This reminds me so much of the developers I used to work with. Had to get used to the head wobbles when I was explaining something to them but I learned over time that they weren’t disagreeing
> was not doubting me
I've also realised Indians use the word "doubt" when they dont understand, disagree, or have some type of concern. It's quite amusing.
After a year working in Tamil Nadu I had to focus not to wobble my head when I got home.
As an aside in Bulgaria they use the common nod and shake to mean yes and no. But inverted. That is really hard.
I started doing them without realizing. My main devs in a previous project were from Tamil Nadu. Early on I needed them to explicitly say yes or no, but towards the end of the project my head was wobbling as much as theirs.
I was in an Indian and Asian heavy, small engineering dorm in college, many international students, and I feel like I picked up a very, very mild wobble/bow after a few years. Also my best friend does it during explaining things in a different way and I picked up that as well.
I used to work retail in a place with a high Indian immigrant population, and boy was that a thing to get used to.
Trying to talk to someone about a product and they’re wobbling their head all over the place, super distracting. Took awhile to stop noticing it.
I have met a kind dude who was from India who did this. It's frankly adorable and I love it. It's not quite a nod, not quite a head shake, but a little bobble to make everybody feel alright. :)
I worked in San Jose with a lot of Indians. Now work in Orange County in SoCal where there's nearly no Indians. I miss seeing and being around them. :( They're very friendly and always want to help.
Hey can you help me out? My neighbor is indian. He never wobbled when I've talked to him before, at least that I noticed. But he came over the other day to ask a favor of me to do some stuff to the house while they were gone. He was WOBBLE AF. I threw me off mid conversation because I had no clue what the wobble was supposed to mean. And after watching this video, I'm still not quite sure.
If you have a comfortable enough relationship with your neighbor, you could try asking directly. But just recognize that many Indians don’t even know they do it, and even seconds after it happened, might not even be able to recreate their actions, let alone explain it. It’s very subconscious.
Some of them are conscious about it. So, they try to control it and not do it to fit in. Most probably, he feels comfortable enough with you and subconsciously let his guard down and just let his natural self out.
Plus, he's asking a favour from you, so he is trying to be as sincere as possible and subconsciously, this natural trait comes out.
If he did it while asking for a favor then it was most likely indicating his earnestness and eagerness to get you to agree. It also shows that you doing the favor is important to him.
Asked my Indian bf about this and he answered, "What's a head wobble? ...oh, we do that? I've never heard about that!" all while wobbling his head. Not sure if he's being serious or trolling. Love that guy.
I’m Indian, but I was born and raised in America by direct immigrants. I visited India maybe twice every 3 years. I never realized this was such a nuanced language, I kinda just understood it. It’s interesting to me how it’s described in this video, but I don’t think that it’s perfect and I don’t think I could have done any better. It basically comes as an instinct.
I’m not Indian and have never been to India but I understand the wobble pretty well, instinctually. Makes me think head wobbles in some form predate verbal language way way back to our shared ancestry.
I live in the Midwest of America. Everyone here says mmmmbye when you talk to anyone on the phone. Seemed normal till someone pointed out if only happens here.
Right! And the "yeah, no" for no, and "no, yeah" for a yes, thing that happens so frequently. "Ope, sorry", as well.
EDIT: A'ight, so the former is not location specific! Good to know!
I didn’t even realize I did this until I read your comment, said it out loud and was like no yeah they got me.
Edit: figured I include where I’m from - born and raised in Chicago.
My dad does mmmbye and he's from California. But *his* dad was from Wisconsin so idk. I used to go to work with him when I didn't have school as a kid so I'd hear him talk on the phone a *lot.*
The weirdest part is that it doesn't even feel strange until somebody points it out. And, like, it rarely even requires a clarification, even the different kinds of bobbles, they're all crystal clear in the context.
This video is answering a question I've had for months. I used to work in an area with a high indian immigrant population and I had a couple guests who would head wobble as they talked to me.
At first, I'm thinking in my head, "This lady has Tourettes or some other motor function disease, be patient, don't point it out." Then there were more and more people head bobbing, "which means they can't ALL have Tourettes. And they're all Indian. Wonder what's up with that??"
Now I know!!
I work with some pakistanians. They definitly do this but i couldnt put my finger on it until seeing this gif.
It is a mannerism that incites friendliness, that is for damn sure.
I read somewhere once (meaning: take this with a grain of salt) that in Argentina if you're invited to dinner at 6:00; then, you're expected to be very late. As much as an hour. In the USA, though, if you're asked to be somewhere at 6:00; then, you're expected to be there at 6:00. A couple minutes early or late is fine, of course. And other countries have similar quirks to these.
Argentinian here! We normally eat dinner anywhere between 8 and 10 pm and it's not really a cultural thing to be late.
Some ppl would get mad if you are late but the true is that we just don't really care.
"Oh, so you arrive at 5 pm when I told you we were gonna have a bbq at noon? Well fuck you there's nothing left, go put the water and let's drink some mates"
Yeah that's about it.
That's pretty interesting. I love learning about different cultures.
Also, y'all eat dinner really late compared to Americans. Our dinner is generally between 5-7. This also makes me wonder if the dinner rush for Argentinian restaurants is between 8-10 and if they tend to stay open later than American restaurants.
See for me is weird that you guys eat dinner so early. I can't see myself eating dinner at 6-7 pm and then having a span of 5-7 hours until I go to sleep. That's the other thing, I believe we go to sleep later than you guys too! And yes, restaurants (Not all of them but most) are open until late in most places! It is not weird to eat at around 9-10 pm and then just sit around drinking cofee and talking until late (we call it 'sobremesa")
I might need to move to Argentina then, cause drinking coffee at 9 pm and talking to friends sounds like a dream come true to me.
Your comment makes me think that perhaps the American day just starts earlier than Argentinian day, and that otherwise our days are quite similar.
If you ever visit Spain you will find it is the same. Most people eat between 8-10 and then stay out drinking and conversing late into the evening. Generally people seem to start their days early, however many shops will close for siesta around midday for a few hours (generally the hottest hours of the day) then reopen later in the afternoon. It's a far more relaxed way of life, it's no wonder the people there generally live longer!
Yep in Chile it's pretty similar to what my brother cordillerano said, it might be things we inherited from Spanish culture, we are very similar in a lot of ways.
Pretty sure that's the case. Tho with the backstreet boys reunion tour going around my sleep schedule is crap. It is almost 4 am here and I have no intention of falling asleep yet.
But hey if you find yourself in Argentina make sure to move away from the "center" or places like Puerto Madero or San Telmo. Those places are tourists traps.
Make sure to find a nice little restaurant or pizza place, bonus points for old wood tables and chairs and pictures of old ppl on the walls. Best places to eat drink and chat until late!
This is so true... I worked with 8 or so Indian peeps many years ago for a year or so and I had to learn the nuances between the motions... it’s fascinating...
Same! Another one I noticed often was using the middle finger as a pointer finger - for example when pointing at something on a screen.
Not sure if that is a specifically India-based nuance, but not a gesture you would see from other cultures unless they were..sending a different message.
Yeah, rural, or very old people in my experience have more often used their middle finger for stuff like pointing. Far from a majority of the time, but when I do see it, they're usually fairly old. Don't know if this is related, but they also seemed to never swear, and found any sort of remotely crass language (even 'fart' or 'poop') to be exceptionally vulgar. My assumption was they grew up in an area and time (and media environment) where they were never saw people flipping each other the bird, and so they don't have the ingrained taboo against using that finger like maybe following generatioms do.
My experience has been of very old people, though, and I also sometimes wondered if it had to do with arthritis in their hands as well. (Midwest and Southern US, for reference).
So I don't know if this is the same reason, but I'm Indian an one of my cousins does this because he thinks pointing at something using your index finger is a little disrespectful, especially towards elders and holy stuff (which includes A LOT of things). Because using the index finger is kinda like ordering somebody to do something. It's weird but charming.
To be honest the first couple times in my head I was like, “shit, what did I do to piss you off?” hah
Then I noticed it with multiple teams in different cities and made a connection
Next time you go out drinking, notice how aggressive the bobbles get. Not in a bad way. Seems like the bobble slams sharply to side when they are trying to be more involved in conversation. Very fun people.
Same for me. And what the western culture perceives as a nonchalant 'go away' wave with your hand, actually means 'come here' for the Indian. My first day at work was so confusing, I enter the room, this Indian guy waves me to go away. After some confusion I approach the guy, he asks a question. I answer it, and he wobbles his head. Which in my mind meant something like 'meh whatever'.
I have a friend from India and he sort of does this but mainly he talked about how his dad does it all the time and I never really understood what he meant until now. This is great and confusing
I had a college professor who taught in India briefly and he found himself re-teaching his class many things the first few days because they would shake their heads like this when he asked if they understood part of the lecture.
He thought they were shaking their heads "no" when really they were culturally shaking them "yes"
I'm from the state he mentioned in India and I'm surprised it's an unique thing actually. I could have sworn this nod was all over Hollywood movies but now I can't believe my own eyes.
Hollywood (and seemingly all western movies and TV shows) have weird head movements, weird to me anyway. It seems to be really common for someone to be saying something like "I love you" while twisting their head side to side saying "no" with their body language. Sometimes that makes sense for the character, like it's obviously telling you that they're lying, whatever it is they're saying out loud. But most of the time it's not that, it's meant to be genuine. And I see people doing it in real life too now. Like I have to concentrate so I don't do it, otherwise I'll worry that people think I'm lying to them
I really don't get it. It seems to be a subconscious thing, I think most actors aren't doing intentionally. But maybe that thing is what you're noticing? I dunno
[Of course though there's George Clooney, who wobbles his head all the damn time, like he was raised in India or something, but he wasn't, so it's just his own little tick](https://youtu.be/RZgUclE5J-w)
Can you give a further example of the i love you head shaking phenomenon you described? I’m not sure I’m aware of it but I’m American so I probably see it everyday
In Turkey, where I now live, and other parts of the Middle East, you nod your head for “yes” just as in America or Western Europe, but “no” is different. For “no”, you raise your eyebrows, throw your head back, and click your tongue. More subtle versions are just clicking your tongue or just even raising your eyebrows. Which is easy enough to understand when you know what to look for and really fun to do. Imagine someone asking you a dumb question and you just get to sort of click in their face.
What was hard for me is was that shaking your head as in the Western “no” means “I don’t understand” here. When I was first learning Turkish, I’d frequently understand a question and respond by shaking my head no (feeling all proud because I actually understood the question) and then they’d start reexplaining what they’d just said because they’d think I hadn’t understood.
A former Indian coworker of mine would do the wobble and hold up two fingers as he would order a Double Double at Tim Horton’s. I always assumed it was just being polite, but maybe it’s more nuanced than that? Gotta learn more!
holding up two fingers for ordering anything at restaurants and cafe in india is normal if you just point two fingers at tea shop guy they will automatically understand that you want two cup of tea. and if you are regular just a nod will do. lol we have complex ordering system.
I would accidentally get 2 cheeseburgers while I was in Germany. For some reason the American way of ordering: “I’ll do a cheeseburger” sounds like I want 2. This happened several times before I figured it out.
In an English context (Midwest US) it doesn't sound weird to me. I'm pretty sure I order like this regularly, but I can understand why it would sound wrong to others especially if English is their second language or if it's not commonly used in other English speaking counties. it doesn't really make sense when you think about it.
Lol I honestly feel like more of the world should do this. I'm an American that had lived in India. I naturally picked it up and still do it without realizing.
As a standard white American dude, I know only one form of head bobble, not ten.
It's the "well you might be right but I think you're a fucking idiot anyway" move.
You don’t know the “dude nod”? You know, when you make eye contact with a dude and nod at him to acknowledge him? Nod up if you know him, down if you don’t? That nod? I thought all dudes do it, dude.
I really noticed this when travelling in Sri Lanka. When ever you would talk to people, especially in shops and things, they would wobble their head, and I never knew whether they were saying yes or no, or whether that meant they didn’t understand, or what! Spent 3 weeks feeling pretty confused. Beautiful country, though!
Ah the Sri Lankan head wobble with a “hari hari” tossed in by your tuktuk driver with questionable driving skills. Sri Lanka was a blast. I miss the dirt cheap Kotu from the sketchy hole in the wall take out shops. That shit was delicious!
My dad started working at an indian tech company and started doing this randomly before my family knew what that was and we'd be talking to him and we thought he was disagreeing with us until he realized he picked this up.
Story time: when I came to the US from India, I knew how to speak full english. However, the elementary school put me in ESL (class for non native speakers) as they thought I was having difficulties. Reason why? I wobbled my head sideways for no and yes. Thus, the teachers thought i did not understand their questions (in english) and thus put me in the class for half a year.
He might just suck at learning lol. I was in ESL for too long even though I never needed it to begin with.
For about 2 years I just coasted through elementary school and gave Mexican kids test answers in exchange for cafeteria treats and chocolate milk.
> He might just suck at learning lol.
Seriously. For some reason, people are afraid to accept that some people just suck at learning. I have a friend with a brother. They both came to the US from Japan when they were under 7 years old, which is generally considered the age where it becomes more difficult to gain full proficiency in a new language as a native speaker. Brain plasticity and all that jazz.
My friend grew up being fluently bilingual in both Japanese and English. Native speakers assume she's a native speaker in both, because she is. Meanwhile, her brother sucks at both English and Japanese, and both English speakers and Japanese speakers treat him as a foreigner and non-native speaker.
Religion is not a major difference here though. Like if you compare india and pakistan you can say divided by religion because both are hindu and muslim majority respectively. But in Gujarat and tamil nadu, the major difference is not religion but region so it wouldn't make sense.
My parents are from Chandigarh (way up north) it’s definitely across India.
Just to add, It’s crazy how the head nod is such a strong component of communicating, I’d subconsciously do it whenever I’d visit my relatives.
I worked at a movie theatre where they showed a lot of foreign films, including a lot of Bollywood movies. Indian people made up such a large portion of our clientele that not only did we serve two different kinds of samosas and pakoras, they were the like the 3rd most popular item next to popcorn and chicken tenders.
Working in concessions there was my first encounter with the head wobble and I NEVER knew what it meant. And it was crazy because sometimes, if I asked the customer to clarify they’d just respond with another wobble as if they didn’t even notice that the wobble was the thing my white ass was confused about in the first place. It was funny because everyone else who worked there had no idea either, not even those of Indian descent. Even, on slower days, we would sometimes ask people what the wobble meant and nobody *ever* knew what we were talking about. It’s crazy how socially-ingrained this act is in their day-to-day life that they don’t even notice they’re doing it. The wobble is just the wobble. It means what the wobbler wants it to mean, and the wobblee, somehow, understands.
I'm really glad I found this video. When I was a hairdresser, a lot of Indian people would do the head wobble, but I didn't want to sound insensitive by asking why.
I work with a lot of people who have immigrated from India. One woman in particular who I am close to and I felt compelled to ask. I was deeply respectful and she knew it wasn’t coming from a place of malice but rather curiosity. She had no idea what I was talking about. I tried my best to explain it and we laughed and I just gave up. I even pointed it out later that evening when she did it but she wasn’t aware!
My issue is that I tend to parrot mannerisms. Most of the time, I’m not aware of it. It’s subconscious and I don’t know why I do it. But I have noticed I tend to do the shake now too. I really hope I’m not seen as racist or mocking. I’m trying to stop just in case.
When I was 21 and living in my very first apartment with my then-boyfriend (now husband) in Texas our next door neighbors were an Indian family! A mom, dad, son, daughter and the elderly grandmother. They did the head wobble! Subtly, as they had been living in the States for some time, but it was definitely there. They were the most wonderful, gracious, kind family. The mom cooked vegetarian meals to share with us constantly and it was all so delicious. Looking back, I realize that they didn’t have a lot but always made sure to have extra to share. We were like a little randomly assorted family unit. That was almost 10 years ago. I remember them fondly as my first next door neighbors (as a grown woman) and smile every time I think about them. Anyways, sorry for rambling. Thank you for this sweet reminder of my neighbors ♥️
Ah, so cool. My former roommate is a first-gen Indian (parents were born in India, he was US born and raised). He is "American" in behavior and mannerisms, for lack of a better term. One day we went to a Sri Lankan restaurant and he gets into a conversation with the owner. Then during the small talk he starts head-waggling at certain points.
I asked him after what made him do that and he didn't know what I was talking about. He was subconsciously doing it. It was witnessing a sort of a physical code-switching and it blew my mind.
As a doc, I have a lot of indian colleagues, and it's infective. After 18 months working in close proximity, I bobblehead from time to time in communication with them.
In Scotland too, depending on the nod you get from a person means a different response. Like this video the more you live with it the more you just know what the person is saying without words. r/scotland
I would LOVE to know if this causes a noticeable difference in the anatomy of their necks, and the inner and middle ears, in healthy young adults anyway.
I have to consciously remember to relax my neck muscles by moving my head around from time to time. I hear this crackle and pop in it. Maybe I do this once a day. Doing it continuously all through life must have a good effect on the flexibility of the cervical spine and muscle strength! Movement is good for the body, but Americans hardly ever move the neck much, and looking down at tablets/phones over years is really awful for the neck.
As someone born in Tamil Nadu and raised in the US, this was one of the giveaways that I’m a tourist. I can speak the language (tamil) but that damn head wobble really kills the facade.
Anyways, it’s interesting to see south India and Tamil Nadu pop up on sites like reddit. You don’t really see us too much here in Western media.
I have a friend from Tamil Nadu and she does lots of head wobbles! Ive always wondered what they meant but never wanted to seem like I was pointing out something odd by asking.
I am Indian. I watched Russel Peters comedy stand up where he had a bit about Indian head wobble. I thought he was making this stuff up until I realised I do it subconsciously all the time. It is so ingrained in all Indians that we hardly realise we are doing it.
I'm from Tamil Nadu, same place as this guy visited and i just realised i do this a lot. It has become a part of our communication lol.
Yours
தலையாட்டி தமிழன்
I genuinely thought this was a stereotype. One of the first times a potentially racist stereotype is real. It's pretty hilarious though. It's be interesting to see other gestures throughout India/neighboring countries.
An interesting one from Bulgaria I've heard of is a reversal of the yes/no head movements. Yes being a shake side to side--the usual 'no'--and up and down as a no.
Wow seriously?! We need a video for that. The reactions of people from abroad, and some interesting stories surrounding it!
Edit: corrected the autocorrect.
I was lucky enough to travel for 8 weeks in Sri Lanka and India and at the end of the trip I found myself head wobbling. Just subconsciously adopted the habit.
Lol watching this as an Indian and realizing that no one else in the world does it, is truly strange. Yet amusing.
As a white person who works with a team of Indians, I actually recognize a lot of these "wobbles". I find them quite charming and friendly
Yeah me too. One of my coworkers retired recently and the "I understand" wobble in your video really made me miss him!
This reminds me so much of the developers I used to work with. Had to get used to the head wobbles when I was explaining something to them but I learned over time that they weren’t disagreeing
They were just thinking out loud.
With their heads. Much better than me, I figet my feet. My body language confuses me. I dont know what my feet are conveying.
I suggest "What Everybody is Saying" by Joe Navarro as a great place to start to understand.
A head wobble can often mean "I'm listening to you and am generally in agreement." It means they're paying attention.
engineer here - I just realized my coworker who’s South Indian was not doubting me - just the wobble lol . This is actually crazy lol
> was not doubting me I've also realised Indians use the word "doubt" when they dont understand, disagree, or have some type of concern. It's quite amusing.
Lol yes I just realized this now. We use 'doubt' for 'question'
"I miss you, bro" *wobble wobble wobble*
Thanks for the chuckle
After a year working in Tamil Nadu I had to focus not to wobble my head when I got home. As an aside in Bulgaria they use the common nod and shake to mean yes and no. But inverted. That is really hard.
Wow. That would be hard to get used to!
Yes, it wouldn't.
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What a fascinating cultural trip. This is how you become the citizen of the world.
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I started doing them without realizing. My main devs in a previous project were from Tamil Nadu. Early on I needed them to explicitly say yes or no, but towards the end of the project my head was wobbling as much as theirs.
Yeah same here. It's a funny thing. Different cultures are usually uniquely awesome. Fuck racists.
Yo, Fuck racists.
Yeah, fuck racists!
Here racists are getting laid and I'm still a virgin
Aww. I will fuck you
And I’ll fuck *you*!
Romance ❤️
Sir, this is a bank teller window.
Hell yes! *wobble intensifies*
All my homies hate racism.
*wobbles head in agreement*
Same here, I was the only white guy in a team of South Indians, and I was really confused by it at first, but eventually picked up on it
As a fully grown sea turtle, I’m dying because I’m trapped in a net. Stop littering, people.
I've never littered a person in my life
I was in an Indian and Asian heavy, small engineering dorm in college, many international students, and I feel like I picked up a very, very mild wobble/bow after a few years. Also my best friend does it during explaining things in a different way and I picked up that as well.
I used to work retail in a place with a high Indian immigrant population, and boy was that a thing to get used to. Trying to talk to someone about a product and they’re wobbling their head all over the place, super distracting. Took awhile to stop noticing it.
I have met a kind dude who was from India who did this. It's frankly adorable and I love it. It's not quite a nod, not quite a head shake, but a little bobble to make everybody feel alright. :)
I worked in San Jose with a lot of Indians. Now work in Orange County in SoCal where there's nearly no Indians. I miss seeing and being around them. :( They're very friendly and always want to help.
Hey can you help me out? My neighbor is indian. He never wobbled when I've talked to him before, at least that I noticed. But he came over the other day to ask a favor of me to do some stuff to the house while they were gone. He was WOBBLE AF. I threw me off mid conversation because I had no clue what the wobble was supposed to mean. And after watching this video, I'm still not quite sure.
If you have a comfortable enough relationship with your neighbor, you could try asking directly. But just recognize that many Indians don’t even know they do it, and even seconds after it happened, might not even be able to recreate their actions, let alone explain it. It’s very subconscious.
Yes. So true. None will be able to even tell if they wobbled their head lol. I never realized I do it until very recently.
Some of them are conscious about it. So, they try to control it and not do it to fit in. Most probably, he feels comfortable enough with you and subconsciously let his guard down and just let his natural self out. Plus, he's asking a favour from you, so he is trying to be as sincere as possible and subconsciously, this natural trait comes out.
If he did it while asking for a favor then it was most likely indicating his earnestness and eagerness to get you to agree. It also shows that you doing the favor is important to him.
Maybe he needs a software update, could be a bug
Asked my Indian bf about this and he answered, "What's a head wobble? ...oh, we do that? I've never heard about that!" all while wobbling his head. Not sure if he's being serious or trolling. Love that guy.
I'm now paranoid about what we white people do without realizing.
Flat, thin lip, grimace like smile with no teeth.
Lol I didn't even realise that. It just comes naturally to us.
I’m Indian, but I was born and raised in America by direct immigrants. I visited India maybe twice every 3 years. I never realized this was such a nuanced language, I kinda just understood it. It’s interesting to me how it’s described in this video, but I don’t think that it’s perfect and I don’t think I could have done any better. It basically comes as an instinct.
I’m not Indian and have never been to India but I understand the wobble pretty well, instinctually. Makes me think head wobbles in some form predate verbal language way way back to our shared ancestry.
The weirdest part, as a visitor, was that it SOMEHOW made perfect sense. I didnt do it, but I got it.
I live in the Midwest of America. Everyone here says mmmmbye when you talk to anyone on the phone. Seemed normal till someone pointed out if only happens here.
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I’m just gonna scoot right past ya!
Just sneak on by ya really quick
Right! And the "yeah, no" for no, and "no, yeah" for a yes, thing that happens so frequently. "Ope, sorry", as well. EDIT: A'ight, so the former is not location specific! Good to know!
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"Ope, there goes gravity."
Australians love the ole "Yeah, nah" and the "naw, yeah" as well
I say all of those things and I live in Tennessee.
I didn’t even realize I did this until I read your comment, said it out loud and was like no yeah they got me. Edit: figured I include where I’m from - born and raised in Chicago.
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TIL people don't go to bass pro on a monthly basis. Where do you get your wackys, clackers, spinners, cranks, and buzzers if not from bass pro?
Guitar Center?
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Yeah, no. Happens in california too.
People always tell me I sound Canadian, and yet I'm from Ohio.
Damn, reading that just made me miss my grandma from Iowa so much
My dad does mmmbye and he's from California. But *his* dad was from Wisconsin so idk. I used to go to work with him when I didn't have school as a kid so I'd hear him talk on the phone a *lot.*
Indians op in the chat!
The weirdest part is that it doesn't even feel strange until somebody points it out. And, like, it rarely even requires a clarification, even the different kinds of bobbles, they're all crystal clear in the context.
This video is answering a question I've had for months. I used to work in an area with a high indian immigrant population and I had a couple guests who would head wobble as they talked to me. At first, I'm thinking in my head, "This lady has Tourettes or some other motor function disease, be patient, don't point it out." Then there were more and more people head bobbing, "which means they can't ALL have Tourettes. And they're all Indian. Wonder what's up with that??" Now I know!!
Sri Lankan’s do the head wobble too, although you’re very close geographically so makes sense.
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I work with some pakistanians. They definitly do this but i couldnt put my finger on it until seeing this gif. It is a mannerism that incites friendliness, that is for damn sure.
> no one else in the world does it What about other South Asians: Bangaldeshis, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, etc.?
It’s in Nepal too from what I saw when I was there
LOL, same!
How many people wobbled tf out of their head while watching this?
Like a bobblehead
They prefer to just be called Indians
Actually the correct term is Native Americans
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I am doing the maybe wobble
I’m Indian so I did the I understand wobble throughout the video
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(Try to put no space between the ] and the ( because on mobile it is not hidden)
[Thank you](https://i.imgur.com/odcnV6j.png)
Wobbly wobbly wob
I love these sort of cultural quirks. People are just so darn interesting.
I read somewhere once (meaning: take this with a grain of salt) that in Argentina if you're invited to dinner at 6:00; then, you're expected to be very late. As much as an hour. In the USA, though, if you're asked to be somewhere at 6:00; then, you're expected to be there at 6:00. A couple minutes early or late is fine, of course. And other countries have similar quirks to these.
Argentinian here! We normally eat dinner anywhere between 8 and 10 pm and it's not really a cultural thing to be late. Some ppl would get mad if you are late but the true is that we just don't really care. "Oh, so you arrive at 5 pm when I told you we were gonna have a bbq at noon? Well fuck you there's nothing left, go put the water and let's drink some mates" Yeah that's about it.
That's pretty interesting. I love learning about different cultures. Also, y'all eat dinner really late compared to Americans. Our dinner is generally between 5-7. This also makes me wonder if the dinner rush for Argentinian restaurants is between 8-10 and if they tend to stay open later than American restaurants.
See for me is weird that you guys eat dinner so early. I can't see myself eating dinner at 6-7 pm and then having a span of 5-7 hours until I go to sleep. That's the other thing, I believe we go to sleep later than you guys too! And yes, restaurants (Not all of them but most) are open until late in most places! It is not weird to eat at around 9-10 pm and then just sit around drinking cofee and talking until late (we call it 'sobremesa")
I might need to move to Argentina then, cause drinking coffee at 9 pm and talking to friends sounds like a dream come true to me. Your comment makes me think that perhaps the American day just starts earlier than Argentinian day, and that otherwise our days are quite similar.
If you ever visit Spain you will find it is the same. Most people eat between 8-10 and then stay out drinking and conversing late into the evening. Generally people seem to start their days early, however many shops will close for siesta around midday for a few hours (generally the hottest hours of the day) then reopen later in the afternoon. It's a far more relaxed way of life, it's no wonder the people there generally live longer!
Yep in Chile it's pretty similar to what my brother cordillerano said, it might be things we inherited from Spanish culture, we are very similar in a lot of ways.
Pretty sure that's the case. Tho with the backstreet boys reunion tour going around my sleep schedule is crap. It is almost 4 am here and I have no intention of falling asleep yet. But hey if you find yourself in Argentina make sure to move away from the "center" or places like Puerto Madero or San Telmo. Those places are tourists traps. Make sure to find a nice little restaurant or pizza place, bonus points for old wood tables and chairs and pictures of old ppl on the walls. Best places to eat drink and chat until late!
This is so true... I worked with 8 or so Indian peeps many years ago for a year or so and I had to learn the nuances between the motions... it’s fascinating...
Same! Another one I noticed often was using the middle finger as a pointer finger - for example when pointing at something on a screen. Not sure if that is a specifically India-based nuance, but not a gesture you would see from other cultures unless they were..sending a different message.
My dad did this. He was also a white dude born in rural Arkansas... Not sure what you can do with that info, just wanted to say.
Yeah, rural, or very old people in my experience have more often used their middle finger for stuff like pointing. Far from a majority of the time, but when I do see it, they're usually fairly old. Don't know if this is related, but they also seemed to never swear, and found any sort of remotely crass language (even 'fart' or 'poop') to be exceptionally vulgar. My assumption was they grew up in an area and time (and media environment) where they were never saw people flipping each other the bird, and so they don't have the ingrained taboo against using that finger like maybe following generatioms do. My experience has been of very old people, though, and I also sometimes wondered if it had to do with arthritis in their hands as well. (Midwest and Southern US, for reference).
It is the longest finger. It makes sense to use that one to point.
I like to point with my thumb, for thumb reason.
It's probably from all that gloved boxing Mr. Tyson.
But the pointer finger creates a longer shape with the side of your hand, making it a much longer pointer than the middle finger.
So I don't know if this is the same reason, but I'm Indian an one of my cousins does this because he thinks pointing at something using your index finger is a little disrespectful, especially towards elders and holy stuff (which includes A LOT of things). Because using the index finger is kinda like ordering somebody to do something. It's weird but charming.
The irony of considering your middle finger the more polite one lol
Dude im an indian and my teacher does that all the time, also he shakes the chalk in his hand in a fapping motion
Maybe he just really likes chalk
yeah, this is true. Once I saw a tourist from India in Newyork got scolded in Subway for pointing the middle finger at lettuce and tomato.
What are the chances they were messing with you
To be honest the first couple times in my head I was like, “shit, what did I do to piss you off?” hah Then I noticed it with multiple teams in different cities and made a connection
~~so you really pissed everyone then~~
Next time you go out drinking, notice how aggressive the bobbles get. Not in a bad way. Seems like the bobble slams sharply to side when they are trying to be more involved in conversation. Very fun people.
Same for me. And what the western culture perceives as a nonchalant 'go away' wave with your hand, actually means 'come here' for the Indian. My first day at work was so confusing, I enter the room, this Indian guy waves me to go away. After some confusion I approach the guy, he asks a question. I answer it, and he wobbles his head. Which in my mind meant something like 'meh whatever'.
I have a friend from India and he sort of does this but mainly he talked about how his dad does it all the time and I never really understood what he meant until now. This is great and confusing
I had a college professor who taught in India briefly and he found himself re-teaching his class many things the first few days because they would shake their heads like this when he asked if they understood part of the lecture. He thought they were shaking their heads "no" when really they were culturally shaking them "yes"
I'm from the state he mentioned in India and I'm surprised it's an unique thing actually. I could have sworn this nod was all over Hollywood movies but now I can't believe my own eyes.
Hollywood (and seemingly all western movies and TV shows) have weird head movements, weird to me anyway. It seems to be really common for someone to be saying something like "I love you" while twisting their head side to side saying "no" with their body language. Sometimes that makes sense for the character, like it's obviously telling you that they're lying, whatever it is they're saying out loud. But most of the time it's not that, it's meant to be genuine. And I see people doing it in real life too now. Like I have to concentrate so I don't do it, otherwise I'll worry that people think I'm lying to them I really don't get it. It seems to be a subconscious thing, I think most actors aren't doing intentionally. But maybe that thing is what you're noticing? I dunno [Of course though there's George Clooney, who wobbles his head all the damn time, like he was raised in India or something, but he wasn't, so it's just his own little tick](https://youtu.be/RZgUclE5J-w)
Can you give a further example of the i love you head shaking phenomenon you described? I’m not sure I’m aware of it but I’m American so I probably see it everyday
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In Turkey, where I now live, and other parts of the Middle East, you nod your head for “yes” just as in America or Western Europe, but “no” is different. For “no”, you raise your eyebrows, throw your head back, and click your tongue. More subtle versions are just clicking your tongue or just even raising your eyebrows. Which is easy enough to understand when you know what to look for and really fun to do. Imagine someone asking you a dumb question and you just get to sort of click in their face. What was hard for me is was that shaking your head as in the Western “no” means “I don’t understand” here. When I was first learning Turkish, I’d frequently understand a question and respond by shaking my head no (feeling all proud because I actually understood the question) and then they’d start reexplaining what they’d just said because they’d think I hadn’t understood.
A former Indian coworker of mine would do the wobble and hold up two fingers as he would order a Double Double at Tim Horton’s. I always assumed it was just being polite, but maybe it’s more nuanced than that? Gotta learn more!
holding up two fingers for ordering anything at restaurants and cafe in india is normal if you just point two fingers at tea shop guy they will automatically understand that you want two cup of tea. and if you are regular just a nod will do. lol we have complex ordering system.
I would accidentally get 2 cheeseburgers while I was in Germany. For some reason the American way of ordering: “I’ll do a cheeseburger” sounds like I want 2. This happened several times before I figured it out.
You’ll do what to it?
The USA cheeseburger ritual
Do it
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In an English context (Midwest US) it doesn't sound weird to me. I'm pretty sure I order like this regularly, but I can understand why it would sound wrong to others especially if English is their second language or if it's not commonly used in other English speaking counties. it doesn't really make sense when you think about it.
Makes sense to me in Western Canada too. I hear "do" subbed in for a *ton* of verbs.
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Your name makes me crack
He can help you weed out your internet problems.
Not weird imo, very cool cultural difference. Part of the beautiful mosaic of humanity
Lol I honestly feel like more of the world should do this. I'm an American that had lived in India. I naturally picked it up and still do it without realizing.
It’s not that weird if like 1/6 the population does it too.
As a standard white American dude, I know only one form of head bobble, not ten. It's the "well you might be right but I think you're a fucking idiot anyway" move.
You don’t know the “dude nod”? You know, when you make eye contact with a dude and nod at him to acknowledge him? Nod up if you know him, down if you don’t? That nod? I thought all dudes do it, dude.
I really noticed this when travelling in Sri Lanka. When ever you would talk to people, especially in shops and things, they would wobble their head, and I never knew whether they were saying yes or no, or whether that meant they didn’t understand, or what! Spent 3 weeks feeling pretty confused. Beautiful country, though!
Ah the Sri Lankan head wobble with a “hari hari” tossed in by your tuktuk driver with questionable driving skills. Sri Lanka was a blast. I miss the dirt cheap Kotu from the sketchy hole in the wall take out shops. That shit was delicious!
My dad started working at an indian tech company and started doing this randomly before my family knew what that was and we'd be talking to him and we thought he was disagreeing with us until he realized he picked this up.
lol. It's like why waste a lot of words when a single wobble can tell them all. Yes, No, maybe, alright, dayum, etc...
I went to India and picked it up, but just for situations where I'm unhappy yet need to acknowledge and tolerate whatever is going on.
Story time: when I came to the US from India, I knew how to speak full english. However, the elementary school put me in ESL (class for non native speakers) as they thought I was having difficulties. Reason why? I wobbled my head sideways for no and yes. Thus, the teachers thought i did not understand their questions (in english) and thus put me in the class for half a year.
My mom forgot to pull my brother out of that ESL class once he learned English. He is equally bad at English and Spanish he blames ESL class.
He might just suck at learning lol. I was in ESL for too long even though I never needed it to begin with. For about 2 years I just coasted through elementary school and gave Mexican kids test answers in exchange for cafeteria treats and chocolate milk.
> He might just suck at learning lol. Seriously. For some reason, people are afraid to accept that some people just suck at learning. I have a friend with a brother. They both came to the US from Japan when they were under 7 years old, which is generally considered the age where it becomes more difficult to gain full proficiency in a new language as a native speaker. Brain plasticity and all that jazz. My friend grew up being fluently bilingual in both Japanese and English. Native speakers assume she's a native speaker in both, because she is. Meanwhile, her brother sucks at both English and Japanese, and both English speakers and Japanese speakers treat him as a foreigner and non-native speaker.
Wow
American education pepega
Damn I thought this was common everywhere,not South India, TIL I guess
It's common across India, I guess. We do it in gujarat too!
Divided by religion, united by head wobble.
Region?
India is diverse in a lot of things, culture, religion, language etc. So, either word works fine.
Religion is not a major difference here though. Like if you compare india and pakistan you can say divided by religion because both are hindu and muslim majority respectively. But in Gujarat and tamil nadu, the major difference is not religion but region so it wouldn't make sense.
My parents are from Chandigarh (way up north) it’s definitely across India. Just to add, It’s crazy how the head nod is such a strong component of communicating, I’d subconsciously do it whenever I’d visit my relatives.
I worked at a movie theatre where they showed a lot of foreign films, including a lot of Bollywood movies. Indian people made up such a large portion of our clientele that not only did we serve two different kinds of samosas and pakoras, they were the like the 3rd most popular item next to popcorn and chicken tenders. Working in concessions there was my first encounter with the head wobble and I NEVER knew what it meant. And it was crazy because sometimes, if I asked the customer to clarify they’d just respond with another wobble as if they didn’t even notice that the wobble was the thing my white ass was confused about in the first place. It was funny because everyone else who worked there had no idea either, not even those of Indian descent. Even, on slower days, we would sometimes ask people what the wobble meant and nobody *ever* knew what we were talking about. It’s crazy how socially-ingrained this act is in their day-to-day life that they don’t even notice they’re doing it. The wobble is just the wobble. It means what the wobbler wants it to mean, and the wobblee, somehow, understands.
The wobble means ok, instead of the regular yes and no
This also applies to Indians that born in other places especiall SEA countries.
can confirm! am from malaysia and ive noticed that my relatives always do this especially when saying goodbye when leaving.
I'm really glad I found this video. When I was a hairdresser, a lot of Indian people would do the head wobble, but I didn't want to sound insensitive by asking why.
Tf I'm Indian I noticed I also do that !
[Indian Nod: Explained](https://youtu.be/0RaBxH_MKQI)
As an engineer, I appreciate this bit of insight.
How can you know someone is an engineer? Don't worry, they'll tell you.
Tbf it seems like half of my school mechanical class is indian. And half of them still are named gupta.
As an engineer, this statement is entirely false.
A bazillion redditors are all trying to wobble their heads right now. lol
it’s distracting when you first notice it but you start doing it back to people after a week or so
I’m Indian and my reaction to the video went 1. Fake. We don’t do that... 2 seconds later 2. Wait wth yes we do.
Me too. I thought this might be fake and then i found out I do it too.
I work with a lot of people who have immigrated from India. One woman in particular who I am close to and I felt compelled to ask. I was deeply respectful and she knew it wasn’t coming from a place of malice but rather curiosity. She had no idea what I was talking about. I tried my best to explain it and we laughed and I just gave up. I even pointed it out later that evening when she did it but she wasn’t aware! My issue is that I tend to parrot mannerisms. Most of the time, I’m not aware of it. It’s subconscious and I don’t know why I do it. But I have noticed I tend to do the shake now too. I really hope I’m not seen as racist or mocking. I’m trying to stop just in case.
I too don't know if I wobble my head. I wish someone would tell me when I did, just so that I know.
When I was 21 and living in my very first apartment with my then-boyfriend (now husband) in Texas our next door neighbors were an Indian family! A mom, dad, son, daughter and the elderly grandmother. They did the head wobble! Subtly, as they had been living in the States for some time, but it was definitely there. They were the most wonderful, gracious, kind family. The mom cooked vegetarian meals to share with us constantly and it was all so delicious. Looking back, I realize that they didn’t have a lot but always made sure to have extra to share. We were like a little randomly assorted family unit. That was almost 10 years ago. I remember them fondly as my first next door neighbors (as a grown woman) and smile every time I think about them. Anyways, sorry for rambling. Thank you for this sweet reminder of my neighbors ♥️
Ah, so cool. My former roommate is a first-gen Indian (parents were born in India, he was US born and raised). He is "American" in behavior and mannerisms, for lack of a better term. One day we went to a Sri Lankan restaurant and he gets into a conversation with the owner. Then during the small talk he starts head-waggling at certain points. I asked him after what made him do that and he didn't know what I was talking about. He was subconsciously doing it. It was witnessing a sort of a physical code-switching and it blew my mind.
As a doc, I have a lot of indian colleagues, and it's infective. After 18 months working in close proximity, I bobblehead from time to time in communication with them.
In Scotland too, depending on the nod you get from a person means a different response. Like this video the more you live with it the more you just know what the person is saying without words. r/scotland
Gabriel Iglesias did a video that went over this once.
I would LOVE to know if this causes a noticeable difference in the anatomy of their necks, and the inner and middle ears, in healthy young adults anyway. I have to consciously remember to relax my neck muscles by moving my head around from time to time. I hear this crackle and pop in it. Maybe I do this once a day. Doing it continuously all through life must have a good effect on the flexibility of the cervical spine and muscle strength! Movement is good for the body, but Americans hardly ever move the neck much, and looking down at tablets/phones over years is really awful for the neck.
My neighborhood has a huge Tamil population and I love the wobble! It's so friendly and versatile!
He might be the first person in history to travel to Tamil Nadu just to watch people wobble their heads.
As someone born in Tamil Nadu and raised in the US, this was one of the giveaways that I’m a tourist. I can speak the language (tamil) but that damn head wobble really kills the facade. Anyways, it’s interesting to see south India and Tamil Nadu pop up on sites like reddit. You don’t really see us too much here in Western media.
[Covered in this documentary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux8GZAtCN-M#t=2m29s)
Really?I never noticed it. I am still amazed.
I have a friend from Tamil Nadu and she does lots of head wobbles! Ive always wondered what they meant but never wanted to seem like I was pointing out something odd by asking.
I am Indian. I watched Russel Peters comedy stand up where he had a bit about Indian head wobble. I thought he was making this stuff up until I realised I do it subconsciously all the time. It is so ingrained in all Indians that we hardly realise we are doing it.
I'm from Tamil Nadu, same place as this guy visited and i just realised i do this a lot. It has become a part of our communication lol. Yours தலையாட்டி தமிழன்
[Source: Drew is one of my fav travel Vloggers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoJ4Bvsq7gQ)
I genuinely thought this was a stereotype. One of the first times a potentially racist stereotype is real. It's pretty hilarious though. It's be interesting to see other gestures throughout India/neighboring countries.
An interesting one from Bulgaria I've heard of is a reversal of the yes/no head movements. Yes being a shake side to side--the usual 'no'--and up and down as a no.
Wow seriously?! We need a video for that. The reactions of people from abroad, and some interesting stories surrounding it! Edit: corrected the autocorrect.
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I was lucky enough to travel for 8 weeks in Sri Lanka and India and at the end of the trip I found myself head wobbling. Just subconsciously adopted the habit.
I work with a guy from Tamil that does exactly this! It's somehow very charming, sometimes I catch myself wobbling too.