Usually in mountain gorillas, when groups come across each other in the forest, the male-male interactions are quite aggressive, involving chest-beating displays and sometimes even physical violence. Similarly, in Ireland, as a particular species of males, generally known as skangers, pass each other they display similar aggressive actions. These actions are known as throwing shapes and can involve head movements, fist movements and strange methods of walking.
This is a very, very common thing amongst Irish people when describing a person, place or thing. Because sometimes we can't articulate how large or small an object is, or the skin tone of an individual or even the heat of a local curry dish - we use this a lot! We basically just say the word twice and the person who gets the info knows exactly what we mean by tone alone.
