this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2023
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[–] [email protected] 41 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Up and down are true but left and right are made up

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Not so much made as highly dependent on context. Ie, it depends what you're nodding towards.

But up and down... yeah, they've been pretty universal wherever I've been. Kinda cool, really!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, my understanding is that the side depends on context but also eye movement, like with the "check that out" you can move/roll your eyes to the side you're pointing to to signal that, while the "come over here" is a quick move to the side you're pointing and moving back to the center

You can also count mouth movement too but that depends on the person, some faces are rock solid and don't move unless they talk and some are doing all kinds of facial expressions

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Up and down is "guy code" but side to side is just universal "look/go over there"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Can confirm

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Up and down are reversed for black dudes. I hope this can clear up communications between the races.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Whaaat my friend group is multiracial and we all do it the same

[–] spikespaz 1 points 10 months ago

That's probably because your cultures have been mixed considerably.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 10 months ago

Left and right are not correct. A sideways tilt of the head while maintaining eye contact means "follow me", a sideways tilt of the head with a glance in that direction means "look over there."

[–] dudinax 17 points 10 months ago

A man's up nod is for a stranger: "I will not try to kill you if you don't try to kill me."

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago (4 children)

It's not.

"Hey, look at that girl/car/tree/Chihuahua" isn't a left nod. It's eye contact, then you look at the thing.

"Come here/go there, let's talk" isn't a right nod. It's a weird neck movement where your head is kind of sideways and you're nodding in the direction of the place you want them to go. You usually use "Hey, look at that tree" first before you try to get them to go to the tree to talk.

Can confirm up and down are correct enough, though. Up is for people you know, down is for people you don't.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago

⬆️⬆️⬇️⬇️⬅️➡️⬅️➡️🅱️🅰️start unlocks friendship.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I can confirm your analysis is 100% accurate. Excellent work.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Oh, good point! Nodding with the chin is different from nodding with the... forehead I guess.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Up is for people you know, down is for people you don't.

I don’t think this is exactly true. It’s all about your facial expression. You can give a stranger an up nod if you kinda give a, “eh. What a day, huh?” kind of expression. You can greet people you know with a down nod with a kind of, “g’day sir” expression. Here are many varieties on this.

But if you keep your face blank/hard, then yeah, I can see an up nod to a stranger coming off as hostile.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

We men are simple creatures. Makes sense to have simple language.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

My favorite lie!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

⬅️➡️ : What is love? Baby don't hurt me. Don't hurt me... no more.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

Men turning around so they can nod to the girl on the right:

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Is the beard necessary to achieve this skill?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago
[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

It would help a lot.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Bro you know: nod the head up like "what up bro"

Bro you don't know: nod the head down to show respect.

Supposedly, these types of greetings are ingrained from centuries ago in the sword and shield days, where if you didn't know someone, you would give a downward head nod to not expose your neck (to get sliced).

Whereas if you knew the person you were greeting, you could give the upward nod and not worry about exposing your neck.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I always expose my neck to my homies.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Homies love necks

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

I nodded down while reading. Lol

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

The beard looks fake and it's weirding me out.

Also, as an autistic person, you're missing a gesture. It's to stop moving and stare in horror like a deer in the headlights, because you're unsure what's happening or how to respond.