Folklore Form/Genre: French gesture                                Informant: Emily Pommier

Name: Raising your hands to your sides, palms upward, perking the lips to mean “I don’t know”, “I don’t agree”, “That seems wrong to me”, etc.

Place of Discovery: Hanover, NH

Informant Data: Emily Pommier is a half-French Dartmouth College freshman. Her father’s side of the family is french, and her grandparents live in Lyon, France.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural context: French gestures tend to be fairly expressive in nature.
• Social context: French individuals will use this hand gesture for multiple things; it is a staple gesture in France.

Item: The item presented here is a picture of Emily demonstrating the French gesture. I talked to Emily about the gesture as well as snapped a photo of her executing it. All of the information provided in this write-up is an accurate depiction of the knowledge I obtained while speaking with Emily.

Transcript: Emily was eating dinner with her grandparents with some neighbors. Naturally, like at any dinner gone wrong, political conversation arose. Emily’s grandparents’ neighbor contended that the influx of immigration to France was harming the state of the nation. Emily’s grandmother, who clearly disagreed but wanted to be somewhat polite, responded with this gesture, indicating that she wasn’t so sure about what the neighbor was saying.

Informant’s Comments: People in the U.S. may be able to understand what this gesture means without being told explicitly. The thing about this gesture is that it has multiple meanings, so interpreting it correctly depends on the context it is given in.

Collector’s Comments: It is an interesting gesture because it is has so many meanings that one needs context to interpret it correctly. Without context, it can mean a variety of different expressions. In the United States, a similar gesture may be putting an open hand up, which can either mean offering a high-five, waving, or wanting to ask a question.

Collector’s Name:

Carson Spahr

HB 4105 Dartmouth College

Hanover, NH 03755

Dartmouth College

Tags/Keywords:

• Gestures
• France
• Insulting
• Hand