Insulting Gestures: France: Gesture 5 (Clenched fist and arm)

IMG_4092-u6pwt8

Folklore Form/Genre: French gesture                  Informant: Emmanuelle (“Emma”) Loulmet

Name: This gesture of a clenched first and arm movement is an insulting gesture!

Place of Discovery: Hanover, NH

Informant Data: Emma Loulmet is a 21-year-old female born on April 23rd, 1997, in Paris, France. Emma was born in France and has lived in Paris for most of her life. For high school, she attended a boarding school in Reims, the capital of the Champagne region. Emma moved to the United States for her undergraduate studies. Emma is an Economics 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 say “F*ck you!”

Item: The item presented here is a video of Emma 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 Emma.

Transcript: “I first saw this experience when I was 10-years-old. My cousin and I were playing with toys and we got into an argument. And then she used this gesture. I didn’t know what it meant at the time but I started crying and soon learned what it meant.”

Informant’s Comments: This is an insulting gesture used in France. This gesture is not used much, but it is known to be a gesture that has negative connotations.

Collector’s Comments: We see this gesture used across many European countries, and is even used in the United States.

Collector’s Name:

Jordan Siegal

HB 4020 Dartmouth College

Hanover, NH 03755

Dartmouth College

Tags/Keywords:

  • Gestures
  • France
  • Insulting
  • Hand
  • Fist

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *