Fascinated by art of body language

Dear Editor:

I am increasingly irritated by people trying to emphasize a point by sticking thumbs in the air, outstretching their fingers and generally flailing their arms about as though in an uncontrollable fit.

When I communicate with people, or am making presentations, my hands and arms remain firmly by my side and I don’t feel this uncontrollable urge to wave them around to make a point.

On the other hand, there have been times where I felt like the man who is telling the doctor that “everyone keeps ignoring me” when the doctor looks up and shouts “next.”

It turns out that I, and the producers of Global National News, have it all wrong.

I mention Global News because you will have wondered why both Dawna Friesen and Robin Gill are made to hold a folded piece of pink paper in both hands when presenting the news?

It is exactly designed to prevent them both from making unwanted hand and arm gestures. Surely this could be considered mental cruelty and deserves reporting to the authorities.

Researching the use of hand and body language, further, I find out that there is plenty of evidence to support the practice of gesturing when talking because it not only maintains your listener’s interest for longer but also, makes each point more memorable for them.

It is important, however, when using hand and arm gestures that you learn to do it correctly. All hand and arm movements must be restricted to within an imaginary box with a height from the waist to the shoulder and no more than between shoulders wide.

Gesticulations outside this box can cause you to look more like a traffic cop at rush hour than a serious presenter, according to researchers. It is also important, if you are a world traveller, to understand that some hand and body motions commonly used in our country can be unacceptable in other countries. Worse still, certain gestures could land you in jail, depending on where you are travelling.

I have now become a believer in the careful use of hands when talking and I am considering having a mirror installed in front of my phone so that I can practice on my callers without them seeing me, and ridiculing my flailing arm and hand gestures. Especially with only one hand to flail.

There is a lot of research on this subject available on the web, but for a complete list of acceptable, and unacceptable, hand gestures it is well worth visiting en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gestures.

In the meantime, I will just have to continue being irritated by those people who, obviously, need to improve their technique in gesticulation and concentrate on those who have perfected the art.

I am now fascinated by the difference. David Simmons Westbank