OK (or not)
Another gesture that has a different meaning here is the OK sign, where you take the thumb and index finger to form an O. I won’t give the exact details of what it means, but it’s essentially the same as the V-sign in the USA or UK, hence offensive! I made the mistake of making this to my Brazilian mother-in-law when trying to tell her how good her cooking was. Thankfully she either didn’t notice or brushed it off as a typical Gringo-ism! The HSBC bank, in recent TV advertising in the UK, even made reference to this miscommunication as one of a number of cultural differences around the world.