No, it doesn't mean anything offensive down here. It means the same thing as in Canada. The person who told you so is confusing the signals. The offensive sign in Brazil is the Ok sign, but UPSIDE DOWN. Then it means F*** off.

In some areas of Brazil, the OK signal can mean both. It may mean just OK, and it can be also interpreted as an offensive gesture, it depends of the situation, facial expression etc. That doesn't happen in the entire country, but some parts it may offend yeah. However, it is not very common, usually, when people really want to offend, they show the middle finger, as in some countries of north america ..

Actually, we never use the hands in Brazil to "say" OK; I think OK is more used in countries with English language. I wouldn't use this, cause the people I saw making the hand sign, was to say Fuck you.

it´s depend of how you can show this sign, if you say a bad word that I can´t say here (hehehe) folowing of the hand sign , the people can understand it as a ofensive , The sign can represent the bad word (ass) but in the other hand , the sign can be positive as ( ok) usualy the hand sign is inverted upside down

hmm.. nice info.