INFLUENCE AND CONTEMPORARY CULTURE OF HAND GESTURE “THE SIGN OF THE HORNS”

บทคัดย่อ

Abstract

This paper presents the influence and contemporary culture on the hand gesture called “the sign of the horns” which is an international nonverbal language. It is often used in the Mediterranean countries, the United States, and has also spread to Thailand. The sign of the horns has four hand postures: The Horns Gesture generally means greeting, The Cuckold Gesture in Italy means a man is cuckolded by his wife, Mano Cornuto means to put a curse or expel a curse, and The Devil Horns means rocking out. Each hand gesture has different usages depending on the occasion and culture of each country. The origin of the gesture is from belief in Satan many hundred years ago and from a hand gesture of Buddha image, and has since then spread to entertainment; especially rock or heavy metal music, sport, video games, etc. The sign of the horns has influence on social interaction both in positive and negative ways depending on the culture. In Thailand, the usage of this gesture can be found in entertainment and it shows cheerfulness of the people who use it or to show that they enjoy the thing they do in positive ways. The usage of the gesture should be understood according to occasion, time, and culture in order to accomplish the communication.