If you’re the type of person who is very expressive with their hands and don’t want offend people abroad, then here are 10 gestures from different countries along with their obscene meanings.
These are also great if you want to insult people in the best way possible.
Either way, the Telegraph has shed light on some of the cutting gestures and shocking meaning behind them.
We took our own photos for your viewing pleasure.
Five fathers is used in Arab countries and the Caribbean to mean your mother is a whore.
Five fathersI’m not sure you would do it with such a smile on your face when giving the most inflammatory hand gesture in the Arab world. It is almost certain to provoke violence.
The Chin Flick is a classic insult meaning get lost in Belgium, France, Northern Italy and Tunisia.
Chin FlickIn France it is known as ‘the beard’ and is a flash of masculinity and very dismissive. In Italy the gesture just means no.
The Brazilian Idiota gesture indicates stupidity and means ‘are you an idiot?’.
IdiotaIf executed correctly, this one is supposed to get a lot of laughs. Put your fist to your forehead with a comical overbite for maximum effect.
The Moutza just sounds aggressive. It either means ‘to hell with you!’, ‘I rub shit in your face’, or ‘I’m going to violate your sister!’.
MoutzaIt is one of the most complex of hand gestures that is used in Greece, Africa and Pakistan.
There are loads of words you can use to call someone crazy, but in Italy the hand gesture is called the Pepper Mill.
Pepper millIt implies that the subject’s brain is whirring like the blades in a pepper mill.
The cutting Corna means your wife is unfaithful in the Baltics, Brazil, Colombia, Italy, Portugal, and Spain.
CornaThis very old sign represents a bull’s horns and is an easy way to tell someone that their partner is cheating on them.
The Write-off does what is says on the tin. It means ‘I’m ignoring you’ in Greece.
Write-offThe literal translation of st’arxidia mou is ‘I write it on my testicles’, a hilarious way to tell someone you’re not listening to what they’re saying.
Cutis, from India and Pakistan, entails biting your thumb and means ‘screw you and your whole family’.
CutisThe effects of this are swift and you are likely to be escorted off the premises if you use this one.
I’ll definitely use this one next time my mates are being tight. Tacana is used in South America to tell someone they’re stingy.
TacanoThe elbow is associated with stinginess, so if someone is unwilling to pay their fair share, get your elbow out or give it a bang on the table.
This is pretty self explanatory. The Fishy Smell gesture means you find the other person untrustworthy.
Fishy SmellUsed in Southern Italy, it can be used to let people know that you will not be taken advantage of. The gesture lets them know that you are on to them.
Don’t use them all at once!
