All in the Hands

There doesn’t seem to be such a thing as a quick trip to the post office here.  After many a fruitless and frustrating hour spent waiting to buy a stamp or pay a bill I have learnt to get my ticket, judge how long the wait is going to be and head off to do something productive like grocery shopping, housework or even give a lesson.   A few days ago I returned to the post office to find my timing almost perfect, one woman at the counter and one man in front of me.  After 20 minutes when the woman was still at the counter my comrade in waiting and I both simultaneously raised our hands in frustration and I realised, not without a little alarm that I am beginning to talk the Italian language of hands.

It’s a well worn cliché that Italians communicate almost as much with their hands as their words and coming from an Anglo Saxon culture that does not gesticulate much here at times it seems as if the locals are comically animated.  Watching Italians talk to each other using a seemingly endless array of hand gestures one could conclude that communication is at least 25% physical (perhaps more.)  Often it’s as if the hands have a life of their own so lively are Italian conversations.  All languages have their gestures from the hello hand wave, the thumbs up, Ok, fancy a drink, the search me shoulder shrug with palms raised upwards and of course the good old the two/one fingered salute.  The Italians have all of these but there is also a world of others that add intensity to what is being said, express frustration, or leave your audience in doubt that you think they are talking rubbish.  I wonder if Italians find telephone communication frustrating as so much of their language is physical.  Observe an Italian on the phone and it sometimes seems as if the gestures become more animated with body movements brought into being – almost as if they are trying to make the person on the other end see it – I bet they can’t wait for holographic phones!  Of course it’s on the road that the language of hand signals comes into its own.  I’ve not driven here but have spent a lot of time on the road with J, driving to lessons or on Sunday adventures and from my passenger side perspective I’ve watched drivers express annoyance at a slow set of traffic lights, their anger at fellow drivers for a real or perceived mistake.  Even J, after five years in Italy speaks in hands.  

As with all languages these signs have a subtly all of their own and it is hard for a foreigner to pick up on.  Use the wrong gesture and you may cause offense.  Because of this and partly because I’m English and we don’t do that kind of thing I have thought it best to leave the whole talking with the hands act alone.  But lately I have come to noticed that I have started to use my hands a lot more in conversation.  It started subtly with the odd palm raised fingers and thumb held together whenever I asked but why? Or WTF? And then it just grew to the point where now I feel I’m gesticulating wildly.  I hardly do it by Italian standards but it still feels weird yet strangely satisfying.  I’m a bit of a bowerbird when it comes to language and seem to talk on characteristics and phrases from wherever I am so I fear that this gesturing is now part of me.  I worry about a return to an Anglo culture and looking like a complete idiot so if I am talking to you one day and make use of a bizarre hand signal I ask you to be understanding.