Don't do an eight!!!License vaanga ettu podanumnu solvaanga theriyum (I have no experience of that, only ‘driving’ I can do is to drive people nuts!). But this is a different kind of eight that we Indians, southies in particular have mastered, quite unknowingly. Anytime I respond to a yes/no question with that fabled ‘eight’ nod (just try and draw a faint horizontal 8 by nodding your head…that’s it…you got it!), the person is confused if that was a yes or a no and it’s always taken for a no! Most of my friends dread it and insist on a spoken yes or no. One used to say ‘Don’t loll your head in all directions; just do a this (moving her head quickly up and down) or this (moving it with almost same speed sideways). My former Boss used to find this very amusing. And one day he said, ‘hey, I really don’t get it if it’s a yes or no, I take it for a no but your next statement and the look on your face is always contradictory. Can we have a global standard followed here???’ :D Recently a cab driver in London was a victim of this 8 from me. He had to drive me right across the city and would point at each monument and ask ‘you been there, must see!’ I do a 8 in response and say ‘yeah, really good!’. The poor man was so confused that he couldn’t help asking after the third time, why do you say a no for a yes? Yikes! :D I explained to him that back home from where I come (yaawwwn), this eight is quite a habit with people. And he responded cheerfully with an eight and added ‘Got it!’ But this is one habit I can’t really shake off. And find it equally nice when someone responds to me with the same gesture. May be because it straight away conveys strong agreement, one that most people are rarely in with me :)
  5 Comments:after reading your comment n the morning, i remember some one in some film say "onnu amanu ippadi thalaiya attu, illaiti illainu eppadi thalaiya attunu" solvanga, yar endha padathula edhuku appadi solvanganu yosichitu iruken, innum yapagam vara matengudhu...
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Hey...now tht u say tht even i can remember some movie like this...who was it; was that vijay?...aiyo!...gyabagam vara maatengudhe! :(
By eh.. u r right.. it's vijay only.. may be frm the film ghilli or kushi or sachin... but it is surely Vijay.. great.. 10/10 for your guessing! (ama ippo neega bangalorela irukeengala illai london-ah?)
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This has become a trade mark for identifying Indians.
By yeah...naan Blr pona pudhusula an American told me that he finds this gesture vague in us, adhulerndhu I normally say a yes or no instead of nodding my head..
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