[Willow and Gus share a confused look]
Luz: Slap my hand. It's a human thing.
Every culture has its own unique way of doing things, from cooking, to language, to religious practices, and even body language. Several cultures have non-verbal means of expressing an idea or thought that are unique to that culture (and might be completely misconstrued or misunderstood by another), or which evolved from contact with another culture but adopted the gesture in a unique way. Misunderstandings of such gestures could, in extreme cases, lead to an Accidental Engagement.
For example, in anime and manga, when someone makes a mistake or does something embarrassing, it's not uncommon for them to put one hand behind their head and laugh nervously, possibly accompanied by bowing their head repeatedly as they apologize. Holding out one's pinky finger is a gesture closely associated with the Red String of Fate, and is often used to indicate a relationship.
And of course, while many Eastern cultures bow as a sign of respect or greeting, in Western culture it's likely in many of the same situations to see someone offer a handshake as a greeting or even a sign of friendship (and in fiction equally likely that someone might refuse or even slap the hand away as a rejection). Two people from the same culture shaking hands would be "People Sit In Chairs" unless something significant about the handshake is discussed In-Universe. Cross-cultural displays are significant, especially if explained.
Even alien cultures can get in on this, with writers free to make up gestures that mean something in a wholly fictional culture.
Compare and contrast "Silly Me" Gesture, Palm-Fist Tap, Shy Finger-Twiddling, and Magical Gesture. Super trope to Italians Talk with Hands. It may overlap with Funny Foreigner. Culture Clash, Deliberate Values Dissonance, and Innocently Insensitive are frequently paired with this trope thanks to the potential for conflict. Super-Trope to Strange Salute.
Examples:
- Ah! My Goddess: In the OVA series, when Keiichi is trying to find a place for Belldandy and himself to stay after he's kicked out of his dorms, one of his friends refuses, holding up his pinky finger, an indicator he had a girlfriend over and didn't want extra company.
- Gate: When Princess Pina is negotiating with the Japanese delegates in Tokyo, the Japanese ambassador concludes the meeting by offering her hand. Pina panics as to her its a marriage proposal. The JSDF member accompanying the Princess explains that it's a greeting, and tells the Princess to take the ambassador's hand.
- Ranma ½:
- In the OVA two-parter where the usual cast are fighting the phoenix, Sasuke makes the embarrassed hand behind head gesture when Shampoo and Ukyo discover he manipulated them into making the phoenix growth pills Akane had been unable to make. Ukyo notes, "Face it, Sugar, he used us like a $2 pair of chopsticks."
- When Doctor Tofu's mother came to try and get him to accept an arranged marriage, she runs into Kasumi dropping off food for the Doctor. Tofu's mother holds up her pinky finger, a gesture signifying the Red String of Fate, and asks Kasumi if they're a couple. Kasumi laughs at the notion, denying it.
- To Love Ru: Grabbing a Devilukean girl by her breasts is a marriage proposal. There is also a cooling-off period where you can break the engagement by grabbing them again within 72 hours.
- FernGully: The Last Rainforest: Crysta seems to recognize that Zack offering his hand while introducing himself is a form of greeting, but not knowing the context, offers her hand at Zack's eye level while introducing herself.
- In the old Disney Short "Bongo", from Fun and Fancy Free, the escaped circus bear doesn't really know about wild bear culture. Thus when his crush Lulubelle slaps him, Bongo thinks this is a rejection. It takes him overhearing the other bears singing
about how bears show their affection with a slap (it was 1947, so a little of the Unfortunate Implications can be forgiven) to figure it out. Even so, Bongo removes his hat in respect after slapping her.
- The Gods Must Be Crazy: When a rhino stomps out their campfire, Steyn tries to explain to Kate that this is a thing that happens when she accuses him of doing it.note He even asks some local tribesmen, but he forgot that the tribe in question shake their head for "yes" and nod for "no", meaning that Kate finds him even less credible, despite the fact that the tribesmen are actually confirming his account of things.
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: Lucy and the faun Tumnus meet for the first time, and Lucy offers to shake hands with him. Tumnus has no idea why she's holding her hand out, or even why humans shake hands when they meet for the first time (and neither does Lucy, for that matter), so when they shake hands, he ends up shaking it every which way.
- Heralds of Valdemar: Defied by Tremaine. Early in Storm Rising, the town council of Shonar asks Tremaine if some of his troops could help with the harvest. Tremaine agrees, then realizes he'll need to have his volunteers briefed on local courting customs since they'll be working side by side with farm women — he doesn't want any issues with one person thinking they're in a casual relationship and the other thinking they're engaged.
- M*A*S*H: Col. Potter quickly and correctly identifies a patient who cannot speak as The Friendly Texan when he offers up his hand, because as Potter says, "I haven't met the Texan yet who didn't offer up a handshake, no matter how many tubes were coming out of him."
- Mork & Mindy: Mork is from the planet Ork. He and his fellow Orkans shake hands by extending their hands with their pointer and middle fingers together and their ring and pinky fingers together with a space between the two sets for interlocking (so to speak) with the other person's hand. They also "sit" by bending over and putting their heads upside down on seats.
- Star Trek:
- Star Trek: The Original Series: "Journey to Babel" reveals that Vulcan couples extend their pointer and middle fingers from their hand and touch the tips as a sign of being in a relationship.
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: In "Apocalypse Rising", while training his fellow officers to impersonate Klingons, Worf has to inform Sisko that striking a Klingon with the back of your hand is a good way to initiate a fight to the death.
- Star Trek: Enterprise: The NX-01 crew offends an alien species by inviting them to dinner. The aliens regard eating the same way humans view going to the toilet — something that should only be done in private — and they storm off back to their own vessel. Trip apologises and the alien captain accepts that maybe this is something they should have divulged beforehand.
- Star Trek: Voyager: In "Macrocosm", Janeway manages to offend an entire alien culture by putting her hands on her hips during negotiations, which, unbeknownst to her, was the worst insult you could make on that world. Neelix was able to smooth things over, but the negotiator was still cold and dismissive of Janeway.
- Amphibia: In "Lost in Newtopia", when Anne and Polly visit a shop, the salesnewt turns and seemingly offers his tail in greeting. Anne stands there for a moment, unsure of how to respond, but the moment quickly passes without incident.
- BoJack Horseman: The aquatic members of Atlantic Ocean City view a thumbs-up as the equivalent of Flipping the Bird. This causes a minor scandal when BoJack tries to signal goodwill to one of them with a thumbs-up.
- It's something of a Running Gag in The Owl House that high fives don't exist on the Boiling Isles, with characters outside of Luz's immediate friend circle expressing confusion when offered one.
- Samurai Jack, being a temporally-displaced medieval samurai, doesn't grasp the idea of a high-five when first offered, merely repeating "What?" while leaving the other person hanging. After barely surviving a fight, he manages to figure it out just in time to wrap up the episode.
- Teen Titans: When Starfire first escaped the Gordanian ship, she kissed Robin on the lips. Confusing possible romantic gesture to Robin, telepathic transfer of linguistic patterns for Starfire. She does the same thing to a random Japanese boy in "Trouble in Tokyo" to learn Japanese, making Robin further confused and a bit jealous.
