Splay your hands tensely in front of you, palms facing straight forward and out, and widen your eyes, while using the same tone of voice you would if you were doing finger quotes. I’m not sure if I’m conveying this, do you know the thing I mean?
I do know the thing you mean and I had totally forgotten about it, thanks! The closest I could come up with was air quotes but they’re not quite the same. I will definitely use this.
@untiltheseashallfreethem replied to your post:
At a recent IRC meetup, we developed “arm tildes” for exactly this purpose. They involve sticking your arms out to both sides, and then waving them to indicate tildes. =P
Ooh I really like this, because it sounds fun and because the first thing somehow seems like not exactly the same connotations as tildes, although maybe that’s just me. Sadly this is not a norm in any of my social groups (yet! Growth mindset!)