of food, which is understandable.
I haven't been to Italy, but this was a huge deal for me living in Israel. In Israel, it's a substantial cultural divide between descendants of Arab countries refugees and those coming from Europe. It's generally seen as "proper" to not use your hands. In the military, especially in basic training, that would probably send you doing pushups.
I live in the Netherlands for about five years now. To be honest, I didn't notice people talking with their hands... well, outside of the Middle East or North African immigrants. Also, I don't really have Dutch friends to the point that we'd spend enough time together for me to notice how and if they use their hands during a conversation. In more formal context, I don't see the Dutch doing that.
I lived in Israel my whole life and I don't remember ever encountering the notion that 'speaking with your hands is lacking "class"' or that ' It's generally seen as "proper" to not use your hands.'. I just looked and easily found two videos with Israel's Prime Minister where he used hand gestures while talking.
> In the military, especially in basic training, that would probably send you doing pushups.
No, I don't think so, why would it?
> One day, Netanyahu shows up to the Knesset not wearing a tie. The speaker then reminds him about the decorum, to which Netanyahu replies that the queen of England allowed him not to wear one. The speaker then inquires about the circumstances, to which Netanyahu replies that he didn't wear a tie to Buckingham either, and that the queen told him "perhaps back in Israel, you might not wear a tie, but you must remember to wear one here."
In other words, Netanyahu is, by no means an example of what anyone would consider to be "classy". He's not the worst example, but he certainly fits the stereotype of obnoxious, loud, poorly dressed and otherwise poorly mannered.
> No, I don't think so, why would it?
Absolutely. It's kind of ridiculous to watch a typical Israeli recruit struggle with it. There's a practical reason for it: you have to speak clearly when you are on comms, and nobody can you see swing your hands to explain yourself. But, military being military, this is just a rule that's applied to everyone. Another reason is that you have to stand at attention ("amod be dom matuakh") when you are talking to an officer. Again, this applies to basic training ("tironut") only, since during your regular service you rarely stand at attention in general, let alone when talking to an officer.
I do not mind gesturing itself done by other people, but I’ve found that it correlates a lot with violating my personal space. A lot of gesturing ends up being done right in front of my face, or just too close to my body in general. And that annoys me and makes me lose respect for the person doing that.
um, uh, like, you know
So much so that the old joke holds true. How do you stop an Italian from talking? Tell them to sit on their hands.
Of course there will be a noticeable increase in gesticulation in an angry southern Italian person compared to a mild-mannered Englishman droning about philosophy.
Perhaps the difference lies not in the amount of gesturing, but in the heightened emotions of us southern Europeans.
> Perhaps the difference lies not in the amount of gesturing, but in the heightened emotions of us southern Europeans.
As someone that has familial ties to both England and Sicily, although people on average are more overtly expressive in Southern Europe, the English are certainly not a monolith. For every "mild-mannered Englishman" there's also an equal amount of very "expressive" people, for example the meme of English tourists being absolute menaces in Southern Europe (especially Spain) does not come from the "mild-mannered" crowd, and I'm sure there are people who put up with these tourists that wish they were less expressive than the locals.
I find it intuitively persuasive, others may differ, but if you're going to object then keep it on vibes as we all will never have evidence.
Hearing people do a looser version too. I constantly find myself putting abstract ideas "over here" and "over there", then gesturing back at those virtual objects later in the conversation.
Basically: pointing as pronouns.
Put-That-There (1980) was based on exactly this idea:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbIn8p4_4CQ
>Put-That-There was a gestural interface created in the Architecture Machine Group in 1980.
Of course spoken language also has multiple channels (e.g. tone and sound) but they still lack the spatial aspect.
Apparently, people who pick up sign language later in life commonly typically make what is known as a "split verb error", where they structure their signs sequentially like vocal languages when they should do those things simultaneously.
Priorities, people, priorities.
> "The two groups were chosen because previous research suggests Italians come from a more 'gesture-rich' culture, while Dutch speakers tend to use fewer representational gestures overall."
They took two very dissimilar groups when it comes to hand gestures.
He would stand in front of class. Close his eyes. And draw two matrices in the air with his hands and continue to explain matrix multiplication like that. It was a bit funny to watch at the time. But it stuck with me, so I guess it worked.
I looked like I was trying to sell Guybrush Threepwood a sinking ship... .
Q: How do you get an Italian to shut up?
A: Tie their hands up.
