FOOT SHOW
Meaning: Insult.
Action: A sitting or reclining person shows the sole of his shoe to his companion.
Background: In certain countries, if this is done accidentally, it can cause serious trouble. People have even been murdered for showing the sole of a shoe to someone. Special care has to be taken when sitting with crossed legs, or when putting one’s feet up on a chair or desk. If it is thought to be a deliberate action, a major fracas may follow. Recently, a Thai cabaret singer shot a client who sat with the sole of his shoe pointing at the stage. The reason this simple action is considered particularly insulting is that the bottom of the shoe is seen as the lowliest part of the body, the part that steps in dirt.
Locality: The Middle East and parts of the Orient. This gesture is especially powerful in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Singapore and Thailand.
FOOT TAP
Meaning: I am impatient.
Action: The foot is tapped rhythmically on the ground.
Background: This has the same message as the Fingers Strum and Foot Jiggle gestures. The foot makes the movements of running away, but the body stays where it is. In other words, it is a stylized escape movement reduced to a relic, and performed whenever the person concerned would rather be somewhere else but cannot, for social reasons, bring himself to depart.
Locality: Widespread. — Desmond Morris, in his book Bodytalk: The Meaning of Human Gestures (read for free)
