If I understand the article correctly, the Italians and the Dutch use the same hand gestures to explain to children the concepts of Pizza and Marijuana respectively.

It seems reasonable to expect that some behaviors transcend culture and go back to instinct (tho expectations often conflict with reality) which probably is not even human specific.

IIRC Konrad Lorenz pointed out in Solomon's Ring that rooks will exhibit "infantile behavior" when grooming in a mated couple which, well, humans do it when they cuddle too.

As an aside: my favorite italian gesture is "tasty" (put index on cheek and spin back and forth) which is only used by and for children. I'm on a lifelong mission to spread it everywhere.

As a Sicilian and university computer science lecturer, I can say that hand gestures are my primary way of communicating concepts.

So much so that the old joke holds true. How do you stop an Italian from talking? Tell them to sit on their hands.

often when I discuss very abstract complicated subjects I use hand gestures to "place" the interlocking concepts under discussion at different positions in front of me while talking, and as I talk I will then refer to these "virtual objects" via gestures as a way of referring back to the previous point where they were brought in and "positioned" in the discussion.

Keeps the hands slap ready when focus wanders.

I only realized that dutch people are handful communicators when moving abroad. Apparently I do it unconsciously all the time.

For example we gesture when something tastes good and I don't even say "tastes good" out loud i just wave my hand next to my cheek. But quickly learnt that people think you're crazy in the head instead of complimenting the chef.

https://youtube.com/shorts/5a9Md32gSQg?is=fJ9BYQEt-CpEUE-g

Im Dutch and I still have fond memories of my matrix algebra professor doing that.

He would stand in front of class. Close his eyes. And draw two matrices in the air with his hands and continue to explain matrix multiplication like that. It was a bit funny to watch at the time. But it stuck with me, so I guess it worked.

Must be true. I have seen Dutch and Italian parents teaching their kids valuable social concepts with the exact same swift motion of an open hand.

I don't know. I know some older Dutch folks are more handsy, but the young'ins? Nah. The new generation of Dutch are less so.

It was drilled into me since childhood that speaking with your hands is lacking "class". On a conscious level, I know not to judge people by something as superficial, but on subconscious level, if someone is swinging their hands in the air while talking to me: I don't want to talk to them. It's the same with being loud, or using stop words etc.

I haven't been to Italy, but this was a huge deal for me living in Israel. In Israel, it's a substantial cultural divide between descendants of Arab countries refugees and those coming from Europe. It's generally seen as "proper" to not use your hands. In the military, especially in basic training, that would probably send you doing pushups.

I live in the Netherlands for about five years now. To be honest, I didn't notice people talking with their hands... well, outside of the Middle East or North African immigrants. Also, I don't really have Dutch friends to the point that we'd spend enough time together for me to notice how and if they use their hands during a conversation. In more formal context, I don't see the Dutch doing that.

It's not just gestures that are adapted; words are too. In the parts of Italy where I was born and raised, for example, adults used to adapt words to make them easier for children to pronounce. However, this practice has recently been discouraged by paediatricians because it can apparently hinder children’s later acquisition of standard language.

There's a hypothesis that sign language evolved before vocal languages, and that the latter "took over" as the default because it's energetically much more efficient. There's lots of circumstantial evidence but of course it's impossible to ever conclusively prove. This feels like another data point in favor of it.

I find there's a certain flavour of Scot that's quite gesticulative - I know that I'm one. My partner's Italian and I guess my gesticulation's ramped up since we've been together because when I watched footage from an event recently, I was borderline horrified at how wild my expressions and gesticulations were, especially as the person I was talking to (well 'at', seemingly) is an impressively English sort. Made for quite the contrast in manner.

I looked like I was trying to sell Guybrush Threepwood a sinking ship... .