The Definitive Book of Body Languagespread tuberculosis around, so people were as alarmed by that
prospect as they would be if you could spread AIDS by spitting.Modern nose-blowing is the result of a
post epidemic of tuberculosis.If tuberculosis had been a problem in Eastern countries, the cul-
tural reaction would be the same as with Westerners. As a result
the Japanese are appalled when someone produces a handker-
chief, blows their nose into it and puts it back in their pocket
purse or up their sleeve! Japanese are unimpressed at the English
custom of men wearing a handkerchief in their jacket top
pocket. This is the equivalent of proudly dangling a roll of toilet
paper from the pocket, ready for action. Asians believe, correctly,
that it is a healthier option to spit but it is a habit that is repul-
sive to Westerners and Europeans. This is why business meetings
between Westerners and Europeans can fail when they've all got
a cold. So don't feel upset by an Asian who spits or snorts and
never blow your nose in front of a Japanese person.
The Three Most Common Cross-Cultural
Gestures
Let's examine the cultural interpretations and implications of
three common hand gestures, the Ring, the Thumb-Up and the
V-sign.
1.The Ring
This gesture was popularised in the USA during the early nine-
teenth century by the newspapers that were starting a craze or
using initials to shorten common phrases. There are many dif-
ferent views about what the initials 'OK' originally stood for,
some believing it stood for 'all correct' which was regularly
misspelled as 'oil korrect', while others say that it means the
opposite of 'knock-out' that is, KO.