Gestures

My brother and I attended a Chicago Cubs baseball game a few weeks ago and part of the fun was watching the interaction between the players in the outfield and the fans sitting in the bleachers. Sometimes after the inning warm up, the left-fielder would throw a ball into the stands. One warm up session ended differently when the Cubs player pointed specifically to a person in the front row indicating that he would throw him the ball so that he could give it to the little boy sitting next to him. The guy nodded, made the catch and handed the ball to the little boy, who promptly threw it back to the player on the field, clearly hoping to “play catch.”  The crowd roared.

I wonder how often we misinterpret gestures?