Wednesday's Word

Action: Reverse nod (non-verbal language)

Description: If you want to be accepted as a native, don't wave; give the reverse nod. Properly delivered, the Yankee greeting has the chin lifted, the mouth open as if inhaling a gulp of air. This is perfectly acceptable and usual when drivers of two vehicles pass each other, or when a driver acknowledges a pedestrian. Another acknowledgement while driving consists of the index finger lifted slightly from the steering wheel. Never a wave of the hand, just one finger.

(Definition from: "How To Talk Yankee", by Gerald Lewis & Tim Sample, copyright 1979, 1986 by The Thorndik Press; copyright 1989 by the First North Country Press)