Some reasons for not being able to speak include: a medical problem; a broken microphone; communicating with a foreigner. We will use the last, lack of a common language, to identify suitable mimes for the medical and mike contexts.
Here are 31 signs which we found intuitive:
yes no car bicycle tea coffee wine beer eat mine yours computer camera cold hot phone animal come where? rectangular circular triangular write hear see spouse good watch/ time right track wrong track stop
The initial list from British Sign Language for the Deaf identified 45 signs in the image below. About half (want, dog, language etc.) were excluded as not guessable by an untrained listener. We called a sign intuitive if two out three people could guess it without training. Phone using extended thumb and little finger, is not intuitive to younger people who use mobiles only. Past, future might still be worth learning even if they are not very intuitive.
Vulgar references, mostly toilet-related or sexual, are best avoided, though that leaves poo as a problem. The BSL toilet sign translates to low English as “get shot of”; this was not very intuitive, but we could not find another that was not vulgar. A mime excluded as pejorative is vomit, which is mainly used cynically.
Italian hand gestures, numbering around 250, are mostly NOT intuitive in English. The horizontal swipe for “perfetto” might be read as “zip it!” by an English speaker. Only the drink gestures above are the same, having presumably been imported from Italian.
Thumbs up is “good” in English to many language speakers, so we used it. It is rude to a Russian, but that misunderstanding would be rare. A finger-thumb circle is “OK” for some English speakers but pejorative in Brazil, Russia etc. so we avoided it.
Charades
This Christmas game provides these mimes. We probably do not need film, play.
You’re on the wrong track. Wave your hands, palms down.
You’re on the right track. Wave both hands toward yourself, palms toward you.
Stop Hold out both hands with palms facing the interlocutor.
Phrase or quote Make finger-quotes in the air.
Book Press the palms of your hands together in front of you, then open them as though they were hinged at the little fingers. It should look as though you’re opening a book in your hands.
Song Hold both hands up to your mouth as if to shout. The idea is holding a megaphone and singing forcefully. A variation is to tilt your head up, open your mouth and hold out one hand, palm up, à la opera.
TV show. Place your forefingers together in front of you pointing at the players, then draw a rectangle in the air the size and shape of a television screen. Your fingers start at the center of the top of the screen, then move apart sideways, then down, then back to each other at the center of the bottom.
Person Place your hands on your hips, i.e., hold your arms akimbo. Gender conventions are possible, e.g. “1” and “0” One finger or make a circle with your thumb and forefinger.
Sounds like. Tug your earlobe
Chop the word. Use left hand with palm facing and pantomime right hand chopping.
How many words? Count up the number of words in the target, then hold up that many fingers in front of you, palm(s) facing the audience.
Phatics
Mimes are frequently ambiguous, so we need to established a forgiving and humorous relationship with the other person to head off abrupt or even offensive misunderstandings.
Phatics mean communications which primarily serve to establish or maintain social relationships, rather than give information. Self-denigration, which is a common opener in women’s speech, e.g. “I’m sorry my language is so bad. Please forgive me” or “you may think I’m a complete idiot, but . . .”. The required response is “no, you’re doing well, I find it hard too.” A response that starts “you should do it this way” confirms that the other person is an idiot.
The following sign, close to a Japanese level one bow, may combine supplication and low threat: A light bow with hands overlapped and eyes looking down. The Buddhist hands in prayer sign also usually shows submissiveness, but an ironic sense to Italians – “oh please, give me a break!”
Apologise in advance, as Japanese and Chinese speakers of English may do. Genuine apologies are accompanied by gaze avoidance; someone insincerely apologising will maintain eye contact. See evidentiauniversity.com NVC
Facial expressions may transfer across cultures. Six basic faces are: happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust; (also neutral). An Ohio State study found 21 faces combining the six could be distinguished, e.g. happily surprised, happily disgusted, sadly fearful, sadly angry, sadly surprised, sadly disgusted, fearfully angry.
There are large differences in face recognition. Prosopagnosia is a condition where people cannot reliably recognise even their own spouses. At the other extreme, Scotland Yard employ 200 “super recogniser”, the 1-2% who can pick out persons of interest in CCTV of a football crowd.
Here are some examples for improvisation: “Can you keep an eye on my bag while I go to the toilet for 5 minutes?” “Where have I left my I-phone?” “Would you take a photo of me and my dog with your smartphone and email it to me?” Practise miming your intention to a a foreigner, and if may also work if you lose speech for another reason.