Italian HAND GESTURES Explained 🤌 | Decoding Italian "Sign Language" 

Also, there is an English equivalent for "you can't digest a person." There is, "I can't stomach that person."

A joke for you. What do you call it, when an Italian has an injured hand? A speech impediment. Love both of you. Your channel is awesome. Makes this crazy world a lot more tolerable.

When I see a non-Italian person repeating the Italian gestures it is very strange as I seem to almost notice the foreign "accent". The gestures we actually make are very precise and natural, so deeply ingrained that it seems impossible that other people don't understand them. The gesture to say thank you (perhaps it is more a "thank you very much") is to keep the hands clasped near the chin, lowering the head a little towards the hands. Similar to a slight Japanese bow done only with the head.

The ''are you scared'' gesture is refering to butt, like being so scared that you're squeezing your butt in fear😅 and i think it's beautiful! 💚🤍❤

This subject deserves Part II.

As someone who grew in a small town in Argentina We inherited most of the meaning of the hand gestures because here we had a lot of Italian immigration in the 1800 and 1900s so I can see now where all this hand gesture comes from ❤

My Italian American in laws were famous for the hand gestures… I loved every second of this video. The last hand gesture sent me over the top laughing 😂 very fond memories of my late husband & father in law doing them 🥰

An ex-partner of mine is Italian (from Venice), and well, I'm not exactly the most easy-going person in the world. So, every now and then, she'd get frustrated with me and to vent she'd start talking to me at 900mph in Italian; her hands would be flying all around in front of her. So one day I grabbed her hands in mid-air and stopped them; lmao! As soon as I let go of her hands they started flying around again, but this time when she was talking I could hear her saying my name every 10 words or so! I thought she was so adorable - I'm sure what she was saying about me in Italian was how simply adorable I am as well! 😆

Forget the glasses, Harper this episode is the BEST hair I've ever seen you have. You should keep this hairstyle for a while. It brings out your features really well. Seriously, I was shocked by how good that hair looked and how it just elevated the whole look Also wire frames 😂

This is extremely useful information. I worked at IBM and visited the Rome office many times. After several conversations with my Roman friends it became clear that the safest thing to do was to keep my hands in my pockets at all times, and even that made me slightly nervous. The "due spaghi" gesture, or I should say _alleged_ gesture, was the only one I felt safe doing, and I'm not 100% sure I believe it.

There's a small difference between the two gestures @10:15 "al bacio" is an assessment based only on quality. "Perfect" as in "the best". The second gesture means "perfect" as in "completed, there's nothing left to do to improve it". So Harper is correct, there's an idea of finality. The second gesture is also often used in a sarcastic way, with a meaning of "I told you so", or "I told you not to do something and now you did it - and things turned out exactly how I predicted".

The "made for each other" sign can also be used to refer to a couple in love, or a group of people that are plotting against someone

Oh man the gesture for "no more"... 😂😂😂😂. I saw that for the first time on an Alitalia flight when my mom asked the steward for another glass of wine and he made that gesture with a little whistle. So awesome. My mom, being Italian herself, had never seen that gesture before. Needless to say she adopted it immediately. I have as well! ❤️❤️❤️

😂😂😂 Eva ha spiegato perfettamente. Veramente noi potremmo comunicare con i gesti senza parlare e a me sembra pure strano che per gli altri non siano comprensibili 😂

You made me laugh until I cried! What a FUN video, you guys! It was such a joy to see the two of "talking" and laughing together! Would love to see more of these types of vids sprinkled in with your cooking ones. It helps bring Italy even closer - especially for those who might not ever have a chance to experience Italy first hand (no pun intended!)😁❤️

Here around Chicago, we used to have another Italian gesture back in the 1920's: the sign of the Tommy gun. We became so well-known for Al Capone's shenanigans and the St. Valentine's Day Massacre that mimicking a Tommy gun was how you would tell non-English speakers in Europe that you were from near Chicago. That reference has now passed, though.

The one you missed was the rotating hand when something is delicious. It’s hilarious when you get a few Italians together and they taste something and they all start rotating! 😂💨❤️. Love it!

I see that you kept the gestures G rated. I grew up in a neighborhood that had a lot of Italians from the old country. I learned all the best hand gestures 😂

In Milan when you can't digest something or someone you make the hand gesture directly on your stomach, but with tumb forward and the fingers pointing downwards, usually adding "El me stà in sul stomig'". Which reminds me of La linea by Osvaldo Cavandoli. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BuoXuXROH6I.html Also, Harper the fear gesture is literally a butthole squeezing. U_U

HARPER DARK GLASSES LOOK LIKE THE BOMB! Must keep👍🏻🔔🔔🔔

Ahahahahahah questo video è fantastico! Ho riso davvero tanto, bravi. Eva ha spiegato molto bene. ❤️

You two should be a reality show! thanks for the lessons and LAUGHS !

So many more come to mind! Here are to very theatrical: biting the knuckle of the right hand, closed or opened, means anger, or rather frustration because it is not possible to express anger. While shaking back and forth the right hand close to the side of the face means "I'm going to beat you up!", Like Arrgh Harper, *bites knuckle* you didn't wash dishes! You know what's going to happen if you don't *while shaking my hand close to my cheek*

Why was this a competition? Eva already knew the answers! You guys crack me up. 😂 My Barese grandmother always said the Calabrese were stubborn! (she was pretty stubborn too, btw). Ciao! ❤ 🇮🇹

In Florence/Tuscany, you take the tip of your thumb and drag it vertically down your cheek, it means "delicious".

Thick chunky glasses, and I like Harper's longer fluffier hair. Edited to add that I loved this hand sign lesson! I only knew a couple of obvious ones, but I feel glad that I knew the last one. I feel like there's a ruder gesture that I learned from my Italian-American friends growing up that involves one hand slapping inside the elbow and the other hand rising in response. I think I know what that one means, and I get why you didn't feature it.

The first one is not only about eating. It's also related to someone who's so naive that could believe whatever they hear. Like: I told him I met a famous footballer and he took it for real! Usually accompanied by a prolonged 'aaahh' when you open your mouth for the gesture 😂 Great episode guys, soooo funny! Eva, please tell Harper to keep the hand straight and firm when he does the 'go away', even if his way was hilarious 🤣

The quagliata gesture which is probably a southern Italy explanation is more easily explained as Harper was saying "Stringi" which means "Tighten/Clench" in this case as in make the speech tighter, stringi il discorso, squeeze it down into not 5 hours but 5 minutes

I love it!! ❤️ I've been married to an Italian woman for 39 years. No matter how much you learn, you'll still be clueless!!! Eva will also tell you that different regions have different gestures as well. Enjoy the trip Harper!!

Fellini? I love how Harper shoehorns Italian references into conversation and how Eva sees right through it.

These two are real comedians ! I laughed so hard . I adore you both !

In the East and Southeast of Austria some of this gestures are also pretty common. Maybe not THAT expressiv but well known!

One gesture I saw a lot in Sicily and Southern Italy is where they pushed their index finger into a cheek and twisted their hand. I asked a friend about it and they told me it meant something was tasty or delicious, but could also be used in reference to a pretty girl or handsome man by members of the opposite sex.

What an interesting video. What I wished you had mentioned a little bit more about why Italians developed these wonderful hand gestures. I lived as a permanent resident of Piemonte for many years about half way between Turin and Genoa. In my small village most people over 30 years old spoke fluent dialetto Piemontese in preference to Italian and to my amazement a few very old residents were unable to speak Italian at all. That made it quite difficult for me to learn the Italian language since every day communication was carried on in dialetto Piemontese which is not an officially recognized language per se, but is so different from Italian that it might as well be. As you well know, Italy has historically been divided into various regions isolated by mountain ranges, rivers, and other natural boundaries. These areas might be a kingdom, duchy, or even an independent country with plenty of shifting of boundaries over time because of wars and changing of the political landscape. No wonder various languages and dialects evolved especially since Italy was not a unified, independent country until 1871, many years after various separate parts of modern Italy had already established themselves as powerful forces in the world order. For instance, Christopher Columbus is largely credited with being Italian, something every American school child used to learn. But he was actually from the Republic of Genoa, a self governing state with it's own powerful navy which lasted until the 19th century. It was explained to me that hand gestures conveying commonly used meanings were developed as a way of communicating with people from other regions. In Genoa, for example, they speak Genoese or "zeniese", the main Ligurian dialect. Years ago a man from Genoa who was adventurous enough to load his donkey with preserved anchovies and make the long trek up the mountains to the Monferrato area where I lived would find himself essentially in a foreign land, at least as far as the language was concerned. But by using commonly understood hand gestures and perhaps a few similar words could make himself understood and sell his fish. I recognized all of the gestures you featured but I found a couple of places in your video where the hand gestures in Calabrese were a bit different to that of the Monferrato/Piemonte region where I lived. At 10:00 the "perfect" sign is performed noticeably slower up North; drawn out so to speak. Another thing I found interesting was at 11:00 the "ho fame" or "mangiamo" sign was made by my friends with the hand held the other way. That is to say, with the palm down and the thumb touching the side of your waist rather than your little finger touching the waist as you demonstrated. Apparently there are regional variations even to the "universal sign language of Italy". Finally, at 21:40 the "together" sign you demonstrated relating to two ingredients going together in a recipe also has a sexual context, at least up in Piemonte. For instance I might say to my friend, "I saw Pinuccio talking with Teresita yesterday". The other person, (without saying anything) would give me the "together sign" meaning they were having illicit sexual relations. Usually there was a bit of eye rolling involved and often a wry smile. The meaning was clear even to an American like me.

I love the energy in this video. It's nice to see you having fun together, just talking. Thanks for all the great content you create. This channel gets better all the time!

I love this, I love this, I love this! Maybe now my non-Italian friends well have a better understanding of what I’m saying. I once had someone tell me that I probably wouldn’t be able to communicate if my hands were tied behind my back. Lol...

Good episode. I LOVE THIS. My father, my grandparents, my ex husband all from the South in Italy. My in laws lived there not here. No one was Americanized. lol I miss all of this. You feel a huge void when you had a certain way of life and then it goes away instantly because of death. And I miss hearing the language, seeing the gestures, eating the food my mom, dad, grandparents made daily. and in one shot gone. So with that said, knowing what i know, these gestures apply to more than just food. And they all have contextual nuances. In general. The going away gesture is also like 'time to go' like my uncle would do it at a get together to his family, meaning time to go. The Do you want to eat gesture also means I'm hungry, Let's go eat, I want to eat when making them (My Italian ex husband from Italy used to do this). You can put your one hand and sort of grab like a big pinch both sides of your throat means like I'm sick (annoyed) that something is like in my throat. then there is the 2 hands gesture pulled apart in the pistol form - meaning a culo this big - like they think they are some big shot. The There is NO more is also you are S. out of luck or Not happening kind of thing. Then there is the pulled eye, the finger in the cheek or the thumb dragged across the cheek (furbo) not to mention in addition to the it's so good index finger in the dimple, the fork, motion you always do and you can also do like a pinch of your own cheek to signify so good. The gesture 26;08 - my father used it all the time to signify that 'that is it' final point, that is the way it is or will be, his dictate kind of thing or at the other extreme, that something is perfect, like done well. I want to add my father was in a coma in 2017. He got very ill RIGHT after my mom passed away (from septic shock). He had had a routine procedure one day and it sent him INTO septic shock. We had to make the decision to put him on a vent etc. It was a long year of vent, hospitals, up and downs. The first time he came out of the coma but was still technically sleeping, we were talking to him. His eyes closed. He was restrained to the bed. We wouldn't tell him WHAT or WHY he was there because we didn't want to make him more afraid. All of a sudden he makes the motion the TYPICAL most famous motion we all know (again with his wrists restrained) of what? why? che cazz? I asked him Do you want to know why you are here? he gestured no. I kept asking questions till he indicated yes. He wanted to know WHY I WAS THERE (not working) because he had no clue what was going on. IN A COMA THIS ITALIAN MAN FOUND A WAY TO COMMUNICATE without voice, without being awake, without writing!!! i memorialized it as a memory that day on FB and it pops up now every year. I was just thinking how i Wish i would have told him about that before he passed. Like some of the things he did and we went through that I forgot to tell him about and that was one key thing that will NEVER LEAVE ME. IT IS SO important and valuable that you share these things for people who might only have a vague memory and not understand the whats and whys. You guys just keep nailing it! ❤❤

Harper, 100% the dark celluloid frames are superior.

I can remember when I was younger. We had a neighbor and my mother would say “you can’t tell him anything” He’s Calabrese!

As a Greek I can honestly relate to speaking with our hands and having so many gestures express what we want to say and how we feel.

The beauty of all this is that we Italians, even without speaking, are able to communicate without problems. Obviously, hand gestures must also always be accompanied with a relative facial expression.

Dear friends from other counties, be aware of the hand gesture at 17:44 if you're in Italy. If you point your fingers down, you're making a gesture to keep away bad luck, but if you're pointing your fingers UP and you're showing your hand to someone, you're basically saying that his/her partner is cheating him/her.

I love how Harper becomes fluent in hand gestures at the end and puts together his own unique sentences with them! So funny! great video! thanks for sharing!

Yeiiiihhhhh! Finally some italian classes. Grazie mille! Please keep them coming along with the wonderful cooking classes ;) BTW I was cracking up ALL the time during this video 🤣😂🤣😂🤣

When I read what this was about, I got excited because my best friend, hunting and fishing pard, and partner in crime, was once married to an Italian woman. And Scott said whenever they argued, she would make a certain hand gesture, and say two words. I really didn't think it would show up, but there it was, @ 12:33. What she said was, "Pasta vazule". I looked it up and the closest I got was "fagiole", "white beans" 😂 What say you? Wonderful, wonderful show. Perfecto! (I'm making THAT gesture now)

Okay, I think the first two gestures kinda threw me off too, because I seldom saw them where I live (I'm a northerner from Turin, Piedmont). 😅 As for some of the other signs: - The second "perfect" hand gesture may also be done with both hands simultaneously, if one **really** feels that perfection. - I've always seen the "I'm/you're hungry" sign being done with the palm facing downwards, while the "I can't stand this guy" one (the "can't digest" Eva kept talking about) has always been the hand tapping like in the "hungry" gesture, but placed vertically in the middle of the chest (idk if it makes sense), with the fingers towards the stomach. - The "cut it out" gesture is something used in my zone also between middle and high school students, when they want to secretly communicate to their friends about their own intention of skipping school for that day. One of the slang terms to say "(to) skip school" is "tagliare" (lit.: to cut), hence the cutting gesture, done in the same fashion as "cut it out". - Admittedly, the "full of people" gesture threw me off for a second. I'm used to see it done pretty much in reverse, with the fingers opening up instead of being pinched together. - The "capa tosta" gesture could be translated as "knucklehead", seems to be more fitting. 😂 Sometimes I've also seen people knocking the side of their own head instead of the open palm to express the same "you're such a knucklhead!" thought.

This was fun to watch. It reminds me of when my mother tried to teach us Polish when we were children. We tried stringing words, phrases, and a few gestures together in an attempt to form sentences. But as we got older, we started coming up with completely ridiculous things that nobody would actually say, and tried to tack on English suffixes to turn Polish nouns into adjectives or adverbs. My mother quickly gave up on the idea.

Loved this video! Lots of surprises, and I laughed out loud throughout. I like your new glasses, Harper!

As a Sicilian Canadian I grew up with all the hand gestures! 🤣🤣🥰

This last one has to be told: the slightly open right hand, close to the ear, rotating forward a couple of times. Means "tune in" like make the effort to understand or now we understand each other. Capisci ammé!

The gesture for something related to the past is also the Italian Certified "Se vabbè..."™ gesture

I am noticing the similarities between ASL, and the Italian sign…. The sign to send away evil spirits, in ASL is to ridicule. The sign for all gone, but all the fingers out and flip it the other way, means finish. The One that means going together, in ASL means ….Same, like those two things are the same. If you start it with boy then same that’s brother. Girl then same means sister. ….

That's funny. I was adopted and my heritage is from the Mediterranean and I unconsciously use hand gestures alot. I have noticed people staring at my hands like what are you doing?

Eva's hair is MAGNIFICENT like a lion's mane...fabulous ! Loved this video , I love all things Italian. Sono Italiano dentro ❤

You won her heart because you make her laugh. I'm laughing too. Such an enjoyable video.

When I was in the Navy, I use to indoctrinate new folks on Italian culture, the hand gestures are many and very interesting. Thanks for teaching me some new ones. The "What do you want" hand gesture I was taught was more like a "what are you doing" or "what do you want from me" and was usually associated with a verbal, don't know how to spell it but it sounds like; "WHY YOU." Which would be said 2 or 3 time to emphasize the confusion.

I lived in Calabria for a year (I learned Italian there) and this was so much fun to watch! I LOVE the South! ❤️ Thank you for sharing this with the world!

My Sicilian grandma used to bite down on her index finger whenever she got frustrated, usually with me and her other grandchildren. lol It was usually followed by "va fanabla" and then she would laugh. She was an amazing woman. miss her so much.

Love seeing Eva laugh and have fun! 😃 And Harper, I like the darker glasses better. 🤓 No wire! 🤌🏻😂 This was fun, thank you!

17:43 fun fact: the heavy metal gesture comes from that thanks to Ronnie James Dio and his italian grandmother

I like the brown chunky frames. They look good plus I find that style is much easier on the bridge of your nose.

This video was GREAT! I feel like a kid again around my family! (Btw I’m 65) I only have one friend and a cousin left that can have a “hand gesture” conversation! They live in New York and I’m in Florida. Thanks for letting me relive so many wonderful memories❣️

siamo una nazione da 5 minuti ma esistiamo da millenni. ogni 10km c'è un dialetto differente che si trasforma in una lingua straniera se ci si allontana di più da dove viviamo. questi gesti non sono un vezzo ma un vero e proprio modo per capirci. prima della lingua italiana ufficiale dovevi parlare con le mani. siamo italiani e questo è bellissimo. ps. se gli altri non ci capiscono AMEN..... peggio per loro 🙂

Being 100% Italian and growing up with a large Italian family, what you showed today is an everyday occurrence in my home! I love my Italian heritage, thank you for sharing some of our secrets!

What a delight you two are! This was so fun!

I was stationed near Brindisi long ago so I had seen some of these, but I think I had the same score as Harper on your quiz. My wife has one question though -- is there any significance to the single line tatto on Eva's finger? I say it is a mark to measure one portion of spaghetti, but she thinks I'm crazy! She even used her new found hand gesture to tell me so...

It reminds me somewhat of American Sign Language. (ASL). There’s always a facial expression to go with the gesture. I’m super curious about Mama Rosa’s reaction. Loved this video. 😀

17:14 Favourite moment. Trying to make "I'm scared" work and deciding that it does NOT

The last one can also mean: "ma che stai a dì?", meaning: "what the heck are you talking about?"

This video was so enjoyable. You guys are so cute together! Being Italian myself i knew a few of them but i learned more. Thank you

What a great idea. That was super entertaining! You both are amazing.💞

Eva, you forgot to mention the mitic "BOH". Not an hand gesture but with an enormous usefullness

8:15 the tapping of the head that means, "You're crazy," reminds me of how some English speakers use the same gesture to say the person is "touched in the head," I.E. crazy.

This was fun! I love learning languages! And I always enjoy learning the food aspects of the Italian language on this channel, like how I've learned many Italian words with my Art History classes from college 😅. I'd love to learn more Italian from you guys!

In Argentina we have many of the same gestures and we use our hands a lot when we speak too, because a big part of the population (like myself) has italian origins.

This is such a great video! All your vids are entertaining but this one made me laugh out loud several times. Thanks so much for the grand tour of gestures and body language and social interactions. Love it!

Definitely the chunky, brown glasses Harper!

6:39 that gesture precisely mean GTF out of here, in a not friendly way (in fact Harper clarify that it's not for Mamma Rosa) With the stereotypycal hand gesture you have to be aware that can mean an harsh 'what do you want?' but also can mean 'what the fuck you want?'. I assure you that you can start a fight doing that at the wrong person. In my opinion it's so famous even in the US because a lot of tourist stare at an italian that they don't know.

As an Italian, watching this was super fun 😂😂😂 loved it !

I am a 55 year old Italian/Sicilian American. A few I knew others I didn't. Many of the older people who are all gone now use to use them . I still do in some form or another .

I grew up in a middle class family in Aotearoa/ New Zealand and was pretty much born gesticulating. Growing up my mother would make me sit on my hands cos, "well brought up young ladies don't gesticulate". Went to Italy in my 20s and l still remember the, "Oh my God, l've found my people " moment l had when l saw EVERYBODY waving their arms around. It was wonderful. I stayed there for nearly 20 years. I lived in Bologna and while most of these gestures were familiar, some weren't and 3 of my favourites weren't there. It made me wonder if hand gestures are as regional as food and language. Obviously it's difficult to describe something purely visual with just words but, here goes. The "cut cheek" - a thumb nail pulled downwards on your (own) cheek. My friends told me it came from the gypsies who, in the old days the would slash your face if they caught you looking at one of their women and which meant that person is SO good looking it would be worth getting your face cut to spend time with them. The "drilled tooth" - the tip of your finger against your cheek at tooth height and rotated back and forth. From something being SO good that you would eat so much you'd need a dentist. And the "eye pull" - your lower eyelid pulled down slightly with one finger. Which depending on context could mean, be careful, keep an eye on them (or the situation) they might try to trick you or, l've got my eye on you, as in, I'm on to your tricks and l'm watching you. Anyway, another great episode from you guys and thanks for bringing back memories of a very happy time in my life.

I always figured in my mind that the gesture of rotating the fist with thumb and forefinger up (to Say "it's gone, it's out") simulated the shaking of a box that makes no noise because it is empty... Isn't It?

Actually the last gesture has different meanings besides that. Expresses doubt, that is when an Italian has a doubt. It can be used as: "What do you want from me?", "What are you doing?", "What does he-she say?" ... it can be used in different ways.

Eva's hair is amazing.

Thankyou for making this video! It made me laugh out loud. I love your cooking videos too and made your cacio e pepe the other day and it was an absolute revelation! I love the way you combine travel, family, culture and fun.

How about an Italian vocab lesson of all the items, utensils, etc. Actually I would like Eva to use both English and Italian while she shows us her marvelous cooking skills. Love your videos!

The "fear" sign is also used in Mexico. It means your rectum is clenching. We also use the sign for "many people" but with closed fingers, without opening and closing.

The hand sign on the stomach is also done, probably divided by north south, also in the chest, as a horizontal open hand doing two bumps to the center of the chest and is usually preceded by "That guy to me is a" "Quello a me mi sta sui -" Also the chin gesture is also usually done as two quick gestures instead of one long one, meaning "who cares" and is usually more friendly than the long one Ehi did you hear about Sara she got a new bycicle "who cares"

As someone from the other end of the Mediterranean, I think it would be funny to have an episode where gestures are compared to see their commonalities and differences. Hand gestures, eyebrow raises and sneers at 10 paces!

The thicker frames suit you better Harper, I feel like the wire ones are somehow aging you.

"I'm not a cool teacher..." ROFL! That was hilarious ♥

A superb video, I guess stuffing my hands in my pockets might be the safest option.

Harper and Eva have a wonderful Labor Day! 🇺🇸🌊🇮🇹 from SW Florida Ciao, Al 💕

You had me laughing I was so wrong on so many of the gestures. Watching Eva face as she did some lead me down a different understanding until she explained it. Then it made more sense. This gesture remind me of handgrenades handle the correctly ok but do them wrong and you could very well find you in a extremely toxic situation, so the warning us if not sure don't use them or you may get some bad reaction you don't want.

Being Italian, I remember a lot of these gestures when I was a small child. I’ve always said, Italians talk with their hands, they’re very animated and couldn’t be still while talking if you paid them a million dollars. But they’re so darn funny. Some are new to me, some familiar, and I noticed you left out the bad words, lol 😂. It’s sort of like Signing for those who are hearing impaired in Italy.

Another enjoyable video. Thanks for a smile this morning.

Thank you Eva for the great lesson! 👍🏻✨ Only knew a few as an Italian American growing up, happy to know these so I don’t insult anyone and learned some new gestures to practice being more Italian🎯

Fun! The one that surprised me the most was the “tsk” with the head jerked back for “no.” It’s THE gesture for “no” in Greece and Turkey, but I had no idea they did it in Italy too. Is it particularly southern there, or throughout Italy? Also the expression “to digest someone” is translatable directly into Greek. “Δεν τον χονεύω” (I don’t digest him) means “I don’t like him, I can’t deal with him.”

Can’t believe I have seen most of these. There are so many. Glad to learn! 👍🏼

Falling in love with both of you and your content 🙌💝