The Hand Gesture Primer

As you've undoubtedly seen 10,000 times now, the photos coming out of Abu Ghraib often feature soldiers giving the thumbs up sign as they commit their nasty abuses. (Another thumbs up photo surfaced in the press yesterday.) But what's incredible – and hasn't received much press coverage – is that the thumbs up sign in Iraq means something totally different from what it means in the U.S. In parts of the Middle East, it's an enormous insult, one that can be roughly translated as "Up yours, dude!" (This also explains why clueless soldiers in passing convoys who got the thumbs up sign from little kids were not being warmly welcomed to Iraq.) But it's also a rude gesture in other parts of the world, too, including Africa, Australia, regions of Greece and Italy. (You can read a couple of amusing thumbs up stories here.)

There is a long list of hand signals that are perfectly innocent in the U.S. but mean all sorts of different things around the world. But if you're the kind of person who's into pain and would love a good ass kicking on your next trip abroad, here are just a few hand gestures that will insure your trip involves gauze, sutures and big boxes of band aids:

Forearm Jerk
Gesture: Hand slapped to the upper arm which is raised with a fist
Location: France, Southern Europe, the Mideast, and other locations
Meaning: "Fuck off!" or "Up Yours!"
Palm-Back V Sign
Gesture: The peace sign with the palm facing the recipient
Location: England
Meaning: "Up Your Bum!"
Thumbs Up
Gesture: Upthrusted thumb
Location: Middle East, Africa, and parts of Italy and Greece
Meaning: "Up Yours!"
Moutza
Gesture: Display of the open palm
Location: Greece and parts of Africa
Meaning: "Eat Shit!"
The Animal
Gesture: Four fingers thrusted toward recipient
Location: Japan
Meaning: "You're an animal!"
Concha
Gesture: Upthrust palm with fingers curled in to resemble a shell
Location: Latin America
Meaning: "Concha de tu madre!"
The A-OK
Gesture: The index finger and thumb form a "O" shape.
Location: Latin America
Meaning: "Fuck you!"

Foreign Gestures [ooze.com]
What Does a "Thumbs Up" Mean in Iraq? [Slate]
International Gestures - A Quiz [Isabelle Mori]
The Do's and Taboos of Body Language [PlanetPapers.com]

Update: A reader in Australia tells us the thumbs up sign isn't really considered vulgar there, which means a) there are about 29 sites that have the wrong info and suck big-time for spreading nasty hand gesture-related rumors, and b) you'll have to come up with something else if you want to insure that an Aussie kicks your ass on your next trip down under.