Shaking his head "yes" (heard on the Olympics)

[Barbara Need]

The female commentator on NBC's Olympic coverage just described
someone as "shaking his head "yes" (while we saw footage of him doing
what I would call nodding) and then added that during an earlier dive
the same man "nodded his head "no, no, no"! The commentator is, I
believe a native speaker of English (with no perceptible accent to
this Northern/Northeastern USAn). The man she was describing was the
coach of one of the American divers--and he looked Anglo, at least,
so I am guessing he is an American. (Maybe named Kenny Armstrong?)

It is true that in other cultures, the gestures I describe as nodding
(chin down and up) and shaking (turning the head left and right) are
interpreted differently (a quick Google search said that Bulgarians
interpret these gestures opposite to what we do). But I don't think
that is a contributing factor.

Thoughts?

Barbara

Barbara Need
Chicago

P.S. So far, all further tokens of "tonight" or "this evening" I have
heard have been uttered by announcers, so those are probably
intentional. I have heard no further athlete generate it. I will keep
listening.

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