Saying Yes

[dr_mabeuse]

Is shaking your head up and down a sign for "yes" all over the world?

I know in India a little head wag also signals affirmation, and in Greece a toss of the head backwards means, "Of course!" but the old up and down still means "Yes", right?

How about China?

 

[damppanties]

I know in India a little head wag also signals affirmation...

In India, it's more like a teeny sideways figure eight.

 

[BOSTONFICTIONWRITER]

Where I live it's the universal gang member sign meaning "Bobble Head", especially when referring to George Bush.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

DOC

I read that some places the nod means 'no.'

 

[dr_mabeuse]

DOC

I read that some places the nod means 'no.'

I might be wrong on the Greece thing. That head toss with a 'tsk' sound might mean 'no', not 'of course.' I guess I'd better find out before I go to Athens.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

In India, it's more like a teeny sideways figure eight.

But does up-and-down still mean 'yes' too?

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Where I live it's the universal gang member sign meaning "Bobble Head", especially when referring to George Bush.

Why are gang members signing about George Bush???

 

[BOSTONFICTIONWRITER]

Why are gang members signing about George Bush???

You see them standing on corners selling their drugs and selling their women. When you ask them why they don't have jobs or aren't in school, they give you the old bobble head.

 

[Verdad]

Bulgarians have it the other way round, Doc. Nodding for no, shaking head for yes. Don't know if it's unique for them or there are other places where the convention is reversed, but I'm positive about Bulgaria.

 

[Liar]

Bulgarians have it the other way round, Doc. Nodding for no, shaking head for yes. Don't know if it's unique for them or there are other places where the convention is reversed, but I'm positive about Bulgaria.

Traiditonally, it was spread through a larger part of Slavic Europe, aswell as parts of Turkey. But with greater cultural exchange with the rest of the world, both east and west, the practice has been mostly reversed - except in Bulgarria, who keep on doing it out of spite.

 

[damppanties]

But does up-and-down still mean 'yes' too?

Yes, it does. *nods up-down*