11560
My friend is reading a book, and it contains the following sentence:

> すると、高畑は **外国人のように** 両手を上げる仕草をした。

Why does this say `外国人のように`? Are foreigners known for a particular gesture in
which we raise both our arms...? When I read this sentence, I feel like I'm
missing some implication that's required for it to make sense.

I have a picture of the page this sentence is from, in case further context is
helpful:

![Picture of the relevant page](https://i.stack.imgur.com/94w1I.jpg)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-26T22:32:54.320
11558
2013-03-27T00:12:29.853
question
pragmatics
What does 外国人のように imply in this sentence?
Looks to me like he's suggesting that this character is holding his hands up
in that half-shrugging "I don't know nothin'!" kind of way

Forgive the meme but this is the only picture that popped up in my 15 seconds
of intense google imaging:

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DpRxA.jpg)

Whether or not this is 外国人のくせ I don't know, but that's what came to mind for
me. Reading over it again I don't think the emotional quality of it is the
same but I think the general gesture could be the same.

Either that or the author has his own idea of how foreigners act.

Edit: I'd like to comment that Chocolate's suggestion (from the position of a
native speaker) of a pure [shrug](http://www.cavstheblog.com/wp-
content/uploads/2012/03/searching.jpeg) may be accurate here, although
apparently none of us as foreigners immediately associate shrugging with
raising of the _hands_ as much as we do with shoulders. However Japanese does
have the word 肩をすくめる to refer to shrugging the shoulders. Seems to be a
distinction between which way the palms are facing!

Either way the following image describes my feelings adequately.

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZQxXs.jpg)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-26T23:39:49.893
11560
2013-03-27T00:12:29.853
2013-03-27T00:12:29.853
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11558
answer