by Paul
Jul 5, 2006 10:27
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debating the usefulness of hand gestures. Said discussion eventually led to the question of which hand gesture is the best, as do all discussions involving different varieties of anything.
Which car is the best Yugo or Toyota?
Which Paul is the best, 1999 Paul, or 2006 (luxury car) Paul?
Ultimately, the discussion centered around the Thumbs Up (TU) versus the index-fingered Point (IFP). Since I was on the side of the TU, I won't even give you the details of the IFP, as none of us need to waste our time.
...
Alright fine. Basically the argument for the IFP was that you can do so much stuff with it. Like... point, or something. Oh look you can point down. You can point up. Hey, can you point straight? YOU BET!
My gripe with the IFP is that it's such a negative gesture. Everyone knows pointing is rude. Then they (and by they I mean my dissenters) suggested the double handed point (where both fingers point) is always positive. This, I agree with. But you have to take into account, now you're using two hands, and that's an entirely separate gesture.
The TU on the other hand... two thumbs up is no better than one thumb up. A single thumb up does it all. The thumb in general is fantastic. I can give the TU to you personally by making eye contact, and showing you the thumb. I can give the TU to an entire arena if I wanted to. I can hold it out, and everyone in that crowded stadium knows I'm giving them the thumbs up. If I were to use that retarded IFP, i'd have to swing my arm around to make sure the finger passes over everyone I want it to apply to.
I can even turn it around, and make it a thumbs down! You can't turn a finger around. In fact most people will revert to the thumb when pointing to themselves. Go ahead try it. Nobody's looking. Oh right, well that guy's looking but he already thinks you're a retard anyway.
The thumb is in fact so useful, that when you want to point at somebody with it, you can't even do it to their face. Try to point your thumb at somebody in front of you. It doesn't work. You have to point over your shoulder at "This guy over here." It's physically impossible to point with your thumb to a person in front of you. As far as I'm concerned, anybody I'm describing as "This guy over here.", he doesn't deserve the recognition of me looking at him to begin with.
The debate first deteriorated into an argument, which then deteriorated into a pointing contest, culminating with the ultimate experiment. The ultimate experiment we decided, was to make an IFP in one had, and a TU in the other. Now the gesture can be described as either of the following (but not really):
A) The thumb is denoting that the point is a positive point. As if to say "Hey look at this point. This thumbs up is to let you know that I'm not insulting you with this point!"
or...
2) The point is denoting that this thumbs up is for you. No, not the guy next to you. YOU! One could even then swing the point around to deliver the thumbs up to everyone present in the sweet of the point. It should be noted that as I discussed, this is not required. The TU applies to one or many, all by itself.
You be the judge. You already know where I stand on the issue. |
| Also, I was doing some research for this entry (yes, I can read), and I discovered that some cultures view the Thumbs Up as "Up your's buddy!" So, if you stop using the thumbs up, then the terrorists have already won. |