History Main / NonverbalMiscommunication

-->'''Lydia''': Breakfast? Orange? Orange beetle? Beetle fruit? Beetle breakfast? Beetle drink? [and she finally gets it] Beetle juice?

!!Examples:

* Pretty much the entire premise of ''{{Mitsudomoe}}''

* Mel Brooks' ''YoungFrankenstein'' features a scene where the monster grabs and chokes Frankenstein. Since he cannot talk, he frantically uses Charades to communicate to his assistants that they should sedate his monster. They take a long time about it before Igor finally guesses "Sedagive!". Frankenstein is not pleased.
** In the Broadway version, it is 'Flying down to Rio', which may be a reference to [[Film/TheProducers another Mel Brooks movie turned Broadway musical.]]

* In ''RushHour 2'', [[JackieChan Lee]] takes [[ChrisTucker Carter]] to a massage parlor in Hong Kong because Lee wants to have a talk with the [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Triad]] boss Ricky Tan (also a friend of his late father's [[spoiler:and his murderer]]). When Carter finds out, he takes his "LA cop" image a little too far and tries to strongarm Tan into going with them to the police station, not realizing that nearly every other client in the partlor is a Triad member. When Lee half-winks and nods to the side, he's trying to get Carter to leave before it's too late. Unfortunately, Carter assumes Lee wants him to grab Tan and drag him out of the parlor. Cue dozens of henchmen getting up to defend Tan.

* ''{{Dune}}'': At one point in the first book, the Duke makes an offer to a Fremen, one of the wild men of the desert. In response, the Fremen spits on the meeting table in front of the Duke. As most of the men in the room rise to defend the Duke's honor, Duncan Idaho, a ducal advisor who has been living among the Fremen to learn the Fremen's ways--stops them and thanks the ambassador for the gift of his body's moiture, then quietly informs the Duke that Fremen value water very highly, and he had basically just given the Duke a compliment. Also counts as a CrossCulturalKerfuffle.
** In the DavidLynch film, the Duke himself recognizes the gesture, stopping Gurney from stabbing Liet-Kynes. In the miniseries, Paul is the one who steps in (this showing he knows the ways of the desert), although it's Stilgar who's doing the spitting this time.

* Played for drama in ''Film/IngloriousBasterds'', where this trope, combined with CriticalResearchFailure, gets a lot of people killed. A British officer is inside Germany in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, impersonating a German officer. A real German officer gets suspicious and starts to quiz him. The Brit seems to have fended off the German's suspicions--until he orders drinks, signaling the waitress for three drinks by raising the index, middle, and ring fingers of his right hand. The German catches him out, noting that Germans signal "three by raising their index finger, middle finger, and ''thumb''. Cue a bloody shootout.

* In ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', the news had a Mime Weatherman. When he tried to communicate rain, Tom thought he was stating that "parents would throw fecal matter on their children." Until an angry glare from said mime set Tom straight.

* ''Cheers'': Coach is supposed to signal a corrupt card player that his opponent has a poor hand by scratching his cheek. Unfortunately, his cheek starts to itch.

* ''{{Dune}}'': At one point in the first book, the Duke makes an offer to a Fremen, one of the wild men of the desert. In response, the Fremen spits on the floor. As most of the men in the room rise to defend the Duke's honor, whereupon Thufir Hawat--a Mentat and ducal advisor whose business it is to know the Fremen's ways--stops them and thanks the ambassador, then quietly informs the Duke that Fremen value water very highly, and he had basically just given the Duke a compliment. Also counts as a CrossCulturalKerfuffle.

* Quite prominent in ''CrossChannel''. An example would be eye contact communication meaning "Please for the love of God get me out of this situation" (an awkward second meeting with Kiri) being mistaken for "Could you give us some privacy?"
* Fuuma from ''SengokuBasara'' never speaks and keeps his face hidden, so when he invades the Tokugawa camp in ''3'' and starts beating everyone to a pulp, it's understandable that Ieyasu thought he was an enemy. As it turns out, he just wanted to deliver a message.

* Examples in Fanfic/{the Calvinverse}}:

* In ''TheLosers'', when on top of a tall building, villain nods to his agent, who then throws a businessman down. Villain then "complains" that it wasn't that kind of nod and he just wanted the agent to beat the victim. It's one of the BigBad's [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor not so funny jokes.]]

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[[folder: Fan Fic ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

'''Colbert''': Not at all, Jon! ''(Wink)''\\

[[folder: Oral Tradition ]]

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* ''Website/NotAlwaysRight'' provides us [[http://notalwaysworking.com/so-easy-a-caveman-can-work-here/24487 this]] fine example of workplace communication. At least they figured out ''some'' of it.

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[[folder: Real Life ]]

* In ''{{Extras}}'', a journalist is interviewing Maggie under the pretense that she is Andy's assistant. Andy sits behind the journalist and tries to mime answers to her that will make him look good. Maggie constantly misunderstands his mimes, giving bizarre and unflattering answers.

** [[JustEatGilligan This could be avoided if mundanes just said what they meant.]]

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', Yzma's plan to poison Kuzco has failed, instead turning him into a llama. Kuzco hasn't noticed, and continues their dinner conversation. Yzma starts beating two pieces of broccoli together, trying to tell Kronk to knock him out. He thinks she's just asking for more broccoli. Yzma finally gets the message across by pounding her palm with her fist.

* ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'': Hobbes misinterprets a hand signal to get evidence as a friendly wave.
* In {{Anime/Pokemon}} fanfic ''FanFic/{{Symbiosis}}'', Ash misinterprets Pikachu's hand signals for leash as a noose.

* The scene in the film ''Film/MenInBlack'' where the attractive female medical examiner attempts to signal to Agent J that there's a hostile alien in the room with them, and he thinks she's flirting with him.
** This is only partly nonverbal.

Contrast TalkingThroughTechnique and HandSignals, where gestures can get a very precise message across.

* ''LiloAndStitch'' has a scene where Nani communicates to Lilo through hand gestures behind Mr. Bubbles' back on what she should say to him. Lilo correctly understands the "brushing teeth" and "looking both ways before crossing the street" gestures, but (possibly intentionally) misinterprets Nani's [[strike:triumphant gesture of approval]] grow strong gesture as "getting disciplined," and the following "stop" gesture as "five times a day."