10 Rules of British Body Language & Gestures | Britain Explained

In the UK we use body language and gestures to express a wide range of emotions. Which one's do you use in your culture?
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[@serenamartini1063]

I'm Italian so I could write a whole book about gestures! But this is a funny story: few years ago one of my friend introduced her new fiancè to our group of friends at dinner. He was a guy from near London working in her company at that time. He knew only few italian words and we spoke italian most of the time except when asking something directly to him. At the end of the dinner he said that undestood what we were talking about quite well anyway because our gestures, tone of voice and body language in general were so clear he didn't need to understand the words 😀

[@wilky952]

classic British over politeness.

[@wilky952]

For clarity, I wasn't just being dismissive, My dad was the only English person to work in a local Italian restaurant. He got me a job there for a few years as a waiter while I was in school. We used to have a drink every Friday after work and everybody was from Sicily, there was a lot of smiling and nodding. Still have some good friends from their 20+ years on.

[@swarnimaspassion1599]

Heyyy Tom! This is Swarnima, a 16 year old from India who has loved British English forever!! Your videos have always been really really helpful✨thanks so much❤️ also is your book available in India?

[@EatSleepDreamEnglish]

Happy to hear that Swarnima : ) Yes there are 20 books left! Get yours here - bit.ly/3oTCJD4

[@Herika]

Thanks for all Tom!

[@monicaamaro4342]

Thanks for the video, Teacher Tom!

[@aboutpippi]

Love the work you do ❤️

[@narji5833]

Thank you Tom. it was so interesting for me to be familiar with English gestures ❤

[@iwona8894]

A great and useful video ( as always 😁). Thanks so much for sharing 🙂

[@gabrielafernandez7742]

Excellent Tom!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻I've just attended a speaking English lesson in which the main topic was how people from different cultures use non- verbal communication, and we talked about all the things you said here! I'll recommend watching this video next class! Definitely!

[@EatSleepDreamEnglish]

Amazing! Did any other gestures get brought up?

[@gabrielafernandez7742]

@@EatSleepDreamEnglish Yes! Why Argentinians frown so much, why many people are used to fidgeting during a conversation, the way other speakers move their hands as if they were trying to explain every single word they say, voice tone, and last but not least, eye contact, so important to me. I have no doubts people express a lot through their eyes. It's a very interesting topic. We concluded that body language and gestures are evolving as you said in the video, but fortunately I'm updated because I work with teenagers and children. Haha . I think I've written a long text.... sorry

[@stephenlee5929]

The gesture for the bill, predates the credit card machine you showed, could have been for signing a cheque or signing for it to be added to your account, but I think most likely it refers to the waiter, asking that they write out the bill.

[@ericmartin3681]

Incredible video as always! I've had lots of fun with it. Body language is an important part of communication and thus can be helpful or can create unfortunate misunderstandings sometimes.

[@EatSleepDreamEnglish]

Couldn't agree more Eric! Glad you enjoyed it mate : )

[@vesislavazheleva9977]

Tom, I love this video! I am Bulgarian and in BG the head nod means disagreeing or no as a response and the head shake is agreeing or yes as a response. While I lived in the UK this led to some misunderstandings and explanation giving. Now as I've adopted the UK's way - nod for a yes and shake for a no, but since I moved back people here get confused. 😄

[@saisaivipa]

Yes! When I visited Bulgaria, this totally threw me off! Love it tho.

[@Guga.Guimaraes]

Great video mate!

[@kimiaarablou9275]

Hey Tom like always I really enjoyed it. It was really hilarious. It is great that you learn something while you are laughing. It really is a blessing thing. Thanks Tom. Good luck

[@elizabethdurbin3255]

Some gestures like Pinocchio and over the head are the same as in the U.S.

[@juampy725663]

genius teacher. bright lesson. nice. thanks for everything. cheers.

[@EatSleepDreamEnglish]

My pleasure JP G!

[@Englishbits]

Love your videos and your acting skills!! Great job, Tom!! :)

[@EatSleepDreamEnglish]

Thanks so much : )

[@RichiEnglish]

In my home country, we use most of them except the 2 finger salute. We use a middle finger salute instead.

[@Franciscoluche]

Hi dear Tom 🤗, here in 🇻🇳, “cross the fingers” is rude, because it looks like a « vagina” when your spread the fingers and see the hole between them !!! 😂👍

[@mariambajelidze8515]

Thanks🧡

[@kmrose]

American here. I learned not to don't snap your fingers or use your fingers to get a server's attention. People, in my area, including myself put a hand up like you're answering a question in school to get the server's attention. It's also companied by " excuse me."

[@bnu2b]

"It was pricey, fam" :D

[@mariannereuter]

That was fun. You are a skilled actor. 😉

[@roccosorrentino2776]

I won't tell you what the one finger meaning "come here" is used for in Italy. But it's a very rude way of telling someone that they are bothering you 🤣🤣🤣

[@flourishbyjess]

This was recommended to me for some reason (I am an English native 😂) but I’m glad I clicked. You’re very entertaining!

[@siddhi9402]

We actually use the third one in India to say that we don't understand something as well!! But didn't know you could use it in different way thanks to you I do now! BTW love your videos ❤️

[@mojif9995]

great to see you again tom make a video with aly when you cooperate with him lesson will be crazy awesome 🙏🏼🤩

[@EatSleepDreamEnglish]

Great idea Moji! We have done a few collabs. Here's one of them - kzbin.info/www/bejne/l3W5ZHaMfrOmptU

[@tribbytsai4313]

Laughs from Taiwan, I still use the old telephone gesture. LOL

[@EatSleepDreamEnglish]

Old school telephone gesture crew in the house!!!!

[@raisa_cherry33]

😂

[@joakimblomqvist7229]

Lit, man! Love your channel, educating AND great fun! We use basically the same gestures in Sweden. Be careful in southern Europe, btw, with the "reversed come here" sign... it indicates something you sometimes, under special circumstances, might do to girls... need I say more nudge nudge lol

[@norahhanssens6077]

Yeah as someone from belgium, our gestures are pretty much the same

[@WhiteSpatula]

Here in the southwest US, I signal for the bill at pubs and restaurants (1. when I’ve made eye contact with my server, 2. who is not preoccupied, and 3. to whom it would not be appropriate to holler) by holding up both hands, flat, palms facing, and then opening and closing them as if they were hinged like a booklet. I guess I started doing this years ago at the pub because one drunken evening it just seemed to make sense to mimic the motion of opening that little black bifold they bring the bill in rather than trying any other motion which I was sure they would misinterpret as a request for another round of drinks. To this day I still do it (or rather, up until two years ago, because I haven’t been out dining since covid) and so far, no wait staff has ever misinterpreted it. They always come promptly around with my “damage report” as I call it, inside that fabled black bifold (or plastic sleeved pad). And I absolutely agree with you about snapping your fingers at restaurant or pub servers (waiters, waitresses, wait staff, etc), Tom; It’s a colossal NO-NO. So very rude. In fact, if you snap your fingers at wait staff here in Vegas, don’t be surprised if they come straight‘round with your bill.. even if you didn’t order anything yet. An empty bifold would be their way of saying, “Just keep the tip, Love. Our entrance doubles as an exit. And best of luck with that hurry your in.” -Phill, Las Vegas

[@andreyradchenko8200]

Russian (and generally Eastern Slavic) gesture for booze is touching the side of one's neck with a finger slightly below the jaw. The meaning is somewhat broader than the British equivalent, covering all things alcohol.

[@mamymimma]

I needed this laugh ☺👏 thank you!

[@EatSleepDreamEnglish]

You are so very welcome Mamy : )

[@freeenglishgrammarproject5615]

Love from Italy.

[@Kolious_Thrace]

Hahaha gestures from other countries and cultures always make my day! It’s a language that no one teaches you! But you have to learn if you visit another country! Very nice video👏🏻 I’m form Hellas🇬🇷 We have a tone of gestures but how to explain without showing you… One Hellenic gestures that I’m sure you have heard about us is the moùtza hand 🖐🏻 Yeah, when you want to show the number 5 in Hellas🇬🇷 don’t show your palm to a Hellene but instead the upper side of your have! When you point tour palm with all fingers up to someone it means something like ff idiot! We move our hand horizontally on our belly to show that we are starving to death. We pull down the skin under our eye to mock someone. To show him that we don’t believe what he’s saying. We often use the wanker gesture when we call someone “malàka” And also, oh God how can I say that… I hope my comment won’t be deleted 🙏🏻 Well, we use to do the wanker gesture in front of our mouths when at the same time we push the inner part of our cheek with our tongue showing that something is getting inside your mouth… ☺️ Oh God😂😂😂😂😂 This is a very vulgar gesture that we use either to show to the other person that we are on the mood and if he/she wants… you understand Or, when we want to point out in a cheeky way that one person had fun the other night…😂 I hope KZbin won’t find my comment vulgar!

[@33026alex]

When I use my card to pay the check at a restaurant, I almost always have to sign the receipt after adding a tip. The “signing” gesture to get the check is still appropriate.

[@lisap9936]

I’m British but l’ve lived more than half my life in France and Spain. I honestly don’t find these gestures limited to UK. I would say they are used in US and other European countries in perhaps very slightly varied forms.

[@MarshallSmith27]

All of these but the two fingers are used in the US! My ex wife is British and she always referred to it as "two fingers in the a**)

[@EatSleepDreamEnglish]

Hahaha charming! not heard that before but fair enough lol!

[@victorcastillo-dx9vh]

Funny lesson. I liked it. My favorite was "come on" 'cause I' am West Ham supporter ⚒️.

[@raisa_cherry33]

Hahaha those comic parts 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@tamarageorgieva3153]

What does the last gesture actually show?

[@auldfouter8661]

a bit of "manual" work.

[@Nadia-jc1im]

👌🏻

[@ajwinberg]

In America, we use a lot of these gestures.

[@eskelerager]

Can you make a Learn english with Damon Albarn

[@saisaivipa]

I was hoping to find the tongue “behind lower mouth” gesture as in”you’re stupid/idiot/duh kinda thing You rub you hand over your protruding lower mouth/chin if you want to emphasize it. When I grew up there, I saw kids do it often. Haven’t really seen it anywhere else.

[@varaganisrihari4577]

Heyy Tom! can you please make a video on dua lipa's accent, please !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@EatSleepDreamEnglish]

It's on the list Varagani : )

[@user-zo7cc6gd5i]

Классные титры перевод😂

[@solomonmolahaile9022]

Hello Welcome Back

[@EatSleepDreamEnglish]

Cheers Solomon : )

[@onefortheages5983]

This dude looks like Willem Dafoe's brother or something, the resemblance is striking.

[@Guga.Guimaraes]

Very funny the acting part

[@gariktz]

It's a gesture with both hands to express espend money. Do you know which one I'm talking about?

[@unarmoredwtf]

we in russia use many of these gestures too and those we don't seem understandable

[@doggysnack2363]

2 minutes ago. Wow!

[@EatSleepDreamEnglish]

First Comment! Good job : )

[@rizkaika7510]

OMG, v sign in my country is a selfie pose

[@EatSleepDreamEnglish]

Really????

[@rizkaika7510]

@@EatSleepDreamEnglish yup, make one or two v sign, say cheeeeseee, and click

[@santodiablo_pma]

When could I flip you off mister teacher???????

[@dogecho8441]

Your gestures is somewhat same as typical Indians May be because of Colonial past

[@eftitasusarani5865]

#asking for bills 'cause I am old I wonder how old you are, Tom