Show me the way...

On entering a country,
ask what is forbidden;
on entering a village,
ask what are the customs;
on entering a private house,
ask what should not be
mentioned.

— Chinese Proverb


We were at the Eye Hospital in a hurry for my consultation when it happened. I saw this interesting art work at the wall in front of consultation room 1. On the first glance it seemed like an ordinary curled brass hanging on the wall; however the shadow cast on the wall was a transcription of a saying in Dutch. Very clever and very appropriate for an eye hospital. I wanted U to see it. So I pointed out using my right forefinger and said, 'Look! That’s interesting'

In stead of looking the direction I was pointing, he started protesting about me pointing to that art object with my finger. Confused and still in a hurry, I pursued to take the stairs to the first floor, with him tailing not far behind, heading toward consultation room 17 as I was told earlier. Meanwhile the conversation continued:

+Don't point
-Huh? What do you mean? I want you to see it. Did you see it?
+Didn't they tell you not to point when you are a kid?
-What's wrong with pointing? Besides, I was only pointing at an object not at a person.
+You are a nice girl from a nice family, how come you point at things?
-Oh, it must be another culture gap

Turns out, in Russian culture, one should not point at things with one finger. It is impolite. In retrospect, I’ve never seen U pointing anything at all. If he wanted to show me something he would’ve told me where to see. If I still couldn’t see what he wanted me to see, he would have turned my body or my head toward the direction, which I found rather quirky. ;)

Well I don’t know about you, but I could only remember being told to use my thumb to point at things when I am in or around elderly people from (Central) Java and that I must not point at people using my finger.

As I've been living in this Lowland for years, I think I can safely say that the Dutch never have any problem with pointing things with their finger(s).

Later on I explained to U about this finger pointing thing, and he was amazed that Javanese use thumb to show direction. He found it rather impractical. Go figure :)

Can anyone enlighten me with other cultures' take on pointing for direction?