Shaking his head
A rhythmic sideways movement of the head is called head shaking . The anatomical prerequisite is the presence of cervical vertebrae and the corresponding neck muscles .
Shaking the head in animals
In animals, head shaking can be observed as a very rapid back and forth movement of the head. It can serve various purposes, such as shaking water out of the fur or, in the case of predators, shaking prey to death. In swans and ducks , head shaking is part of courtship .
Head shaking in people
In humans, shaking the head is a much slower movement. It is used for communication and presses in most countries a negation or a generally negative attitude from. Shaking the head is also understood as a gesture for “incredulous amazement”. Correspondingly, the evaluation “[This is] to shake your head” means roughly the same as “incomprehensible” or “nonsensical”.
In some regions, such as Bulgaria , Northern Greece , India or Sri Lanka , on the other hand, a slight shake of the head is understood as consent . In India, two types of head shaking are distinguished: the internationally known shaking movement around the longitudinal axis and a movement around the forward-facing horizontal axis (head wobbling).
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Duden online: shaking your head