awkward turtle

English

Awkward turtle hand gesture

Etymology

From the resemblance to a turtle. The gesture seems to have been borrowed from Auslan sign language.

Noun

awkward turtle (plural awkward turtles)

1. An informal gesture used to indicate that a moment or situation is awkward.

References

• Tony Thorne (2014) “awkward turtle”, in Dictionary of Contemporary Slang, 4th edition, London,  […]: Bloomsbury