[Idiom] 'Talk to my hand' vs 'Speak to my hand'

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Olympian

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Hello,

I heard the phrase 'speak to my hand' on the comedy series 'Outsourced'. I know the phrase 'talk to the hand' (or talk to my hand). I think the joke here is that the person used 'speak' instead of 'talk'. But is it wrong?

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bhaisahab

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Hello,

I heard the phrase 'speak to my hand' on the comedy series 'Outsourced'. I know the phrase 'talk to the hand' (or talk to my hand). I think the joke here is that the person used 'speak' instead of 'talk'. But is it wrong?

Thank you

It means nothing at all to me.
 

SoothingDave

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Hello,

I heard the phrase 'speak to my hand' on the comedy series 'Outsourced'. I know the phrase 'talk to the hand' (or talk to my hand). I think the joke here is that the person used 'speak' instead of 'talk'. But is it wrong?

Thank you

It's not idiomatic, which is probably the point of the "joke." Foreigners mangling English is a low form of humor. Cheap laughs.

"Talk to the hand" is the expression.
 

emsr2d2

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The accepted phrase, as far as I know, is "talk to the hand". I've never heard it used with "my" and as far as I'm concerned, "speak to the hand" isn't correct and it certainly isn't funny so I don't know why that would be a joke.
 

Olympian

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The accepted phrase, as far as I know, is "talk to the hand". I've never heard it used with "my" and as far as I'm concerned, "speak to the hand" isn't correct and it certainly isn't funny so I don't know why that would be a joke.


@emsr2d2, thank you. I could be wrong about the "my". It might have been 'speak to the hand' in the series. The series 'Outsourced' is about American call center jobs being outsourced to India. So, there are many cultural and language misunderstandings causing humor, and this is one of them.

I am curious to know if 'talk to the hand' is used in the UK as well. Thank you.
 
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Tullia

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I am curious to know if 'talk to the hand' is used in the UK as well. Thank you.


Not much, no - and it's considered rather vulgar here, a sign of a poor education generally. I'd avoid it like the plague, and not just because it's so rude to the person to whom you are speaking !
 

Olympian

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It's not idiomatic, which is probably the point of the "joke." Foreigners mangling English is a low form of humor. Cheap laughs.

"Talk to the hand" is the expression.

@SoothingDave, thank you. Some people here understand that series and some don't. But it looks like it ran for 2 yrs in the US (2010, 2011). I don't mind the foreigners mangling English part because it can really happen, but I find the Indian-American actors talking in put-on Indian accents as aiming for cheap laughs, not to mention the many inaccuracies (surprising that they did not consult someone from the huge Indian diaspora there). I am not sure if I can say - I find this disingenuous. (not sure if this is the right usage of the word 'disingenuous'). But I too find it funny, although there is nothing like British comedy for language related humor. ;-)
 

Olympian

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Not much, no - and it's considered rather vulgar here, a sign of a poor education generally. I'd avoid it like the plague, and not just because it's so rude to the person to whom you are speaking !


@Tullia, thank you.
 

BobSmith

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It's a rude expression in AmE, too.

It's one of those "expressions" you see on TV (comedies, etc) that no one really uses. And if they do, it's rather ironic, or tongue in cheek.
 

Olympian

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It's one of those "expressions" you see on TV (comedies, etc) that no one really uses. And if they do, it's rather ironic, or tongue in cheek.

@BobSmith, thank you.
 

emsr2d2

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I think it's humorously rude. If someone said it to me seriously, along with the palm of the hand shown to me, I would be rather offended. However, I hear it quite a lot and not only from the younger generation (surprisingly) and it's usually said with a wry smile.
 

bhaisahab

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I think it's humorously rude. If someone said it to me seriously, along with the palm of the hand shown to me, I would be rather offended. However, I hear it quite a lot and not only from the younger generation (surprisingly) and it's usually said with a wry smile.

Is this a relatively new expression? I've only been back in the UK for eighteen months after many years away and I've have never heard it.
 

emsr2d2

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Is this a relatively new expression? I've only been back in the UK for eighteen months after many years away and I've have never heard it.

My flatmate and I think it's probably been around about 8-10 years. We can't remember exactly where it came from although we're pretty sure it came from an American TV show. The full statement was "Talk to the hand cos the face ain't listening", accompanied by the speaker holding one hand up with the palm facing the other person's face. It quickly got shortened to just "Talk to the hand" (with or without the hand movement) and can actually be done without saying a word, but by simply holding your palm right up to someone's face.

It basically means "I'm not interested in listening to you so feel free to keep talking but you'll just be talking to my hand".
 

bhaisahab

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My flatmate and I think it's probably been around about 8-10 years. We can't remember exactly where it came from although we're pretty sure it came from an American TV show. The full statement was "Talk to the hand cos the face ain't listening", accompanied by the speaker holding one hand up with the palm facing the other person's face. It quickly got shortened to just "Talk to the hand" (with or without the hand movement) and can actually be done without saying a word, but by simply holding your palm right up to someone's face.

It basically means "I'm not interested in listening to you so feel free to keep talking but you'll just be talking to my hand".

Oh, OK.
 

Tullia

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I tend to associate it with people appearing on, for example, the Jeremy Kyle show. I think I first heard it on an American version of that sort of show, possibly Jerry Springer.
 

Olympian

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I tend to associate it with people appearing on, for example, the Jeremy Kyle show. I think I first heard it on an American version of that sort of show, possibly Jerry Springer.

@Tullia, I have seen it on The Jerry Springer Show. The usage has spread to India and I saw a couple of instances of that on the web -

Talk to the hand (GQ India magazine)
"But even as Modi’s lawyers argued that the BCCI wouldn’t hand him a clean chit, the judges weren’t playing ball. In fact, at one point, one of them is believed to have put up his right hand and muttered “Talk to the hand”, but confirmation on that is still pending"

It is hard to imagine a judge doing this, if it is true. The BCCI is the Board of Cricket Control for India, a body headed by controversial people, some of them politicians.

Here is another instance -
Talk to the Hand (and other ways of talking to Indian MPs)
It appears to me that the writer is saying that Indian MPs are asking people to 'talk to the hand', and not even providing an email address, for example.

But I don't know what this advertisement means:
Talk to the hand

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Tdol

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They're just using the phrase as a convenient title- this watch will talk to the owner's hand in a positive way by looking good.
 

Olympian

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They're just using the phrase as a convenient title- this watch will talk to the owner's hand in a positive way by looking good.

@Tdol, thank you. Sorry, but I still did not understand. Do you mean the watch will talk about the owner's hand in a positive way?

I would have understood if the title was (were?) 'Talk to the Hands' (the hands on the watch). ;-)
 
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