not sure if that is the most common expression, but see here:

And sliding, gliding, dragging one foot, giggling behind her hand, Lena went over to the Kelveys. Lil looked up from her dinner. ...
www.cygneis.com/woolf/readings/mansfield.html - 21k - Cached - Similar pages

PlaceboWorld: Archive
It was like being chatted up by a 13-year-old girl; she spent the evening sitting in the corner with her mate, pointing and giggling behind her hand. ...
www.placeboworld.co.uk/archive/fhm.htm - 20k - Cached - Similar pages

The Dolls House by Katherine Mansfield
Watch me now!" said Lena. And sliding, gliding, dragging one foot, giggling behind her hand, Lena went over to the Kelveys. Lil looked up from her dinner. ...
englishlibrary.org/story_dollshouse.html


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Note added at 10 mins (2006-06-26 19:09:02 GMT)
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And some more:

Should we be reading irony into the dancers’ giggling behind their hands? It’s hard to do when we know that the Asian women aren’t in charge of this show; ...
www.thefighting44s.com/article.php?id_art=44 - 42k - Cached - Similar pages

"Knickers" by Tom Sheehan
The girls were still giggling behind their hands, restrained while my father was driving, on their best behavior. Once on the beach they would become ...
www.subtletea.com/knickerstomsheehan.htm - 25k - Cached - Similar pages

Bearing Witness Journal: Clowning in Chiapas
The kids whoop out loud, the girls and women giggling behind their hands. The two continue to play tricks on one another - stealing hats, hitting each other ...
www.bearingwitnessjournal.com/story.htm?story=IW6ER7 - 35k - Cached - Similar pages

santa with chopsticks
Sitting with the mums, we managed to stumble through a conversation of sorts, as they giggling behind their hands. "Where you from? ...
www.globetrotters.co.uk/bites/bite_61.html - 17k - Cached - Similar pages

To Be Catholic
Little girls in white sprawl in the front row, fingering their bouquets and giggling behind their hands. The line to the confessional grows, waiting for the ...
www.amywelborn.com/tobecatholic/catholic.html - 7k - Cached - Similar pages

Guardian Unlimited Politics | Backbench | Simon Hoggart's sketch
... weeks of mockery in the press, a hundred cheap jokes in parliament, knowing that many of the people on your own side are giggling behind their hands. ...
politics.guardian.co.uk/backbench/comment/0,,1777302,00.html