Witnessed finger-pointing by an Elder

[Wayne Newell]

et el:

Nothing or no one is ever perfect. I'm sure we'll always find exceptions to
all claims. I think we are talking about cultural trends and not individual
violations there of.

I'm sure that the well respected Elder would be the first to agree with me.
Let's give this topic some room so we can be flexable.

Love you all

Wayne

On Mon, Mar 11, 2013 at 6:08 PM, Mary Ann Corbiere <mcorbiere at usudbury.ca>wrote:

> Hello everyone.
>
> By ironic coincidence, at a conference I attended this past weekend, an
> Elder who presented some teachings to an audience of over 30 people,
> pointed with his finger 3 or 4 times at various members of the audience,
> albeit as he was making teasing remarks about the people he was pointing
> at. The Elder is one who is highly regarded for his traditional knowledge
> by people in the Lake Huron region and perhaps beyond (by people in other
> regions of Ontario or across the country).
>
> I didn't overhear any murmurs of how inappropriate some might have felt
> this action was. (Nishnaabek usually don't hesitate to comment under their
> breath to a friend if someone does and says something that strikes them as
> inappropriate in some way.)
>
> Just FYI
>
> MAC
>
> >>> Anne-Marie Baraby <baraby.anne-marie at UQAM.CA> 03/09/13 4:37 PM >>>
> Hi,
> I asked about what is going on in another native language, berber
> (tachelhit dialect) spoken in south of Morrocco and I had the following
> answer that I translate in English:
>
> "In berber culture (south of Morocco), pointing with the finger is
> impolite and may be perceived as aggressive (above all, when one look at
> the person in the eyes). What is preferred in that culture is a chin
> movement toward the person. Sometimes, one also use the hand, but with
> opened fingers (I mean that the hand has to be opened, not closed). This is
> an interesting matter probably linked to oral cultures."
>
> Anne-Marie Baraby
>
> Bonjour,
>
> Dans la culture berbère (sud du Maroc), pointer avec le doigt est impoli
> et pourrait être même agressif (surtout lorsqu'on regarde la personne dans
> les yeux). Ce qui est privilégié dans cette culture, c'est le mouvement du
> menton en direction de la personne ciblée. Parfois, on utilise aussi la
> main, mais avec les doigts ouverts (je veux dire ici que la main doit être
> ouverte, et non pas fermée).
> Voilà, c'est une thématique intéressante qui est surtout liée aux cultures
> orales.
>
> Abdallah El Mountasser
>
> Le 2013-03-06 à 08:54, Amy Dahlstrom a écrit :
>
> Hello Algonquianists,
>
> I'm a discussant at an upcoming conference on gesture, and one thing I
> thought I would mention to the (extremely diverse) audience is the practice
> among at least some of the Algonquian peoples of pointing with the lips or
> with the chin, rather than pointing with the finger.
>
> I would like to ask you all how widespread this practice is.  And for
> native speakers (native pointers? :-) ), do you have any intuitions about
> why pointing with the finger is avoided?  Would it seem rude to point with
> the finger?  Or inappropriate in some other way?
>
> thanks in advance for any thoughts you can share!
>
> Amy
>
> P.S.  if you hit "reply" remember that you are replying to the whole list!
> :-)
>
>
>


-- 
Mr. Wayne A. Newell
P. O. Box 271
Princeton, ME 04668-0271

Phone Contact Info

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