If you pinch thumb and forefinger together, many Anglos and every scuba diver in the world will think you are gesturing that everything is tip top A-OK, but if you do that in Brazil people might assume you’re calling them an asshole. If you point to your stomach with both index fingers in the West, it could mean “I’m full,” or possibly “check out my beer belly.” While in Argentina, when accompanied by the expression “Que culo”, it declares “look at that girl’s fantastic bum!”. To assist the traveller in not making such far-off faux pas, foreign correspondents Julia Grosse and Judith Reker have assembled a list of everyday gestures from around 50 countries, from Australia to Zimbabwe, to make Don’t Get Me Wrong! – The Global Gestures Guide, a handy pocket-sized travel companion book. The tome, illustrated with 80 color photographs by German fashion snapper Florian Bong-Kil Grosse, has also been released as a handy iPhone app ($1.99) for the benefit of beleaguered travelers. It’s a shame it didn’t come sooner, as the great British tradition of raising a thumb to mean “cool” or “right on” is in fact a vulgar insult in Iran, Afghanistan and Iraq. There may have been a lot of inadvertent insults thrown around by British soldiers on patrol in Helmand Province, or around Basra in Iraq, as they were trying to win hearts and minds. Next time you pack your bag and head off to an unfamiliar destination consider downloading the app as well as packing your guidebook. It just might save you from the common error of making the exasperated Italian “wassamatta?” gesture-thumb and four fingers pressed together in a clove shape-in Central Africa, where it’s taken to mean, “you, sir, are poorly endowed.”