Indian head shake gif

Open menu. By Ryan General. Indians wobbling their heads rapidly from side to side during a conversation may be perplexing to people who are not familiar with Indian culture; fortunately, understanding how the gesture works is not that complicated.

In Thanjavur city, in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, street markets are flooded with a particular type of bobblehead toy. The brightly painted clay bommai, usually the figure of a classical dancer or an old couple as a set, comes in two parts: the full body and the head that sits loosely on a small hinge extending up from the neck. A slight tap on the head, or even a vigorous breeze, can set off the head shaking from side to side in an almost circular fashion. This is the closest imitation of the unique Indian gesture that often leaves visitors to the country flummoxed. One thing all travellers to India talk about — apart from the dreaded Delhi Belly, of course — is the great Indian head nod. The great nod is also called the Indian head wobble, bobble, waggle or the headshake. There are pages of writing devoted to it on the internet, not to mention demonstration videos, to demystify it for the traveller.

Indian head shake gif

Besides the heterogeneous nature of being an "Indian", the wobble is just agreement. The person who's wobbling their head is agreeing to what is being said. It's mostly a "Go ahead and say what you want, I'll do what I want to do after you're done". I didn't grow up in India, so I can see it for what it is, but I am Indian, so the subtleties are visible to me. Take all of this with a huge grain of salt. That's roughly how I'd interpreted it from interacting with colleagues, an acknowledgement. Yeah, it's definitely not an agreement. Acknowledgement is the most apt description. Yes, it's an agreement, or like "sure yeah". As some from Yorkshire I like 'aye' it's an anachronistic affirmative yes, old people still use 'nay' as well. Language is a wonderful thing. Doesn't sound like "agreement" to me! Specifically, "sure, I know you think that but you're wrong and I'm too polite to say it to your face right now. That was my intended meaning, yes.

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The peculiar Indian head shake, wobble, or bobble is the source of much confusion and wonderment among foreigners, especially the first time one is confronted with it. It looks like a cross between a nod and shake, but does it mean "yes"? Or, does it mean "no"? Or, even "maybe"? The confusion is increased when the gesture is silent. However, once you discover the meaning of the head wobble and its many uses, what's really surprising is how infectious this gesture becomes. Anyone who's spent a considerable amount of time in India is likely to have caught themselves unconsciously wobbling their head.

Indian head shake gif

A video decoding Indian headshakes has gone viral, attracting over a million hits in a week. What does its popularity tell us about the way Indians see themselves? The film presents an array of headshakes and shows how subtle variations in velocity, vigour and amplitude of wobble denote different meanings, including: "yes", "no", "maybe", "what's up? Mathew admits that his headshakes have been somewhat exaggerated for comic effect, but maintains that it's a true picture of a national trait.

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With over 20 official languages and several hundred more dialects in India, nonverbal communication such as hand gestures and head wobbles allow for easier communication between people from different states. Annoyance perhaps? There are forms of this in many cultures. You prefer decribing the motion instead of showing it? This is the second time I've seen this article or something similar recently. So, despite all those explanatory videos, it is not as if Indians come with a ready key to cracking the nod code. Yeah, it's definitely not an agreement. Just FYI - India is not a homogenous society. The way people constantly shook their heads to signal being attentive towards another person who is speaking, the way I saw an auto driver do a slow degree shake to signal "yes I'm familiar with the address" while I thought he was trying to say "I've never heard of that place in my life", we have nothing similar in Punjab or its neighbouring states. The node code is very confusing when working with cross cultural teams. A non-committal reaction, where you don't want to nod or shake your head "no" is common in other parts of the world. It means 'I am willing to talk to you and even agree with you if you play nice, but at the same time I am looking at you, inspecting you and trying to understand where this is going'. Doesn't sound like "agreement" to me! Angostura on July 24, parent next [—].

The head bobble , head wobble , or Indian head shake refers to a common gesture found in South Asian cultures, most notably in India. The motion usually consists of a side-to-side tilting of the head in arcs along the coronal plane. In India, a head bobble can have a variety of different meanings.

Angostura on July 24, parent next [—]. A few years ago, one such video even went viral , attracting more than a million views in just a week. And if you spend enough time with your team, you'll get to know them and you will understand them, with this gesture or any other. By Ryan General. People talk about American accent, but a Texan, a Californian and a New Yorker just to pick 3 of many examples will sound very distinct. That was my intended meaning, yes. It is difficult to say without knowledge of the context. The head nod is very easy to interpret. Not all Americans are fat, you can still talk about the American obesity problem even if a few of the states are fitter than the European average. The way people constantly shook their heads to signal being attentive towards another person who is speaking, the way I saw an auto driver do a slow degree shake to signal "yes I'm familiar with the address" while I thought he was trying to say "I've never heard of that place in my life", we have nothing similar in Punjab or its neighbouring states. This is the second time I've seen this article or something similar recently. I'm from a neighbour state Kerala and we don't have this head wobble.