I am still learning. I have lived here for 7 months and it seems like each day comes with more questions and more answers. Some customs are very subtle while others are more obvious. If you are ever in Argentina and you are speaking to an Argentine, you will very quickly see him/her use hand gestures. It is a very normal thing to see Argentines talk with there hands. Within the first weeks of arriving here, I remember talking with a man in the church who, in the course of conversation, stopped and pulled down at the skin below his eye and said “ojo” (meaning “eye”). I didn’t understand that at all. Why did he just say “eye” to me? Why did he pull down at his eye? What did that have to do with anything. It didn’t take long to learn some of these basic movements. I use them myself now. Here are a few that I have learned…
- Ojo (eye) – pulling down at the eye. It means, “be careful”. For example, if someone was looking at your backpack, another person might warn you and pull down at his eye.
- Rubbing your hand across the bottom of your neck – “I don’t know.” This is done while saying “No se.” (I don’t know).
- Touching your four fingers to your thumb – I don’t understand this at all, but it means to have fear or to be afraid of something.
- Pretending to write on your hand with an imaginary pen – this is done in restaurants and means to bring the check.
- Extend your hand, palm down, and curl your fingers up toward your palm repeatedly – this means to “come here”.
- With your hand forming the OK sign, make a short, quick downward motion in front of your chest – This one is used a lot (I guess they all are). It basically means “just right, perfect,the best”.
- Bring all of your fingers and your thumb together with your hand pointing upward. Move your hand up and down at the wrist – frustration, what are you talking about, etc.
I am sure there are many more. These are the ones I have learned and I find myself using them on a fairly regular basis in daily conversations. Living in Argentina means learning to talk with your hands.