American reacts to common German Gestures & Expressions 

It means thumb pressing. We say it that way! We dont say fingers crossed

you guys are very expressive with your hands, right? - All people down there in Italy died on laughing about that joke 🤣

Fingers Crossed in Germany is just for lying, not for wishing luck. We press thumbs. We also got this oh you looked through the hole "game". The knocking on the table if you are in a restaurant with multiple people also works to say goodbye if you leave earlier than others. People then often say "ich mach mal so" (I'll do like this) and knock on the table.

I've seen the "pulling under your eye" gesture just a few times so that I wasen't quiet shure what it meant. It's not always used after a joke. I think it's meant as a hint for "did you get the subbtle joke line", "I meant this ironicaly" or "I'm exaggerating" or something like this.

Regarding the subtitles the Easy German team should have made a word by word translation first - and then the actual meaning in English. So there would be no confusion with the gesture (for example the one for fingers crossed / pressing thumbs).

2:40 because we „press our thumbs“ for you, but it has the same meaning as the crossed fingers.😉 6:20 Some germans know this game too. Unfortunately my son does. 🥴 6:52 Italians use it a lot! 7:00 We make shhhh too to silence someone. Pssst can be both to get attention or to silence. 11:09 Pedestrian traffic light. The little red guy tries to hold you back. 12:20 Big advantage of knocking: You can continue writing. I‘ll be here tomorrow! Always Wass, always will. 😜 Tschüss.

Kinda surprised by the amount of (German) people in the comments who are unfamiliar with knocking on the table to greet or say goodbye to a bigger group. I've seen it a few times, but I've only seen men in their late forties or older do it, so maybe it's an age thing, idk. But I think it's kinda neat.

The crossed fingers for "lying" have their origin in the gesture for an oath. You hold the 2 fingers parallel, when you are making an oath. So to trick you would cross the fingers and hope noone notices and then it was no 'real' oath, so you were not lying under oath.

"Fingers crossed." = "Ich drücke dir die Daumen."

Absolutely hilarious when Ryan tries to speak German 😂😂

"Ich drücke dir die Daumen" translated literally means "I'm squeezing my thumbs for you". Same meaning as 'fingers crossed' in a sense of wishing someone good luck, but different finger involved. We cross fingers (behind our backs) if we say something and don't mean it / mean the opposite in secret (if you wanna fool someone with that ofc you won't visibly show them the crossed fingers, instead then maybe it's for the people who are in on it with you).

Love the German stare of disapproval. I do it all the time. :D

what I find super interesting about the knocking on the tables for applause at universities: That seems to be at least several hundred years old. I have a book with letters from a German author and university professor (Friedrich Schiller), who talks about this to a friend. The students at his university did this, and it was new to him. He lived from 1759 to 1805.

Knocking on wood is also a gesture if you said something maybe out of fun but actually it wouldn't be funny if that would actually happen so you knock on wood to prevent unluckiness. Also if you are being too optimistic you can knock on wood to prevent unluckiness. "I have an exam next week, everything will be alright *knocks on wood*"

Pulling under your eye is not really 'this is a joke'. It's more like when two people are talking about someone else telling a story or something and they don't believe it. It's like: 'And who would believe that?' Nowadays we'd call it fakenews... 😂

I know the table knocking as a form of saying good bye to a whole group when you need to get going and don’t have time to properly say good bye to everyone individually. Never really associated it with greeting someone /a group.

The basic facial expressions are universal (like fear, surprise, anger, contempt, joy, sadness), but the meanings of some gestures depend on culture and can vary, sometimes greatly. The Greeks for instance nod their heads to say "no" and shake them for "yes", the exact opposite of us others, and some gestures that are positive for us are insults in other countries, for instance the sign we do with our thumbs and index fingers to signify "ok" (in Germany and other European countries, it can also signify that a meal is very tasty), which means "a**hole" in some countries, just like the "thumbs up", which would be negatively perceived in some countries of the Middle East. "Daumen drücken" which they translate as "fingers crossed", literally means "pressing the thumbs" means "we wish you luck"; the "fingers crossed" is something that used to be done to counter a curse, or to avoid bad luck; also used when lying (to avoid being struck by lightning/god, I suppose). The shoulder shrug with palms forward is universal, I think, just like the facepalm. The shaking hand with the index finger upright is a warning. more commonly used with children, e.g. to scold them. The same finger in front of the lips means "be quiet" ("psst" could be translated as "shush"), or "shut up". To get somebody's attention, we would just say "Entschuldigung" (excuse me). The pulling down of the lower eyelid doesn't have the same meaning in French at all, there, it would mean "I don't believe you". At the doctors', the inside of the eyelid would be checked to see if one has anemia or not (the skin inside is white in case of anemia).

The „Kohl-Gruß“, invented by Helmut Kohl, the former Chancellor. He shook his own hand above his head, that meant „I greet you all!“

If you knock on the desk or not depends on the group. In my social groups this isn't usual, but when you're in a group and people start knocking as a "more silently" clapping then you join. Has the advantage that you can write simultaneously

Knocking on the table as a way of greeting is completely new to me. It must be a regional thing.

"Psst" and "sch(sch)" are nearly the same in German, differences are only regional. But you can use also "psst" to call attention in a quiet way ("be quiet, but look here!"). The gesture means "be quiet!" - for "shut up" you would need a more aggressive one. The gesture with the eye does not necessarily mean "just joking". Originally it was related to the saying "Holzauge, sei wachsam" (lit. wooden eye, be alert) which was used with the meaning "be alert lest you're cheated / scammed". (About the wooden eye there are different theories. Probably it spread from soldier's language between WW I and WW II, but there is also the interpretation of the saying originating as warning by a master carpenter to his apprentice planing some board, and the use of "Holzauge" for a special kind of a embrasure holding a (wooden or iron) rotatable7 globe with a bore hole for putting the gun barrel through. The gesture got later the second meaning of "Be alert to catch the joke".

"Easy German" they're the sweetest Ambassadors for Germany.

American confused by the concept of pedestrians crossing a street.

Usually knocking on the table is used, when you are leaving a group of people who sat with you on the same table. And the finger underneath your eye is not quiet used when making a joke. It's more used to point out, that the last thing you've said was meant ironically.

Ich drücke dir die Daumen it is not exactly "My fingers are crossed for you" but it is just equivalent of one in America "My fingers are crossed for you". Ich drücke dir die Daumen is means "I pressed my thumbs for you or good luck". We can even see, she pressed her thumbs inside her fingers to make fists.

Den Move für "Bist du bescheuert?/Are You Crazy?", nennt man auch Scheibenwischer, wie beim Auto ;)

1:46 in this video: Hallooo und Tschüß is what you could practice 👍🏻let’s go!

Shout out to you for making sure the people in the car were okay!

As a german I gotta say, most of the time the biggest kompliment you can get from us is: "Ich kann mich nicht beschweren." (I cant complain). If you really wanna fit in xD

8:45 you made me almost spit out my beer. 😂

2:40 as a Child I Never understood this because In German we cross our fingers when we promise something but don‘t want to Keep it if you understand 😂

There is also a third meaning of knocking (3 times on wood) to express a wish that something will go well

11:15 The traffic lights for pedestrians has a red cop, who signals "Stop don't pass" and a green pedestrian with straw hat. When I grew up, we had traffic lights for many years and only in some exceptions, that cops guides the traffic on crossings, by showing for one direction stop, the other can pass and as transition he raise the arm, before turning 90°. Initially the traffic lights were switched by one cop, who could do the job alone, what requires up to 4, when the intersection is complicated. At this time the technology to do it automatic, existed for about 200 to 300 years

Wow you are such a cute (those eyes 😮) and funny guy 😄 im laughing so hard sometimes on your videos😂 absolutely great 👍 greetings from Germany 🎉

The way you say "tschüss" is extremely cute! 🙈💛

While I was still going to school, my history teacher once explained, why you cross your fingers behind your back, when lying. This gesture had emerged in medieval times, when you where swearing something, it was normal to not just raise your hand like nowadays, but also cross your index and middle finger while swearing. And if someone didn't actually wanted to swear something, because he was lying or something, it also was a common thing to cross the fingers of the other hand at the same time, to negate the swearing - and since no one should notice this, it was done with the hand behind the back.

I was told, if there are less than 5 people you have to greet each. If there are 5 ore more it is okay to greet the whole group, for example with some knocks on the table. There are many rules for greeting and behavior overall in "Knigge". Could be also an interesting topic.

Knocking on the table is basically the best thing when joining a large group for dinner when you're late. Because (at least for me and my friends) it means like "excuse me for being late" as well.

Pulling the eye lid down with one finger, while uttering something makes what you say to be understood sarcastically/ironically, but not literally. You're welcome.

Don*r do this "are you crazy gesture" in Germany. The Scheibenwischer (windshield wiper) can count as an insult and fined up to 1.000 EUR., flipping the bird up to 750 EUR, showing the middlefinger up to 4.000.

I refuse to facepalm when Ryan actually tries. His reactions to the driving lessons on the other hand 😂

4:40 literally you have a bird. Sometimes it's good for puns. In a film scene someone installed the telephone, performed a test and the parrot was talking. The man said, the customer would have a bird, she felt insulted for a moment, but he added, a parrot or something like that.

I (German) am currently living in Finland and it is SO weird not to knock 😂

"Das kann ja wohl nicht wahr sein" was pretty on point!

You once again said something profound unconsciously :) Your child has known the yes and no gestures before he even knew how to speak. They are the most universal gestures on the planet and I'll explain why: When the baby is naturally hungry you breastfeed him, as long as he wants to eat (drink, if necessary, but you understand what I mean) he will continue with the motor action of sucking which makes the head move up and down. However, as soon as he is no longer hungry he will begin to reject the nipple from his mouth by moving his head sideways. As they grow up they will become the basic expressions for yes and no. Very surprising is the fact that a very small percentage of the inhabitants of the earth have reversed these 2 gestures, I know that there are some small island nations in the Pacific that have them in reverse but I have no idea of ​​the anthropological reason.

Laughed so hard at the picking at the eyeball "scherz" 😂 never thought about it, but it is really weird

1:47 Ryan, there you can practice your greeting instead of "fingers crossed" we are squeezing our thumbs

Crossing Fingers while lying is more a child thing. Never saw an adult doing it. It's weird that you use crossed fingers for wishing luck and lying. If you wishing someone good luck and crossing the fingers, it also could mean you are lying and wishing him bad luck.

in my 26 years of groing up in germany i never saw someone knock on the table to great a group of people, only and only as replacement for clapping in educational facilitys.

4:05 That gesture is sometimes called "Scheibenwischer" (windshield wiper) and 4:34 "jemand einen Vogel zeigen" (showing someone a bird). Both are offensive for Germans. You see this often in car drivers showing this each other in order to say "you are crazy" or "you are an id**t". 13:08 the knocking on the table can be used to get everyone's attention if you want to combine it with saying "hi" or "bye" in a bigger group of people like in a restaurant. It's like if you knock on the door frame or on the door itself when the door is already open to get the attention of your co-workers in the room.

7:34 When someone does something stupid, you can also do this and roll your eyes at the same time to signal that that person is probably drunk. xD (Yes probably that too 7:59, it all depends on what kind of face you make)

the German equivalent for "my fingers crossed" is a squeezing of the thumb inwards on a clenched fist. We literally say " I'm pressing (squeezing) my thumbs for you". This originates from a split time in Europe ages ago where people either crossed their fingers or pushed their thumbs, it varies based on the country and while we know the "fingers crossed" motion, Germany is obviously from the other camp.

In German Daumendrücken means crossing your fingers squeeze your thumbs you put your thumb in your hand and squeeze

Nodding when saying yes and shaking head to say no. "Nein, even my baby knows these ones." Now, go and watch Sons of Anarchy again. Charlie Hunnam as Jackson Teller is shaking his head very reassuring every time he says something in the spirit of: "Yes. I swear. Trust me. I'm telling the truth."

8:10 it´s not like you have to explane someone you made a joke, it´s not really about making a joke, it´s more like if you say something sarcastic or ironic ,don´t take that to serious.

We also have the little game with the 👌 in Germany, at my old school it eventually became a huge community game for the schoolyard. There we stood in a circle and looked towards the middle, while a fellow player turned to someone and showed the sign. If you looked inside you were hit with an old newspaper

Hey! Someone probably already wrote that, but "Ich drücke dir die Daumen/jemanden die Daumen drücken" at 2:34 is a German idiom. You tried to guess it in a recent video, where you pressed both your thumbs against each other. 1:1 translation would be: "I press my thumbs for you" . Because you have an own idiom in english - fingers crossed - they translated it that way. So in German it specifically refers to the thumbs, which are pressed in a fist to wish someone luck/success. Thats why the gesture is different :D

4:20 this move is from the ancient frame "du hast eine scheibe". the hand means the glass.

Hi, i'm a German and i've never seen the gesture for "Das war ein Scherz". It's really kinda weird. The gesture for "Bist du bescheuert?!" is common, but it's not often used because it's a harsh gesture. It means more like "Where have you lost your brain?! Go search for it stupid creature!". By the way i like your videos ;-)

6:27 at least in Germany we know that game too 😂❤

"Die Daumen drücken" (to press the thumbs) means "I wish you all the best" (...for your project), or something like that.... 5:03: The one finger (index finger) means "Hey, you should better be careful what you do!" (...or what you say)! 7:14: You can use the "Pssst" with noise or without noise. It depends on the situation. What you say about the american attention thing with "Pssst!" is also used in Germany. But in this case your finger don`t close your lips! Your hands make a space in front if your mouth as like you would make the pssst-sound through an non visual tunnel, believing the other person would hear you better. 😅

Hey man, I'm not feeling well at the moment but your videos always make me laugh and enjoy after all this shit ey mann, mir gehts zur zeit gar nicht gut aber deine videos bringen mich nach dem ganzen scheiß, immer wieder zum lachen und genießen

Ich drücke dir die Daumen, means i am pressing my thumbs for good luck. Same as fingers crossed, but we germans like to press our thumbs inside the hands instead of that.

While Germans may be strange, they sure know how to use apostrophes and to distinguish between plural and the possessive form.

8:30 Reminds me of "Wink wink nudge nudge" 😂

we also have this game in Germany. We have another game. If you see a Smart(car) or a yellow car, you can hit the person next to you. If you see a yellow Smart, you can hit the person harder.

14:00 I usually dislike superstitious things. When someone thinks, he would encourage me by saying a sentence, what could mean "I press my thumbs for you", but also "I press your thumbs", I take the less common interpretation and show my thumbs or say "rather not, could hurt my thumbs".

He ist the best RU-vidr 🎉

the whole thumb-index finger sing meaning white power was another epic move to deliver disinfomation from the internet to the mass media. it originated at 4 chan i think and was just another huge troll :D

Easy German is a great Channel! I was also very surprised when I first heard that you „cross your fingers“ 🤞 in the USA and don't keep your „thump press“. ✊

when a German wishes you look, they don't cross their fingers, they press their thumbs. That's what the expression "ich drück dir die Daumen" means (I'm pressing my thumbs for you) and that's why the people in the video are pressing their thumbs.

"Psst!" is how Germans write "Shhh!", so yes, the shushing gesture with index finger on the lips 🤫 means "Be secretive/be quiet about this!" or "Hush, quiet!" just as in America.

Wenn wir in Deutschland einen Witz machen, der eventuell falsch verstanden könnte, zwinkern wir mit einem Auge, so: 😉 Aber nicht immer. Wenn wir also auf unser Auge zeigen, wenn jemand den Witz nicht verstanden hat, dann holen wir das in dem Moment nach, indem wir deutlich auf unser Auge zeigen. Das mit dem klopfen als Ersatz für klatschen oder im Restaurant als Ersatz für Begrüßung, ist mir als Deutsche ziemlich neu😅

The german 3 u show at the end is actually also a "underground" rightwing greeting and seems to be adapted in the us as well_

2:57 "ich drücke dir die daumen" would be translated to" i press my thumbs for u" but the meaning is the same like your" my fingers are crossed for u".

5:50 be careful with that sign. Diver use it for "OK", in a REstaurant it means "sehr gut", as described. Just don't use it when driving unless you're looking for trouble. In this case it means a***hole.

The german stare towards someone not sticking to the rules. Yep, that's us! :D

Ryan, the way you say "cheers" at the end of your videos sounds slmost like the German "tschüss", just with the lips slightly more rounded at the 'eer' / 'ü' sound.

19:30 Knock on the table, to announce to all you are there (maybe someone sits with his back to you and get a shock gust seeing you without warning or maybe he was talking lyes of you 😉) … if one a big table everyone is talking, a „hello“ might be overheared … Before there were doorbells you also KNOCKED on the DOOR , to announce yourself. It’s NOT polite to open a closed door without knocking - knock and wait for „herein“~ „enter“

Your German is really getting better. And remember, you are descended from Europeans.

There is also " 3 Mal aufs Holz klopfen" knock 3 times on wood. To wish someone or yourself luck or more often no bad luck

One gesture is very, very german. For example. Someone offers you a 2. piece of cake people often shake a little the head from the right to left shoulder purse their lips and say a long "Jooo" or "Nöö". It's kind of a skip action in the while you weigh up if you want it or not.

The four meanings of the Okay gesture are exactly the same in Germany, so there is that. No changes. And I particularly love to hear, that this infantile stupid "You have looked!" game and the following beating is also know in the Americas. 🤣 👌 You looked! Now I may hit you! 💪🤛

in germany, the gesture of "are you crazy?" or "you're crazy!" is a punishable insult. it can result in a fine of up to 1000 euros in court. specially in road traffic.

The part with the thumbs is kinda confusing. "Ich drücke die Daumen", literally "I'm pressing my thumbs", when you put your thumb inside the fist, simply means "Good luck!". Whereas "Fingers crossed", as Cari explained later, has a totally different meaning here in Germany.

What does it tell about Americans that "fingers crossed" means wish you luck, but is also used to lie🤞😂

Wo bleibt das traditionelle "So" und auf die Schenkel klopfen 😂😂

The game where you can punch someone if they look into the hole inbetween your thumb and finger also exists in germany. If you get someone with it, you would typically say "Reingeguckt!".

The pointing at the head at 4:50 had me a little confused being from the Netherlands. We do it too when gesturing something or someone is crazy, but on the middle of the forehead above the nose. When we point at the side, near the temple area it means ‘that’s smart or good thinking’. The German gesture is somewhere in the middle of those two.

I never heard of the last one here in Germany to be honest. The crossing fingers were actually pressing thumbs.

Some raise their right arm when they are looking for a guy named Kyle. They also inform everyone by shouting:"Seek Kyle! Seek Kyle!". I wonder where Kyle might be.

9:28 "I'm not Shure" says the Sennheiser microphone.

The most important one is slapping your lap with both hands, which means "Let's come to an end, I'm leaving now"

2:29 „Ich drücke Dir die Daumen“ 1:1: „I press my Thumbs for you“ … meaning in English „I cross my fingers for for“ both for „good luck“. In Germany, if someone asks you „you swear, you say the truth?“ and you say „yes“ BUT cross your fingers behind your back then your are lying, but WISH YOURSELF good luck, so ‚the gods‘ do not punish you for your lie. (and/or the one you are lying to does not find out)

I never heard of knocking on the table to say hello, maybe it's only in the part where they live

I think, Americans from the US are even stranger. Why do they have the word "no" in their language, but it's extremely unpolite or even offensive to use it. "Nein." That's only an answer, nothing more.

She says I'll press my thumbs for you. Means the same as crossing fingers

We play the dont look in the Hole Game,too.

7:14 yeah their translations are sometimes a bit off. I remember a video of you getting confused when they went shopping and bought "egg-liquor". They literally translated it instead of saying "eggnog"

2:46 this is pressing the thumb in the hand the sensical translation of Ich drücke dir die Daumen is fingers are crossed but The exact translation is I am pressing for you the thumbs