A sample anecdote:

      Physical gestures and body language have different meanings in different cultures, and misunderstanding these signals can sometimes become embarrassing. Although I spent a lot of time among non-Americans, I had never really realized what this could mean in practical terms. I had an experience which taught me well, however. Some years ago, I organized and accompanied a small group of  visiting foreign students to New York for four days of sightseeing by bus. Because these students were rather young, and because New York is such an overwhelming city, I was constantly counting heads to be sure we hadn’t lost anyone. In the U.S., it is very common to count people or things by pointing the index finger and , of course, I used this method. One young man became extremely quiet, and I thought that perhaps he wasn’t enjoying himself. When I asked him what was the matter, he replied, “in my country, we count people with our eyes. We use our fingers to count the pigs.”