Have a question that has been nagging you for a while now, but you are too embarrassed to ask aloud? Worry not, email us your question and Susie shall answer!
This week, Susie was asked, ‘Can I use my hands too much?’
First things first, “Are you Italian? Or any part Italian? Or you went to Italy this one time, can’t get over the Mediterranean food that you ate there and don’t want anyone to forget that you went on a trip to Italy?”
If your answer to any of these questions is yes, then, “ No, you are not using your hands too much. Keep doing what you are doing. You are in the clear. And yes, we remember (because you keep reminding us every second day) that the pizza that we eat here is not real pizza, only the pizza that you ate in Italy was the real deal and sadly, the rest of us are missing out on it.”
For the rest of us, only once in a blue moon do the hand gestures/ using your hands feel too much.
Only when they are -
Hand gestures are a very powerful aspect of communication and study after study has shown that not using them could make you look aloof, mechanical, and rude. If you use the right gestures though, you come across as warm, agreeable, and energetic. Researchers found that the most popular TED Talks were the ones where the speakers used around 465 hand gestures, nearly twice as many as the least popular speakers.
So about 95% of the time, using hand gestures totally works in your favour.
So what is it that you can do for them to be more effective?
So, feel free to talk with your hands. Go forth and use them to express yourself! You will be surprised how people take to you!
P.S. Yes, we know we have been pronouncing Gnocchi and Focaccia wrong all along and now after having lived with locals for exactly three days, you pronounce it just as well as the Italians do.
(Meme format. Original artist: Tate Parker)
