I had that gesture where you fill-your-cheeks-with-air-then-vibrate-your-lips-as-you-let-it-out as a statement of exasperation in my last novel. I'd like a name for that, too.
I mean, "the so-so hand" is as good a description as any; I'm just surprised that no one ever named the thing, like raising your middle finger is giving the bird and expelling air past your vibrating lips while sticking your tongue out slightly is blowing a raspberry.
My father picked up some interesting phrases and gestures in WWII, some I think from the Sicilian Mafia; an insult that translates as 'and your grandfather in a wheelbarrow', and a gesture which I think is a threat, flicking the hand palm down & thumb extended under your chin, towards someone
My favorite, which people in America don't even do, I'm pretty sure, is tugging down the skin below one eye with your index finger, which in France is basically #YHGtBFKMwTS (I think that in Italy it's more "I'm watching you," but don't quote me).
relatedly! is there a word for that thing you do with your head when you want to nonverbally say "Maaaaybe?" or "Yes and no" or "I'm not entirely sure"? Like, you're not nodding your head forward and backward, or shaking it "no," you're moving it from left to right, like your head is a metronome.
apparently I asked this question on fb last year and got about 100 suggestions, none of which were helpful (a lot of "tilt" and "cock" and I kept saying "no that implies a singular discrete motion rather than a repeated one")
I was wondering this the other day about the "what the hell" gesture where you raise your arm, palm up (Charli XCX does it in a recent SNL video). There must be a name for it??
Comments
https://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/s/so-so.htm
intuitive and i can’t see anything that it could be confused with
* am uncertain whether the comme ci comme ça gesture is included, as I’m only two-thirds through reading it ☺️
https://scribepublications.com.au/books-authors/books/immortal-gestures-9781925849226
https://blablafrancais.com/12-typically-french-gestures-you-really-need-to-know-not-found-at-home/
Took a little side trip to look for an answer for you. Appreciate the break. 😅