Manos 101: Learning Hand Gestures in Mexico

A few weeks ago I was in vacation in Mexico with my family and we had some good times hanging out with some Mexican friends we've seen over the years at the same vacation spot.  We spent a good couple of hours one night cracking up over all the hand gestures that they use in Mexico.  Friends from both Guadalajara and Leon assured us that everyone uses these gestures.  Of course, we have some common gestures in the states, but after learning several of theirs, I feel we have a serious lack of manual communication.  My Mexican friends, on the other hand, could not believe that these gestures, which they consider totally universal, did not exist in the US.  Yes, there was a large variety of gestures along the lines of "F-you" but there was such an impressive range of every day gestures, that I had plenty of  non-obscene ones to choose from for my blog.  If you're dying to know the "swear words/gestures" you'll just have to go to Mexico yourself.

No thanks.  Enough.  No more

Yeah, we use this too, but did you know how to gesture thank you?

Thank you. 

 

No

Most Americans are familiar with this one, even if used more commonly for scolding or "tsk-tsk-ing", not for a neutral "no."

Yes

I was not at all familiar with the gesture for the opposite of no. It's a bending and straightening of the pointer finger.

Just a minute. Can you wait a second?

 

Again, familiar in the sense of a little bit, but in Mexico it's generally understood that you are asking for someone to wait.

Lots of money.  He's a rich guy.  Richer than rich.  Etc..

Here my Mexican friends are demonstrating with zeal!  One of them explained the gesture as someone holding a huge stack of bills, while another said it is meant to symbolize someone holding a giant gold coin.

Really Crowded.  A lot!  Loaded.

Seeing this gesture I thought it was something a bit more vulgar or rude like they hate the guts of the person they are describing.  And it does have that implication in other latin cultures, but in Mexico (or at least according to these trusted friends and ambassadors to Mexican culture) it simply refers to quantity.  Lots of traffic, lots of people, lots of anything.  Loaded.

Share it with me.  Give me a piece.

Wow!  Why don't we have a gesture for this?  So helpful across a crowded table of delicious food! As you can kind of tell from the middle guy's mouth, they also often accompany this gesture with a whistling sound, as if you could hear the knife cutting through the food.