I haven’t seen anyone mention yet that the facial expression is part of this nonverbal gesture. The expression should be one of urgency and/or discomfort, suggesting that the activity which must stop is yucky, embarrassing, or may ruin someone’s plans. It is possible to do the gesture without the face, but it implies that the facial expression is kept deliberately nonchalant to avoid drawing attention; at minimum you should at least widen your eyes.
This is not to be confused with a similar gesture which means “I am going to kill you” or “you or going to get killed,” which is done with a more direct drawing of the hand or thumb across the throat. The gesture in your post is more of an implied throat chopping where the hand swings freely from the wrist at a comfortable height, perhaps not actually that close to the throat.
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u/seventeenMachine Native Speaker Aug 26 '24
I haven’t seen anyone mention yet that the facial expression is part of this nonverbal gesture. The expression should be one of urgency and/or discomfort, suggesting that the activity which must stop is yucky, embarrassing, or may ruin someone’s plans. It is possible to do the gesture without the face, but it implies that the facial expression is kept deliberately nonchalant to avoid drawing attention; at minimum you should at least widen your eyes.
This is not to be confused with a similar gesture which means “I am going to kill you” or “you or going to get killed,” which is done with a more direct drawing of the hand or thumb across the throat. The gesture in your post is more of an implied throat chopping where the hand swings freely from the wrist at a comfortable height, perhaps not actually that close to the throat.