"yes" gesture w/ index finger

Question

I live in Mexico, and people here bend their index finger up and down to say "yes." I'm wondering, do people in Argentina do this too? Or anywhere else in Latin America? thanks!

Answer 1

I haven't seen the "yes" but I've seen the "no." It looks like the person is using his index finger as a mini windshield wiper...jejeje.

jajaja - yes, that's the "no" exactly. Where have you seen it? - NancyPH, Sep 27, 2011

With Puertoricans (in the U.S. states), Mexicans (the Southern Mexican states), and in Guatemala. - --Mariana--, Sep 27, 2011

Americans do make that gesture with their index fingers to mean "no," also. - MrSillyInc, Sep 27, 2011

Answer 2

Jajajaja, and I thought that the "no" was universal, and that the "yes" was copied to the americans.

Luis, it is "by the Americans" :) - Yeser007, Sep 27, 2011

Thank you. - LuisCache, Nov 28, 2011

Answer 3

I think people are confusing the gesture. She's not referring to the finger wag, in which the index finger is swung from side to side. The "yes" gesture she's referring to is when you point the the sky with the hand as high as the face, palm facing the person you're talking to. You then bend the finger at its two joints and then extend it again, and repeat it a few times. Kind of like the "redrum" kid on "The Shining", but the palm faces away from you. It means "yes" or "that's right", and I don't think it exists outside of Mexico.

As for the finger wag, it is a very widespread and common gesture meaning "no" in all of the Americas and Europe, and possibly even beyond. In Central America, it is a very emphatic "No!". One little finger wag and that annoying person trying to sell you cheap crap will turn and leave you alone!