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About this tool
Check which everyday hand gestures change meaning or turn offensive across countries, with a safer alternative for each.
This guide maps 17 everyday hand gestures against 17 cultural regions and tells you which ones change meaning or become insulting at your destination. Pick the places on your itinerary and it returns only the gestures that are flagged there, what each one actually says locally, and a safer way to make the same point. It is built for travellers, expats and anyone presenting to an international audience who would rather not learn this the hard way.
Open Hand Gesture Meaning Warning Guide on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Add your input to the workspace.
Adjust the options until the result looks right.
Copy or download the output and put it to work.
Tick several regions and see the combined avoid-list at each gesture's worst reading.
Each flagged gesture comes with the local gesture or phrase that does the job safely.
Pick one gesture and see how all 17 regions read it, from offensive down to harmless.
It is traditionally read as a crude insult in parts of the Middle East — Iraq and Iran especially — and in several West African countries, and it can land badly with older people in Greece and Sardinia. Everywhere else in this guide it means approval, though in France and Belgium it also counts as the number one when ordering.
The thumb-and-index ring is read there as a depiction of the anus, making it roughly as offensive as the middle finger. The same obscene reading applies in Turkey, Greece, Russia and Venezuela, while in France it means zero or worthless and in Japan it means money.
Palm outward. With the palm turned toward yourself it is the two-fingered salute, an insult on a par with the middle finger in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Palm outward it is peace or victory and is the standard photo pose across East Asia.
Hold your whole hand out palm down and scoop all four fingers toward yourself. The Western curled index finger is used for dogs in the Philippines and is considered demeaning across much of East Asia. For pointing, use an open palm, or the right thumb in Indonesia and Malaysia.