Are you referring to
this or am I missing the point?
I am referring to this:
(1) (2)(3)LOL! I didn't think about this!
P.S.: I had an italian teacher (of italian and from Italy,
I'm out of practice though... ) once and he is one of the nicest people I ever met.
I'm happy about this... He's one of the few italians that are appreciated...
It's just the joke in America that Italians talk with their hands, or use their hands a lot when talking.
Oh yes, we know this, I think you can recognize an italian without hearing him, but only visualizing his movements...
"What do you call an Italian with one arm? A speech impedement!"
LOL, I didn't know that! Tomorrow I'll report that to my friends!
But until I saw your link, I just thought it was a joke meaning they were very expressive and I had no idea that there was documented truth to it.
Both are true, and maybe those are related. Here in Italy many gestures have precise meanings (
here another link), and maybe for this reason we often continue talking with other gestures. We use them to "help" the communication.
is maybe the best scientific presenter in Italy, and he's famous for his use of gestures (also).
is a parody of him.
As a side node, my (italian) friends say that I use too many gestures, so you can imagine how I look during a conversation...
Anyways, no offense meant of course
Oh no, I think this is very fun...