George Bush had two shoes hurled at him by an Iraqi journalist who wanted to make an example of the outgoing President by paying him the highest insult in Baghdad yesterday.
While in Iraq the act of throwing your shoes at someone is a sign of contempt. In other countries there are many weird and wonderful ways to cast an insult to those who you dislike.
Here’s Mirror.co.uk’s guide on how not to make friends around the world.
1. If you are handed a business card in Japan you can cause maximum offence by throwing it down on your desk or stuffing it in your back pocket as the exchange of business card here is meant to be a well thought out practice.
2. In the Philippines a curled beckoning forefinger isn’t used to summon someone over but rather to call them a dog. But the insult is punishable by arrest and even breaking the finger that committed the offense so use with caution.
3. In India and Africa where people use their hands to eat, it is considered an insult to use your left hand as this is thought to be ‘unclean’ and used only for a related function which follows several hours later.
4. In Scandinavia to show distaste keep your chin down during a bottoms-up because it is understood as highly offensive to look down at your feet while drinking a toast.
5. If you blow your nose into a hankerchief in Japan you’ll insult those around you because the Japanese word for snot literally means ‘nose shit’ and the idea of carrying this around all day is thought to be digusting.
6. To insult someone in Korea you simply have to smile because smiling at a stranger is thought to be very rude and a clear indication that you believe them to be stupid.
7. While the thumb and forefinger forming the letter ‘O’ is a western sign for OK in Russia it is understood to be an insult with sexual connotations. This could come in handy if you need to show your unhappiness with the service in a Russian hotel when on holiday.
8. In Buddhist countries the most offensive thing somone can do is pat a person on the head as the head is thought to be the seat of the soul.
9. In Argentina it is considered an insult if you turn up for a dinner date on time because this is thought to be a sign of greed rather than politeness. To keep everyone happy you should turn up a little late but if you want to make a point get their early and tuck-in.
10. In North America you’re sure to cause an uproar if you mistake an American for a Canadian or vice versa as both neighbours are very senstive about this confusion.
