Eating Habits
Americans customarily use both their left and right hand while eating, reaching for bread and while seasoning their food, which is perfectly acceptable in America and other countries in the west. But if you will be visiting a predominantly Muslim country, you must avoid using your left hand to eat and train yourself to just use your right hand, as the left hand is used for other bodily functions.
OK-Sign
Using the OK-sign in America is a positive signal. For example, in an American household, it would be considered polite to use the OK-sign to let hosts know that the meal is very good, as speaking when one's mouth is full is rude. The literal meaning is "great" or "fine". But in some countries, such as Turkey, the OK-sign is considered obscene and vulgar. Just to be on the safe side, do not use the OK-sign while you travel abroad!
V-Sign
In America, using the V sign with the palm facing outwards or inwards means the same thing, which is 'victory' or 'peace and love'. However, if your palm is facing inwards as you make the V sign, you have just insulted the person with whom you are speaking if you happen to be in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand or Australia. Winston Churchill famously made the mistake of using the incorrect form of the V-sign to assembled Britons during World War II.
Using your Finger
Americans use their fingers to make the thumbs-up sign, to signal for a waiter to come over to their table and to beckon someone to approach. However, these hand signs do not always have the same meaning in other countries. For example, if you use your fingers to summon someone to you in the Philippines, this act will get you arrested.
Other gestures:
You are eating dinner in Pakistan, and use your left hand to reach for another piece of bread. Your host looks offended! What have you done wrong? You used your left hand.
It’s not that you went to get more food, but that you used your left hand. In many middle-eastern countries, the left hand is seen as “unclean†as it is used to wash your private areas (instead of toilet paper). As you might guess, “lefties†have a hard time over there.
You get off the plane in Tibet, expecting a nice relaxing vacation, and a Tibetan native makes this face at you. Why? You are being greeted. In some parts of Tibet, sticking your tongue out is a friendly greeting!
You are in Kenya, and an old woman spits on the top of your head. What’s going on? She was giving you a blessing. In the Maasai tribe of Kenya, spitting on the head is a form of blessing (this is an old custom that is fading away). What is still common though, is the older person of two meeting spitting on their hand before shaking hands -thereby transferring the goodness of their spirit in saliva as a blessing to the other.
You are eating a meal the middle east, and your host asks how you like your food. Your mouth is full, so you give him a “thumbs up.†He stalks away from the table. What happened?
Although “thumbs up†symbol means “ok,†or “good,†in the U.S. in parts of the Middle East, it means you want to have sexual relations with the person you’re giving the thumbs up to.
You flag down a cab in Australia, and hop in the back. You try to make pleasant chat with the driver, but he seems angry. What’s going on? You insulted him by getting in the back.
In the United States, people hop in the back of the cab. But Australians pride themselves on everyone being equals, so you’ve just insulted the cabbie by hopping in the back instead of getting in the front with him!
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