Why YSK: No sense in making the locals mad unless you mean to. In some Middle Eastern countries, a thumbs-up is comparable to the middle finger. A peace sign in the UK is OK if your palm is facing away from you; otherwise, it’s an insult. Pointing with your index finger is offensive in Malaysia. An OK symbol is not OK in Brazil, it’s that smelly hole you normally sit upon.
Reader’s Digest did an entire article on these gestures: https://www.rd.com/article/common-hand-gestures-rude-in-other-countries/
When I first started working with Indian contractors in the late '90s, as I was explaining something of one of the systems to him he would tilt his head to the left and the right, almost as a sideways bobble.
We were both looking at a screen He kept bobbling more and more vigorously. I had to stop him and ask what exactly the side to side motion meant.
He said oh yes uhh I understand. Like you understand what I’m saying and that’s what that motion means or you just telling me that you understand? Is actually a bobble left and right to mean okay.
The head wobble doesn’t have one simple meaning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gbrB8KwES4
I worked for many years with someone from south India and he would do the head wobble so over the years he tried to explain it. I still don’t fully understand it. Haha
I’ve been watching Bollywood movies since I was a kid and I still can’t replicate the sideway head wobble. It’s surprisingly difficult!