Nowadays, more and more learners choose to learn Chinese online. Once, a friend at an online forum told me a funny story about himself ordering in a Chinese restaurant. He just started Chinese learning then, and did not know how to say the numbers in Chinese.

He wanted to eat fish. And the waiter asked how many fish he needed (服务员问他要几条鱼 fú wù yuán wèn tā yào jǐ tiáo yú). So he held out two fingers – the thumb (拇指 mǔ zhǐ) and the forefinger (食指 shízhǐ) of his right hand (右手 yòu shǒu), signifying that he wanted two fish.

Guess what? When the waiter served up, there are eight fish in the dish.

How come that the waiter thought my friend means eight fish? The gesture is to be blamed.

Yes, in China, we hold out the thumb and the forefinger of the same hand to express the number eight. Do you have any idea about the Chinese gestures for numbers?