Monday, November 07, 2005

HAPPY HAND GESTURE DAY

I think I have an idea for a new "National Day"...you know like Secretary's Day, or Bosses Day, or whatever. It's National Hand Gesture Day. It would be a day to both honor and emulate those who make ridiculous use of hand gestures in their conversations.
I'm not talking the obscene type. I mean the legitimate hand gestures. For instance, there's the adorable Quotation Mark sort of person. There are those who think it's important to make those two-fingered quotation mark symbols when they speak. Personally, I can't figure out what they mean by doing it. Sometimes they'll make the quotation mark sign when they are using a word that means the opposite of what they should be using. Do quotation marks mean "I'm lying"? Like, when someone says, "Gee, Sheila really looks 'PRETTY' today." Don't they really mean Sheila looks ugly? So when they do the hand gesture when they get to the word "pretty" they're really saying the quotation mark is where i become sarcastic.
Others use quotation marks to mean a double entendre. For instance, "Sheila is a 'NICE' girl. Putting quotations around "nice" suggests that Sheila isn't all that nice.
I can't really think of an instance when a person uses quotation marks in their conversation that they really would use a quotation mark if they were writing it. Now, if I were to say, "I enjoyed the musical 'Les Miserables.'" And used the hand symbol there, that would be appropriate. But, I can't think of it ever being done correctly. I think on National Hand Gesture Day, we should use the hand gesture appropriately. That would be very educational.
Another hand gesture that I think is interesting is the one people use when they say, "Call me." Ususally they use it when they have to whisper "call me." You know the gesture. You put your thumb next to your ear and your little finger at your mouth to simulate what it would look like if a telephone were shaped like a hand.
I wonder what Indians (the American kind) would do when they left a teepee party. Would the one leaving take their hands and pantomine the act of starting a fire and sending a smoke signal? Would they mouth "Smoke signal me"? It's just a thought.
Anyway, on National Hand Gesture Day, I think we should all make that gesture to virtually everyone we meet. Who knows, we may get some interesting phone calls. At least we could leave strangers totally confused when we pull up next to them at a stop light. Just as we're about to pull away, look over, make eye contact, and do the "call me" gesture. They'll spend the entire day trying to figure out who you are.
I'm sure there are other cute gestures we could incorporate into the day. I think it could really catch on. I might even introduce a line of hand gesture greeting cards. This could be big. I gotta get to work on this. If you think of any ideas, "call me." (In other words, don't)