Folklore Form/Genre: French gesture Informant: Stefanos (“Stef”) Bennink
Name: The gesture of twisting your index finger on your head means this person is crazy!
Place of Discovery: Hanover, NH
Informant Data: Stef Bennink is a 21-year-old male born on January 21st, 1997, in Paris, France. Stef currently lives in Amsterdam, Netherlands, but was raised in Paris. Stef has had internships in both Amsterdam and Paris. Stef is a Government major at Dartmouth.
Contextual Data:
- Cultural context: French gestures tend to be fairly expressive in nature.
- Social context: French individuals will use this gesture to signify that someone is acting crazy or is a crazy person.
Item: The item presented here is a video of Stefanos demonstrating the French gesture. I recorded this interview with an iPhone. All of the information provided in this write-up is an accurate depiction of the knowledge I obtained while speaking with Stefanos.
Transcript: “I first saw this gesture when my mother was playfully insulting my dad when I was a young child. My dad was attempting to build a collector model airplane and became very frustrated because the parts were not fitting together. My mom looked at me from behind the kitchen counter and made this gesture and bugged out her eyes. She was laughing while she made the gesture, but I knew she meant it as a playful insult trying to tell me that my dad is crazy about some things.”
Informant’s Comments: This gesture is more common to see than other French gestures because it can be used in a more playful insulting manner. The fact that this gesture can be used with many different moods means that it is seen more often.
Collector’s Comments: Americans have a very similar gesture. Instead of placing the index finger to the head and twisting it, Americans will hover their index finger next to their head and move it in a circular motion.
Collector’s Name:
Jordan Siegal
HB 4020 Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH 03755
Dartmouth College
Tags/Keywords:
- Gestures
- France
- Insulting
- Index finger
- Crazy