"Accelerate and repeat until idea unpacked."
August 1, 2013 4:54 PM Subscribe
They left out the most important gesture: Pantomimed masturbation!
posted by aubilenon at 5:05 PM on August 1, 2013 [8 favorites]
posted by aubilenon at 5:05 PM on August 1, 2013 [8 favorites]
There's also the point-to-the-local-symbol-of-authority, and the unpacking-something-invisible.
posted by 2bucksplus at 5:13 PM on August 1, 2013
posted by 2bucksplus at 5:13 PM on August 1, 2013
A genuinely useful academic gesture: the hook-hand. It's sort of like a sock-puppet giraffe without the sock.
In question and answer sessions after a talk it's helpful if the moderator can tell who's asking a follow-up question (to be answered immediately) and who has a new topic for discussion. The trouble is that raised hands are ambiguous. The solution we use here is that people who have a new question raise their hands conventionally (fingers pointed up) while people who have a follow-up question raise a hook-hand (fingers downish).
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 5:21 PM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]
In question and answer sessions after a talk it's helpful if the moderator can tell who's asking a follow-up question (to be answered immediately) and who has a new topic for discussion. The trouble is that raised hands are ambiguous. The solution we use here is that people who have a new question raise their hands conventionally (fingers pointed up) while people who have a follow-up question raise a hook-hand (fingers downish).
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 5:21 PM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]
These are great, thanks. I wish they included the rolling-hands-over-and-over-like-washing-machine-action-to-describe-how-something-develops-over-time.
posted by smoke at 5:24 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by smoke at 5:24 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
No mind-blown, head-explosion gesture? Get with the times, post-modernism.
posted by DU at 5:35 PM on August 1, 2013
posted by DU at 5:35 PM on August 1, 2013
If we are talking about raised hands in audiences, we really need gestures for "I have no actual question, but I want to ramble on somewhat aimlessly because I have a vaguely formed idea," "I am going to pretend to ask a question but really I want to talk about my own pet theory," and it's close relative "I am going to pretend to ask a question but really I want to challenge the speaker's credentials/authenticity/commitment to the cause." Then we can never call on those people.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:41 PM on August 1, 2013 [15 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:41 PM on August 1, 2013 [15 favorites]
rolling-hands-over-and-over-like-washing-machine-action-to-describe-how-something-develops-over-time
I always thought that was a like-a-reel-of-film-spooling-through-the-projector-action. When you watch Journey performing Don't Stop Believing Steve Perry does that while he's singing it goes on and on and on and on.
posted by bukvich at 5:42 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
I always thought that was a like-a-reel-of-film-spooling-through-the-projector-action. When you watch Journey performing Don't Stop Believing Steve Perry does that while he's singing it goes on and on and on and on.
posted by bukvich at 5:42 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
GenjiandProust, you forgot the I-am-pretending-I-have-a-question-but-really-I-want-to-deliver-a-homily-on-the-israel/palestine-situation-despite-the-fact-this-is-a-lecture-on-protofeminism-in-sensation-novels.
posted by smoke at 5:45 PM on August 1, 2013 [7 favorites]
posted by smoke at 5:45 PM on August 1, 2013 [7 favorites]
A genuinely useful academic gesture: the hook-hand. It's sort of like a sock-puppet giraffe without the sock.
Also useful for annoying co-workers by pretending it's a duck and making quacking sounds.
posted by JHarris at 5:48 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]
Also useful for annoying co-workers by pretending it's a duck and making quacking sounds.
posted by JHarris at 5:48 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]
Also useful for annoying co-workers by pretending it's a duck and making quacking sounds.
Additionally, because it looks a fisting move, it causes grade-school-style suppressed snickers from the Marxism and Sexuality section.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:50 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
Additionally, because it looks a fisting move, it causes grade-school-style suppressed snickers from the Marxism and Sexuality section.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:50 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
GenjiandProust: ... those .gif[s] m[a]ke me vaguely worried about repetitive stress injuries.
One wants to make sure one's academic muscle is properly stretched before engaging in debate.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:51 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]
One wants to make sure one's academic muscle is properly stretched before engaging in debate.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:51 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]
(he said, extending forefinger in a controlled but emphatic manner)
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:52 PM on August 1, 2013
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:52 PM on August 1, 2013
I got your academic muscle right here.
[gestures in an extremely regressive manner]
posted by Horace Rumpole at 5:57 PM on August 1, 2013 [7 favorites]
[gestures in an extremely regressive manner]
posted by Horace Rumpole at 5:57 PM on August 1, 2013 [7 favorites]
It also needs the palm-extended-shaking gesture that means "I think your point is wrong-headed but I am going to pretend to give it the time of day while dismissing it."
posted by Kattullus at 6:01 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Kattullus at 6:01 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]
GenjiandProust: ... those .gif[s] m[a]ke me vaguely worried about repetitive stress injuries.
Crud, I'm typing like a drunk poststructuralist. Time for bed.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:20 PM on August 1, 2013
Crud, I'm typing like a drunk poststructuralist. Time for bed.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:20 PM on August 1, 2013
Every time I see a short-looping GIF like this, I always think about how tumblr is turning these things into a new ideography for our generation.
posted by mikurski at 8:29 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by mikurski at 8:29 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow: In Australia, apparently, they have the finger/hand distinction, where you raise a finger for a follow-up question/comment, and a hand for a new question/comment. Pretty brilliant.
posted by cthuljew at 10:59 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by cthuljew at 10:59 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
In a small graduate-level reading and discussion course, we had hand gestures that worked great for facilitating discussion. Whoever had the floor could pick the next speaker (I think), and you'd raise one finger for a minor remark, two fingers for a major point, and shook both index fingers like drumsticks if you had a quick, direct followup.
I remember feeling like it was easy to prioritize who had something good to get out, and easy to communicate it without interrupting anyone.
posted by lostburner at 12:51 AM on August 2, 2013
I remember feeling like it was easy to prioritize who had something good to get out, and easy to communicate it without interrupting anyone.
posted by lostburner at 12:51 AM on August 2, 2013
What's the one that Obama did a lot during debates where he holds his index finger to his thumb and moves his hand slowly back and forth at about chest-level, as if to say "Let me be clear. I'm slowly and repeatedly stabbing you with this invisible joint I'm holding."
posted by Cookiebastard at 7:10 AM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Cookiebastard at 7:10 AM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
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posted by GenjiandProust at 5:00 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]