Hand Gestures to Avoid When Visiting Other Cultures

If your next vacation involves some sort of culture hopping (i.e., traveling to new cultures), you might want to bone up on some not-so-harmful hand gestures that may be considered taboo in the country you are visiting. Although they may seem innocuous in your own culture, some of these movements can be quite offensive elsewhere in the world.

Fist-to-forehead: Performing this action in Brazil conveys you consider someone to be an idiot, especially when accompanied by an overbite.

The moutza — a centuries-old hand gesture that involves reaching out your arm and fingers, with your palm pointed toward the opposite person — means you disapprove of or disagree with someone in countries such as Greece, Mexico and some African nations.

In Belgium, France, and Northern Italy, flicking your hand under your chin is a rude sign typically performed by males to indicate their masculinity and the fact they don’t care about what you have to say. In other parts of Italy, it simply means “no.”

Flashing the OK symbol with your thumb and index finger is harmless in the United States, but be careful when using this in Brazil, Greece, Turkey and Spain as it indicates a body opening or the evil eye.