As anyone who has spent more than five minutes in a village bar will tell you, the Provençal is a gregarious, garrulous fellow. Not for him the extended silence or the terse exchange; nor will he normally restrict himself to one meager word when ten will do. I think it is true to say he has no problem communicating verbally. However, words alone, he feels, are often not enough. From time to time there is the need for added emphasis, some physical punctuation, or a soupçon of drama. And so he finds it necessary to decorate his conversations with a second vocabulary, one of gestures.
Some of these might be familiar to you, as pale versions of them can be seen in other parts of France. But only in Provence will you see them executed with such relish, or with such careful attention to detail. Even a shrug, probably the most common of Gallic spasms, is more intricate and impressive when executed by a Provençal. The conventional shrug is nothing more than a swift twitch of the shoulders; the Provençal shrug brings in the jaw (which must be thrust forward as the mouth is turned down), the eyebrows (which must rise to their upper limit), and the hands (which must be spread wide, palms upward, as the shoulders are raised)—not forgetting the sound effects (a forceful exhalation of air between pursed lips) to bring the performance to a satisfactory finale.
Second to the shrug in popularity is that ominous signal of opposition and reproof, the index finger. In its simplest manifestation, held up at eye level, it acts as a silent interruption; it is impossible to ignore and can stop a conversation in midsentence. To express disagreement, it is wagged back and forth like a living metronome. To express violent disagreement, or to put particular emphasis on a point of view held by the owner of the finger, it is used to peck at the chest of the opponent like an irate bird. Small it may be, that nagging finger, but effective it most certainly is.
Now we come to the hand that wavers, where two similar gestures have two quite separate meanings. The first is to indicate a lack of precise information when answering a question, such as, “What is the melon crop going to be like this year?” The verbal answer, good or bad, will be qualified by the hand. Held in front of the body at elbow level, palm down, the hand performs a gentle rocking motion, as if to acknowledge the uncertainty that exists when forecasting anything that involves nature. (This is often accompanied by the demi-shrug, in which just one shoulder moves upward.) A subtle variation is used when replying to a more personal question that includes a specific time, such as, “When do you think you can come to unblock the septic tank?” This is awkward, since the Provençal has an innate dislike of being pinned down by times and dates. And so the answer, whether it be this afternoon or next Thursday, will be given with an unspoken disclaimer. The hand, this time more discreetly positioned lower down and close to the thigh, can be seen to wobble for a few revealing seconds. Seeing this, the student of hand language will know at once that the date given is almost certainly subject to postponement. I once made the mistake of pointing this out to our stonemason friend, the maçon, and even now, years later, he keeps both hands in his pockets when discussing delivery dates.
On an altogether more visible level is the gesture for which there is no polite translation, although once seen there is little doubt about its meaning. In its most uninhibited form, one fist is clenched, the arm swings out and upward, and the other hand is applied, with an audible smack, to the biceps. This, of course, is possible only if you have adequate space for the considerable freedom of movement required. However, the gesture can be adapted to work in cramped circumstances as well. Staying close to the body at all times, the left hand is brought forward and upward as the right hand comes across to land with a firm clip on the wrist. In extreme conditions, when there is barely room to breathe, the same maneuver can be carried out using the index finger of each hand. This may not be as gratifying as the full-blown insult, but it is better than nothing. After all, it’s the thought that counts.