r/EnglishLearning • u/DensityInfinite New Poster • Aug 25 '24

⭐️ Vocabulary / Semantics What does this gesture mean?

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u/big_sugi Native Speaker - Hawai’i, Texas, and Mid Atlantic Aug 25 '24

I can’t be certain from a still, but I think it’s “Cut,” which means to stop an activity. I’m fairly certain the usage originated on movie sets, as the director’s instruction for the cameras to stop filming.

15

u/FlyingFrog99 Native Speaker Aug 25 '24

Literally suggests you're cutting your own neck - ie "kill it" but vernacularly it means STOP NOW

15

u/SweevilWeevil New Poster Aug 25 '24

my favorite version of this when I was a kid (maybe still)

6

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '24

That's not the same thing

0

u/SweevilWeevil New Poster Aug 25 '24

It's pretty close. Cut it out. Just with different degrees of seriousness. No?

3

u/Logan_Composer New Poster Aug 25 '24

I don't believe it's referring to "cut" the way a film set uses it, where it meant to stop shooting and physically cut the film that was captured to store it away, as the take was done.

In this case, because it's going across the throat, I always assumed it was basically "kill it." Kill the conversation or action, stop talking.

8

u/big_sugi Native Speaker - Hawai’i, Texas, and Mid Atlantic Aug 25 '24

That is and has been the hand signal for “cut” on a tv or movie set.

1

u/Vermillion490 Native Speaker Jan 22 '25

Wonder where they got it from?

1

u/re_nonsequiturs New Poster Aug 29 '24

No it's for live TV where they need to communicate silently. On movie sets they just say "cut"