Filipino Gestures

One time, we were in the market with my Mom (while she was here for a visit). The butcher asked her if she wants a pound of that shrimp and in reply- she just raised her eyebrows. The guy was so confused and so Jim was laughing hysterically. He was so amused at my Mom’s reply. Well, after a while of being together- my husband had mustered some gesture that’s very alien to him. And after some minor disappointments, he finally gave up and we just blame it to the culture, lol! I believed it’s really part of the culture or maybe things just turned into a habit and had been passed from generation to generation. Like for instance, nodding means “yes”, shaking the head means “no”, raising the eyebrows means “yes” or pointing the mouth means “it’s right over there”.

Or like when we eat dinner, we do have a table downstairs but we just love to sit on the couch in the bonus room to watch TV while eating. He used to tease me when I sit on the couch with my two feet- sitting like a frog and eat the food with my fingers (when it’s dry food). Just like this:Or just simply whistling "psssssstttt" which means calling the attention. I forgot one time that Jim doesn't know anything about that, I called him with my "pssstt" in the gorcery store and I was so surprised nobody never really looked at me, lol!

Well, blame it to the culture- I guess :) Recognizing and understanding the uniqueness of other people’s cultures are equally important for better communication. Indeed, to us Filipinos- action speaks louder than words.