Writes someone in Finland in a Reddit discussion, "Do Europeans ever use their hand[s] to make 'Air Quotes' in a conversation, for example, to express sarcasm or a euphemism?"
Someone in Slovakia says "If you can't express sarcasm or a euphemism by you voice and tone, you shouldn't be allowed to do it. (I haven't seen it here, but maybe somebody does it.)"Someone in Italy answers: "We don't do it in Italy. Some people may know what it means because of American movies and TV series."
I know the TV series! It's "Friends":
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I haven't seen air quotes used before and I don't want to know too much about them, but is it proper to put air quotes in scare quotes?
Let's send Pelosi over there. Her hands move faster than a whipper willows asshole!!! (an old saying from my FIL!, although he said that (jokingly) about his wife's mouth because she talks a lot.)
"Finland...ass kicked..."
I'll take that as metaphorical or actually about verbal abuse, for arctic people are not known for wasting energy on social violence. Except for Sweden's immigrant population, a few death metal church arsonists, and a bunch of dead Soviets.
Iceland's capital of Reykjavik has "rampant" sarcasm and greeting card violence. They have all sorts of countercultural building art and a Viking-like sense of humor. See the graffiti-covered punk rock museum across the street from the Prime Minister's office:
https://www.google.com/maps/place//@64.1472278,-21.9363058,19z?entry=ttu
Real violence, not so much.
Speaking without gestures is akin to writing without punctuation.
Yes, I know ... a century of telephone. Which has been replaced by a present and future of telephonic devices having cameras and screens for which we happily pay a premium.
That was a pretty funny clip. I don't remember being a big fan of Friends, but that was good. In my family, air-quotes are only used self-mockingly. Does anyone use them earnestly?
"oops"
I laughed out loud
thank you for the friends clip.. that was my first laugh of the day
.. i mean: "thank you" : )
This is why we can't have nice things.
Remember that Seinfield episode where that former SNL girl didn't swing her arms? That's pretty freaky. Molly Shannon in "The Summer of George"
No, you will not ”get your ass kicked” here in Finland if you gestigulate (?) with your arms. You might be considered a bit weird - or a foreigner though. These stereotypies … we are not drunken all the time either, and there are no polar bears in Finland. Also, who ever says that Finns are the happiest lot in the world needs to reconsider her (sic) research methods …
Real air quotes would be whispering, howling, cracking or thunderous.
I don't really use my hands and arms when talking.
And Danno wins the internet for today, even though it is still early morning.
I... "eat my own dandruff"...
I don't... "clean the area between my crotch and legs."
@koppa: “Also, who ever says that Finns are the happiest lot in the world needs to reconsider her (sic) research methods.”
While noting that the Finnish suicide rate is right next to the US’s.
Global movie goers know it, too. "LAY-ZUR"...
Get your ass kicked in Finland because of air quotes? Yeah, I don't think so. Finns are the most phlegmatic people you are likely to ever meet.
Most Europeans don't even use quotation marks as we know them. To mark a quote, they use what we would call the greater-than and less-than marks.
I was and am still confused when air quotes are used - and stare agape at speaker!
As for Finnish ass-kicking: Sisu.
Well, to be fair, Joey Tribiani is second generation Italian. :0)
File this under "everything Americans do is 'bad', European good".
I talk with my hands. And I don’t use air quotes, except in rare cases and in a jovial manner.
Tom T. said...
“Most Europeans don't even use quotation marks as we know them.”
And then there’s the way they punctuate numbers.
Don't even get me started on that menace Raquel Welch...
Are you sure the TV show is not Knight Rider? A bit dated but it has the Hoff. Hoff is a demigod in Europe.
I think making the air-quotes sign is silly, but nowhere near as silly as the very tolerant and multicultural Europeans complaining about a popular American communication custom that they dislike for puzzling reasons. Get over it. Go back to making fun of the disabled, the Jews, and the gypsies, okay? Father some children and get back to me about your adulthood, willja?
"In Finland, swinging your arms and other unnecessary sudden hand gestures are quite commonly interpreted as a sign of aggression, which should be avoided unless you want to get your ass kicked."
I’d pay good money to watch a Finn stuck in room with a bunch of Italians arguing.
Blogger Ice Nine said...
......Finns are the most phlegmatic people you are likely to ever meet.
Haven't they heard of Mucinex?
koppa said...
Best road rally racers in da world!
Plus you got that thing where the car can only cost so much and the course is half paved and half dirt and anybody can enter. It's just a lot of fun to watch.
A local joke is "How do you get a Puerto Rican to shut up?"
"Make them put their hands in their pockets.
And it has to do more with Spanish language. People who move their hands a lot while speaking Spanish, tend to to gesture anywhere near as much when they are speaking English.
John Henry
Rocco said: "And then there’s the way they [Europeans] punctuate numbers."
The only thing worse than they way Europeans punctuate numbers is Americans who ape the European way, thinking it makes them look sophisticated.
Air Quotes are whimpy gestures of the Left.
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