I
am encouraged by the fact that every culture has its own body language. In Zanzibar, we developed our own unique body
language most of which were intended to serve a particular purpose and to add
emphasis. Some of the body language was
imported, refined, and was soon disseminated among the general public. Very often the use of Swahili was married to
body gestures which if absent might be construed as being impolite or prudish. A
typical example of this is placing your palm over your heart particularly when
greeting an older person. Isn’t this also true about the French who act out
their language with all manner of gesticulation during a conversation? Perhaps acting out one’s language is a primordial
instinct when man used sign language to get a thought across.
As
young growing up boys for example, it was quite common when you were not
believed, to call upon God to be your witness to what you were stressing. It involved taking the middle finger and
rubbing one’s throat vigorously from left to right and uttering the words: “I
swear before God.” This simply meant
that you were telling the truth and nothing but the truth. It was calling upon God to strike you dead
by cutting off your throat if you were lying. More often than not it was a lie or a half
truth but somehow our merciful God looked the other way.
When
two boys decided that they were going to be life-long buddies, they hooked
their little fingers together as a demonstration of their bonding. I was never
able to understand why the other fingers were ignored.
If
there was a disagreement between two friends or more and you did not agree with
one of them or all of them, you ran your index finger in circles around your
temple to indicate that someone was crazy. If there was a crowd present this
action usually invited a whole lot of derisive laughter. Sometimes it ended in
a fist fight because of the inherent insult in the action.
One
body language sign was showing ones tongue to someone you did not like. This sign seems to be very universally
recognized. It was also considered a
very juvenile act but there were also some older people who obviously had not
grown up yet.
Rubbing
ones chin with thumb and index finger displayed that you were indulging in deep
thought. It also projected the image
that the individual was about to utter some wisdom based on past experience.
Beating
ones chest with one’s fist just before a fight was a demonstration of how angry
and serious you were going to take the fight and that the opponent better back
off for he was going to get badly hurt. Most onlookers, however, knew that it
was a sign of bravado and that the guy banging away at his chest was scared
stiff.
Showing
ones middle finger was definitely not a sign of friendship and represented some
kind of digital interference with an organ south of the stomach. It was a
coarse way of expressing your disagreement.
So
was also the act of closing one’s fist and then stretching one’s forearm in an
outward motion. This represented a swear
word. It was used when articulating the word might cause some eye-brow lifting particularly
when used in the presence of older people.
It had something to do with the act of procreation.
Striking
a friend on the back, sometimes quite hard, was an indication of deep
friendship. Fortunately, there was never
any report of ruptured backbones. Some individuals viewed any touching on the
back as an act of disrespect and it invited an appropriate physical response
from the recipient.
Cupping
one’s ears when talking to someone usually indicated that the individual was
surprised at what he heard. It could
also mean that you could not understand a word your opponent was saying.
During
an argument spitting (with an exaggerated sound that accompanies it) away from
the individual during an argument was always recognized to be distasteful even
when done without any visible sign of spit flying. The sound of spitting was a
requirement to make the insult or disagreement more caustic.
Another
sign of disapproval in an argument or simple conversation was to utter a
clicking sound made by the tongue when it was rubbed against the upper palate
and the mouth was suddenly opened. There were other sounds precipitated by the
tongue that were transcribed to be an expression of disagreement or disgust.
During
a discussion, striking your forehead with the palm of your hand was an
indication that you had forgotten something important. It could also be construed as a form of
disagreement or disgust with what is being said.
Scratching
ones head during a conversation or an argument simply meant that there was an
important issue which temporarily had been forgotten. It was also an indication
that one could not understand the logic of what was just said.
Showing
someone your fist was an indication that your temper was reaching its boiling
point and that a physical confrontation was inevitable.
Placing
your index finger over your mouth was a call for silence. In the Convent School it was a polite way of
telling the teacher that the student wanted to go to the bathroom. If the student crossed his or her legs, it
meant that it was very urgent. If a student stretched his hand and showed
either one or two fingers it suggested to the teacher which function was under
consideration.
I
am sure that many more features of body language have been forgotten with the
passage of time and I am sure that many new ones have evolved since, and no
matter how much I place my right hand over my mouth, and narrow my eyes to remember,
nothing more seems to crystallize.
