I was taught the same thing. In particular I kept being told that gesturing is an indication of a poor vocabulary. So I taught myself to never do it.

I do not mind gesturing itself done by other people, but I’ve found that it correlates a lot with violating my personal space. A lot of gesturing ends up being done right in front of my face, or just too close to my body in general. And that annoys me and makes me lose respect for the person doing that.

> but this was a huge deal for me living in Israel.

I lived in Israel my whole life and I don't remember ever encountering the notion that 'speaking with your hands is lacking "class"' or that ' It's generally seen as "proper" to not use your hands.'. I just looked and easily found two videos with Israel's Prime Minister where he used hand gestures while talking.

> In the military, especially in basic training, that would probably send you doing pushups.

No, I don't think so, why would it?

Must be horrible

Stop words are filler words?

um, uh, like, you know