Two questions about a gesture/ body language I'd like to ask someone about a gesture. Would you please take a look at the following video from 0:54. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PANP-yJ5_MA A fe

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Two questions about a gesture/ body language I'd like to ask someone about a gesture. Would you please take a look at the following video from 0:54. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PANP-yJ5_MA A few men extend their one arm and are patting on the arm by the other hand. What does it mean? And may I ask one more question? I wrote "A few men extend their one arm and are patting on the arm by the other hand. " Does it make sense? Could you correct my English?

Jul 29, 2014 9:20 AM

Answers · 7

It's clearly a French gesture, so I had to look it up. It turns out to be fairly recent! It's called a "quenelle", and the idea is to slide a fish ball (the literal quenelle) up someone's a***. Like a kind of "shove it up your a***" gesture. Some people have interpreted it as a soft "Nazi salute". I don't know if that's the meaning implied in the video. The patting action is clearly on the shoulder. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quenelle_(gesture)

July 29, 2014