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[Azated]

So the other day I waved to a friend of mine and began wondering why it's a gesture for "Hello" or "Goodbye". Not because it's easier to do from afar or people respond faster, the historical reason behind it.

For example, people once shook hands to show they weren't holding holding weapons and could be trusted, and the general idea continued over to today.


So, let's discuss the various reasons behind gestures like this, and what they mean specifically in your country or setting.


Where I live in Australia, we're a very laid-back and friendly people. We wave when we can't be bothered saying anything or when the other person is too far away. Shaking hands is a little more complicated, but not by much. It's usually used as a sign of maturity if the person seems young, or just a general greeting if they're obviously older. It's most often used as a greeting in a casual or business setting, but a hug is the norm if a man and woman or woman and woman are friends.

As for Australian specific gestures, we don't have all that many that we use often. We have the iconic "G'day mate", which is used at any time of day in a casual setting or, depending on the subject of business, that setting too. "G'day" Once meant "Good day" Which is an old english greeting meant to offer good fortune for the day ahead. "Mate" can be used to mean "Friend" or just another person instead of saying their title, such as "Miss", "Mister" or something similar.

We also use "See ya" as a form of "Goodbye" in a casual setting. It essentially means "I'll see you later".

Kissing in Australia is very simple. People in a relationship kiss, as do family members regardless of their immediacy.

[Jerick]

Originaly the wave was a guesture that meant "I'm over here look at me" because as exhunters our brains are set up so that they focus on unusal motion and waving is an unusal motion.
So it naturaly became a used gesture just becase it worked.
It likely appeared in the very earliest days of mankind as it worked to draw attention to you without alerting nearby preditors or prey.
Of course in those early days making other hunters aware of your pressence could mean the difference between getting shot with an arrow and a friendly conversation, so it became a greeting between hunters in the woods and an aknowledgement that they were there.
After that it evolved as some people put less energy into waveing making it into a simple hand gesture which is an aknowledgement that you see them and a greeting rolled into one.
That's where I think it came from anyway, I could well be wrong.

Other gestures like the middle finger have tracable orgins unlike the wave which just turned up.
The middle finger orginaly was a sign of defiance.
In the middle ages the archer was one of the most skilled soilders on the field and captured archers had their middle fingers cut off so they couldn't use a bow and let go.
And thus the middle finger became a gesture meaning "You haven't got me yet!"

Many people (espeacily Americans) think that we Irish say "Top of the mourning to you" as a greeting but in truth the Irish word for good in different context means top and the whole top of the mourning thing is the result of a mistranslation.
An interesting fact though is that the Irish laungue has no word for yes so an Irish man will likely restate something rather than say yes even in english.

[Blargityblarg]

An interesting fact though is that the Irish laungue has no word for yes so an Irish man will likely restate something rather than say yes even in english.

Friendly stereotypes offer up 'To be sure, to be sure' as a substitute

[Simmura McCrea]

The middle finger thing you're thinking of is the V sign. French soldiers would cut off the first two fingers of English longbowmen they caught. Alas, though, it's a myth.

[MonkeyHead]

Other gestures like the middle finger have tracable orgins unlike the wave which just turned up.
The middle finger orginaly was a sign of defiance.
In the middle ages the archer was one of the most skilled soilders on the field and captured archers had their middle fingers cut off so they couldn't use a bow and let go.
And thus the middle finger became a gesture meaning "You haven't got me yet!"

Complete myth. Archers, usually little more than peasants or bondsmen with a talent were valueless in terms of ransom and were usually killed.

French soldiers would cut off the first two fingers of English longbowmen they caught.

Also, the nationality of the longbowmen in the Anglo-French wars tended to be Welsh...

[ChairmanPoo]

And the myth concerns the index and thumb, not the middle finger, anyway.

Afaik the middle finger's origin is simply an obscene suggestion concerning bodily orifices.

[scriver]

Originaly the wave was a guesture that meant "I'm over here look at me" because as exhunters our brains are set up so that they focus on unusal motion and waving is an unusal motion.
So it naturaly became a used gesture just becase it worked.
It likely appeared in the very earliest days of mankind as it worked to draw attention to you without alerting nearby preditors or prey.
Of course in those early days making other hunters aware of your pressence could mean the difference between getting shot with an arrow and a friendly conversation, so it became a greeting between hunters in the woods and an aknowledgement that they were there.
After that it evolved as some people put less energy into waveing making it into a simple hand gesture which is an aknowledgement that you see them and a greeting rolled into one.
That's where I think it came from anyway, I could well be wrong.

I agree about the making yourself known/hey look at me aspects of it (plus the open palm/arms thing meaning peace), but not that it came from hunting. Waving your arms or even hands around so that other hunters could see you would be a bad thing, because the prey (or other predator) would be likely to spot it as well ("prey" animals have their eyes further on the sides of their faces exactly for the reason of having greater periphery). It is, however, probably where we got many of our subtle head movement gestures and faces from. A slight nod that meant "get on it" or a stern "stop what you're doing!" look and all that.

The waving part would be more likely to be a "hey, over here!" sign when two people are at a distance from each other, in non-stealthy situations. To me, at least.

Also, the nationality of the longbowmen in the Anglo-French wars tended to be Welsh...

Nope, but that's where the "longbow technology" probably originated from. Feudal England demanded that a certain percent of the peasant/levies be trained in archery from childhood, so that they would make good marksmen when they got older. I believe they got some sort of hunting privilege or something out of it as well, but I'm not sure of that part. Or it was something about them being freemen in exchange for providing themselves and their sons as soldiers for their lieges. I'm a bit fuzzy on it, yeah.

edit: I make the weirdest sentences sometimes.

[Pnx]

Nope, but that's where the "longbow technology" probably originated from. Feudal England demanded that a certain percent of the peasant/levies be trained in archery from childhood, so that they would make good marksmen when they got older. I believe they got some sort of hunting privilege or something out of it as well, but I'm not sure of that part. Or it was something about them being freemen in exchange for providing themselves and their sons as soldiers for their lieges. I'm a bit fuzzy on it, yeah.

Actually kind of complicated issue.

It all dates back to the medieval times when the issue of a reserve force came up.
It's incredibly expensive to keep a large standing army, but soldiers need training, so just picking up peasants and shoving an axe in their hand doesn't really work out very well. You could train them for a few weeks first, but even then they'd be little match for a professional soldier that has been working at it for possibly years.

England's approach to the issue was to have all small land owners (IE most free farmers) called "Yeomen", to require training with longbow, sword, and dagger. With a big focus on the longbow.
Larger land owners were generally the "knights" who rode on horseback, or the armoured foot soldiers. Which when you think about it is a little odd because it puts them in greater harm, but it was generally considered a place of greater "honour".

"Yeoman" later came to mean any man who was wealthy enough to own his own land, rather than just small land owners.

[DJ]

Larger land owners were generally the "knights" who rode on horseback, or the armoured foot soldiers. Which when you think about it is a little odd because it puts them in greater harm, but it was generally considered a place of greater "honour".

It also puts them in a better position to capture valuable prisoners and get rich on the ransom.

[Reudh]

The thumbs down as you know is completely the same as thumbs up. A thumb shown at the Colosseum meant 'draw your swords/execute the prisoner'. Whether the thumb was up or down, it mean the same. However, i guess that given most of the time it was pointed down, which people associate negatively and thumbs up became the reverse.

I like to do the "fico" gesture to those who annoy me... people never knew what it meant in primary school. It was hilarious... (clenched fisted with thumb slightly protruding between the index and second finger, meant to resemble, er... female's pudendum.)

[KaelGotDwarves]

Because it was referred to me from Vector, may I just post this which is much more on-topic than anything I would care to write out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacra_and_Simulation

[scriver]

I'll always wonder how wikipedia can suck the light out of any interesting subject and make me want to puke just from reading their articles.

It's a fucking masterpiece of boring and how to not write engaging text.

Eeehr.. Off topic, I guess.

[KaelGotDwarves]

It's supposed to be an encyclopedia, not tvtropes.

Anyhow, tl;dr it's fascinating stuff about how our reality isn't "real", it's just filled with constructed symbolized meanings aka simulacra in societal interactions.

[scriver]

That is not an excuse for making me bored by reading about things I'm interested in. Hell, I used to sit and browse through my parent's encyclopaedias when I was a kid, just wandering from interesting one subject to another.

Also, yeah, I know it from discussions with my brother.

[DJ]

It's not Wikipedia's fault that ageing has killed your curiosity.