No one fancies your bloody air quotes, bloke — everyone thinks you're a wanker.
That's the official finding of a study of 2,000 Britons that determined the two-handed, four-fingered gesture to be the most irritating form of hand communication. It edged out other total d-bag moves like the fake yawn, air keyboard typing to signal "email me," and the old-school "talk to the hand."
Goggle Eyes iPhone app.
According to the Express, we can thank an electronic monkey for inspiring this important research on human behavior:
The study of 2,000 respondents was commissioned to mark the launch of iPhone app Goggle Eyes, where a staring monkey follows the user’s eye and head movement. A spokesman for Goggle Eyes said ... “Most of the more irritating gestures originated from a need to communicate quickly and transcend language barriers – but it doesn’t take much for a gesture to seem cheesy or informal."
Curiously, Goggle Eyes was on the losing end of a different study, which deemed it the fourth-most pointless app ever developed. Virtual Candle topped that list. Other notables were Man Poke, Milk the Cow, Shave Me, and Sim Stapler. But back to the annoying hand gestures ...
Mail Online conveniently compiled the study's findings into a quick-reference table (below right; "inverted commas" is Britspeak for air quotes).
Mail Online.
According to Wikipedia, we can blame the idiocy of air quotes on a comic genius:
While the term "air quotes" did not appear until 1989, use of similar gestures has been recorded as early as 1927.[1] A single handed quote is an equivalent, though less dramatic variation. The gesture was used routinely in the TV show Celebrity Charades (1979) as the standard signal for a quote or phrase. The trend became very popular in the 1990s, attributed by many to comedian Steve Martin, who often used them with exaggerated emphasis in his stand-up shows.[2] Additionally, in the blockbuster Austin Powers film franchise, Dr. Evil makes prominent (and humorous) use of air quotes when explaining matters to his henchmen.
But without Steve's air quotes, we may never have had the gem from Chris Farley (rest his soul) at the top of this page. So basically, if you're not a genius comedian from at least a decade ago you should keep the air quotes in your pants, according to the study.
What do you find to be the most annoying hand gesture? Do you miss Chris Farley as much as we do? Got something on your mind? Start a conversation in the comment section below!
