the indian head wobble

@perthmtb – you’ll all be wanting to come home when the minerals run out and the Chinese take their cash elsewhere.

Oh, and it’s lovely and sunny outside here in the countryside, where nothing is waiting to terminally bite, sting, eat or generally kill us. 😀

and pretty dull by all accounts, hence why all the old brits are wanting to live there and be dull and boring, and virtually everyone under 25 wants to move to the UK 😉

Everyone I met who wants to emigrate to Aus seems to be a constant whinger. The Aussies that I’ve met here seem to be looking for (and finding) excitement and adventure.

So I’m not that bothered about the weather 🙂

Thinking about it, the ‘two fingers’ thing isn’t a bad analogy actually.

Good to see you thought about it after writing it.

He was talking alut his colleagues, i did read that. The streotyping came from it being called the Indian Head Wobble, stereotyping because it’s not a particualrly Indian thing. Much calling it the European shrug. Or the European 2 fingered salute.

…and i don’t think we are having a discussion about racism are we?

But that’s not to say all Europeans are into cheek-love or that it’s an exclusively European trait

So we wouldn’t call it the Eurpoean Cheek kiss?

the most expensive place in the world to live

nothing is waiting to terminally bite, sting, eat or generally kill us

pretty dull by all accounts, and virtually everyone under 25 wants to move to the UK

Everyone I met who wants to emigrate to Aus seems to be a constant whinger

He he, forget about the Indian head wobble, now we’re getting some really good generalisations and stereotypes coming out …

I could address each of your gross misconceptions individually, but it’s easier to just leave it to the UN who I’d hope you’d believe more than me anyway, and who’ve consistently rated Australia as number two in their Human Development Index, which the tabloids like to call the “where’s the best place in the world to live” table…

Now, let me see, where’s the UK in this…

Oh, there you are, at number 27, right above the Czech Republic 😀

Wujalukkadat, how the bejaysusin ****’ love of mary and joseph did Oireland make it onto dat list?!?!?!?

good point even the Oirish dont want to live there

Oirish

🙁

Et tu…

Oireland

I copied you and still it is wrong…you sure we aint married 😉

@perthmtb

He he, forget about the Indian head wobble, now we’re getting some really good generalisations and stereotypes coming out …

Bloody right Bruce, don’t mind if we call you Bruce do you, saves confusion?

“There’s more to Ireland den dis”

Bloody right Bruce, don’t mind if we call you Bruce do you, saves confusion?

Don’t mind at all, but that’s clearly a Pom (don’t mind if I call you that do you?) trying to impersonate Bruce as he’s so pasty white…

stereotyping because it’s not a particualrly Indian thing

That would be making a mistake, rather than stereotyping, I reckon.

I could address each of your gross misconceptions individually

There wouldn’t be much point, since it’s meaningless banter.

But if you are going to bring out league tables, can I ask – are whinging ex-pat poms considered a factor in the UN statistics?

PS I could have moved to no 3 on that list, but instead we live in no 27 cos we much prefer it…

Best place to live and place where people most want to live are very different.

If I were to live abroad it would be in Australia or USA.

The reason it wouldn’t be Norway (number 1 best place) is because I don’t speak the language and so my employment prospects would be worse.

Also Ireland coming in at 7 makes a mockery of that list anyway! No weather, no economy, no chance.

I would learn Norwegian or another Scandinavian language for the benefits it’d bring tbh.

For example that if you have a kid in the USA you still have to pay many thousands of dollars even if insured, and the statutory maternity leave is two weeks un-paid.

In Finland you get it all for free and a whole year’s paid leave to divide up between either parent as you wish.

Norway is just so ridiculosly expensive, Stavanger at least is, and i dont think many brits could adapt to the lifestyle out there.

Best place to live and place where people most want to live are very different.

Absolutely. I’d like to live in Canada, NZ or the US. Not interested in Oz at all.

i dont think many brits could adapt to the lifestyle out there.

Why so? (interested, not challenging)

It has very tough winters, the day light is very short in winter and I think most brits would be too soft to cope with it.

considering how shit we are in the UK when we get a few inches of snow, I think most would crumble in Norway.

@perthmtb – strewth no mate, it’s more polite than I get most of the time. 😉

Think he must be a Crim, there are too many detailed clichés for a simple Pom to figure out. 😀

Well no, cos you’d have winter tyres on your car and your town would employ teams of snow clearers and hundreds of ploughs working all winter long. At least that’s what they did in Helsinki.

We’re actually no softer than anywhere else. We just don’t spend the money that other places do, cos we don’t need to. The only thing that really makes us different as people is how much we bloody well whinge about how rubbish we think we are.

Also, in terms of latitude Norway overlaps the UK. Stavanger is on the same latitude as parts of Scotland, so there’s not that much different in daylight amounts.

I struggle with long sentences

Back to the OP.

The “Indian head wobble” as you describe it, I’ve seen it occasionally. IIRC Michael Palin described it in his Round The World in 80 Days series when he was in southern India. Not exactly sure which area but it was common there and not generally seen else where in India. Just a local trait really.

Not racist or stereotyping. The hand wringers do like to be offended proxy don’t they?

Sooooo, I haven’t missed much while I’ve been away.

*The STW forum*
🙄

Hand wringers need to look at what Wiki says:
Head bobble
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The head bobble, head wobble, or Indian head shake refers to a common gesture found in South Asian cultures, most notably in India. The motion usually consists of a side-to-side tilting of the head in arcs along the coronal plane.[1] A form of nonverbal communication, it may mean “Yes”, “Good”, “OK” or “I understand”, depending on the context.[2][3]
In India the gesture is common in the southern parts, but may not be used consistently all around the country.[4][5][6

overlaps Scotland?

please about 5% overlaps the rest is in the arctic circle.

and as brits dont do things properly it would be a tough learning curve to get used to life in Norway,
As for day light I can’t remember the uk being famous for its endless nights of winter.
And Helsinki is in Finland.

Damn racist wikipedia…. 😉

Is it restricted to India? I ask because my Pakistani agent used to ask me to do an Indian impression, which involved wobbling the head and uuttering silly Indian type expressions. He always used to ask when we were relaxing over a fresh lime and Seven-up and he and his family used to roll on the floor with laughter.

The same agent, when I asked him which nation was the scapegoat for Pakistanis, told me “We make jokes about sick people”. I was a bit shocked and replied that it wasn’t their fault they were sick and I thought it was poor taste. “No!” he replied, “not sick people in hospital, sick people with turbans!”

Can’t believe anyone who visits India, even for a day, could miss the ubiquitious head wobble!

As for day light I can’t remember the uk being famous for its endless nights of winter.

Surely you’re not getting ‘the UK’ mixed up with ‘the South-East of the UK’.. ?

yeah quite a bit of hatred going on between indians and Pakistanis, can get ugly at times.

but never noticed the Pakistani guys doing the head thing.

Can’t believe anyone who visits India, even for a day, could miss the ubiquitious head wobble!

Once again, not ubiquitous.

The “Indian head wobble” as you describe it, I’ve seen it occasionally. IIRC Michael Palin described it in his Round The World in 80 Days series when he was in southern India. Not exactly sure which area but it was common there and not generally seen else where in India. Just a local trait really.

Not racist or stereotyping. The hand wringers do like to be offended proxy don’t they?

1) no one has said it is racist
2) by your own hand younhave saidit is a local trait, not national, hence to ascribe it to all the people of that nation is generalisation and stereotyping.
3) no one is wringing hands
4) no one has claimed to be offended.

But othert than that, you make some very good points.

Damn racist wikipedia….

Does wikipedia have an entry for Indian Head Wobble? What’s that? No? Well, that isinteresting

I came across the side to side head wobble a lot in north India around Darjeeling and in Sikim. It seem to be multi-functional meaning ok, yes, I understand or even just an acknowledgment that they were listening. I’ve seen a few people from Kashmir living in the uk using it as well.

Jeez, I like to be uber-PC and challenge ‘isms, stereotyping and all of that aplenty, but this really is the most contrived argument I’ve seen on here, ever.

Not really an argument, despite the subtle manouevring and sidetracks. It is clealry stereotyping. I think the discussion has moved beyond that.

Does wikipedia have an entry for Indian Head Wobble? What’s that? No? Well, that isinteresting

The head bobble, head wobble, or Indian head shake

Because calling it the Indian head shake instead of wobble makes it entirely different…… 🙄

sorry molgrips i thought I was going mad there for a minute.

yes the UK does overlap with Norway

where the Shetland islands are about 60’N and the average UK Latitude is 54’N,
Oslo is at 60’N and Norway stretches up to about 73’N

oh how our two countries are so alike, I should have realised.

It is clealry stereotyping

I vote no.

oh how our two countries are so alike, I should have realised.

Are they really into sarcasm in Norway then too?

Anyway, just to settle that particular silliness – Inverness mid-winter = 6h35m of daylight, Stavanger = 6h11m of daylight.

Does wikipedia have an entry for Indian Head Shake? What’s that? No? Well, that isinteresting