Rude hand gestures

[Sam I Am]

I know this is a weird topic, but quite appropriate for the HU Bar...

When traveling in areas where my language skills are somewhat limited, I know I've often resorted to what I assumed to be universally recognized hand signals. Simple signals such as a "thumbs up" for "excellent" or the universal scuba diving 'OK" sign come to mind.

I was reminded the other day, however, of a friend back in university who tried years ago to hitchhike through the Middle East using the thumb symbol recognized widely in North America. I remember him telling me that he was disappointed that he was not getting picked up... only to learn after arriving back home that basically he had been telling every driver who passed to "sit on it and twist".

I'm headed off to Europe and Russia again this summer and want to avoid the inadvertent insults I've widely broadcast in the past. As a primer, I've read the rather hysterical article The top 10 hand gestures you'd better get right | Language Trainers UK Blog but was wondering if anyone might be aware of any others to be avoided or have any good tales to tell. Hey, we can all learn from YOUR mistakes.