I noticed the difference between my friend and I when I replied to a friend with the number 2, while showing the back of my hand. Being British, he promptly did the same gesture back at me.

  • anime_ted@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    If I’m dealing with someone who I can reasonably assume is not American it’s palm toward me and thumb out (but not pointing straight up) for one, thumb and index finger for two, and so on. Many American hand gestures are offensive to other cultures and it’s not hard to learn to do it this way.

    • blackbrook@mander.xyz
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      1 day ago

      I might be mistaken, but I think a thumb only gesture is offensive in some cultures. Not sure how important the hand orientation is.

      • anime_ted@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        You are absolutely right if it’s the “thumbs up” gesture. I learned the European way, with the fingers curled but not closed and the thumb extended to the outside (right side for a right-hand gesture and left for left-hand) at about a 45-degree angle. This doesn’t really look like the offensive gesture from my perspective but I realize others may disagree. Thankfully, as far as I know, I have never offended anyone doing this.

      • MurrayL@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        I worked on a game where we added the ability for the player to react to messages from other characters, but was told we had to remove 👍 as a reaction because it’s offensive in some places.