SpeedRacer 1 #1 December 25, 2008 Why do we Americans use one finger and the Brits use two? Speed Racer -------------------------------------------------- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The_Don 0 #2 December 25, 2008 Sticky fingers? I am NOT being loud. I'm being enthusiastic! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theonlyski 8 #3 December 25, 2008 http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080611151836AAPPGDs answer your question?"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890 I'm an asshole, and I approve this message Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #4 December 25, 2008 Obscene gestures all come down to a sexual context. The phallic gestures (like a middle finger or the rigid arm with a fist in some countries or the flipped up arm) all come back to erections. The two finger salute is vaginal. So what your left with is that Brits are pussies. --"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpeedRacer 1 #5 December 25, 2008 not really. Speed Racer -------------------------------------------------- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LuckyMcSwervy 0 #6 December 25, 2008 Quote Obscene gestures all come down to a sexual context. The phallic gestures (like a middle finger or the rigid arm with a fist in some countries or the flipped up arm) all come back to erections. The two finger salute is vaginal. So what your left with is that Brits are pussies. So where does "the shocker" come into play? Always be kinder than you feel. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The_Don 0 #7 December 25, 2008 Um.. the nether region? I am NOT being loud. I'm being enthusiastic! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LuckyMcSwervy 0 #8 December 25, 2008 Quote Um.. the nether region? Ummm... I know that. Let me rephrase my question... LOL. Who the frig' make up "the shocker"??? Always be kinder than you feel. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
diablopilot 2 #9 December 25, 2008 As I've heard it, the British 2 finger salute dates back to the the middle ages. When French soldiers captured British soldiers the would sometimes cut off their first two fingers so that they could not shoot a bow. This developed into an insult when British soldiers would taunt the French by showing them that they still had their fingers. The American "bird" possibly comes from the Greek/Roman influences, where a single digit held up (usually the thumb or first finger) was an insult or command to put someone to death.---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpeedRacer 1 #10 December 25, 2008 I heard that that was just an Urban Legend. Speed Racer -------------------------------------------------- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LuckyMcSwervy 0 #11 December 25, 2008 QuoteAs I've heard it, the British 2 finger salute dates back to the the middle ages. When French soldiers captured British soldiers the would sometimes cut off their first two fingers so that they could not shoot a bow. This developed into an insult when British soldiers would taunt the French by showing them that they still had their fingers. The American "bird" possibly comes from the Greek/Roman influences, where a single digit held up (usually the thumb or first finger) was an insult or command to put someone to death. Believe it or not my AFP instructor told me the same thing. We were discussing hand signals..... LOL!Always be kinder than you feel. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpeedRacer 1 #12 December 25, 2008 So with the Brits, it's actually an invitation??? Speed Racer -------------------------------------------------- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SuFantasma 0 #13 December 25, 2008 Up yours ! ( To keep up with the theme of the thread, mate)Y yo, pa' vivir con miedo, prefiero morir sonriendo, con el recuerdo vivo". - Ruben Blades, "Adan Garcia" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shropshire 0 #14 December 25, 2008 The 2 finger salute was to show the French that the British Bowmen still had 2 fingers.... comes from around the times of Agincourt. (.)Y(.) Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JackC 0 #15 December 25, 2008 QuoteThe 2 finger salute was to show the French that the British Bowmen still had 2 fingers.... comes from around the times of Agincourt. Hence the name "the Agincourt salute". Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpeedRacer 1 #16 December 25, 2008 From Wikipedia" QuoteOrigins An early recorded use of the 'two-fingered salute' is in the Macclesfield Psalter of c.1330 (in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge), being made by a glove in the psalter’s marginalia.[4] According to a popular legend the two-fingers salute and/or V sign derives from the gestures of longbowmen fighting in the English army at the Battle of Agincourt (1415) during the Hundred Years' War.[4][12] The story claims that the French claimed that they would cut off the arrow-shooting fingers of all the English longbowmen after they had won the battle at Agincourt. But the English came out victorious and showed off their two fingers, still intact. Historian Juliet Barker quotes Jean Le Fevre (who fought on the English side at Agincourt) as saying that Henry V included a reference to the French cutting off longbowmen's fingers in his pre-battle speech.[13] If this is correct it confirms that the story was around at the time of Agincourt, although it doesn't necessarily mean that the French practised it, just that Henry found it useful for propaganda, and it does not show that the 'two-fingers salute' is derived from the hypothetical behaviour of English archers at that battle. Indeed, there is no record of this explanation for the V sign before the 1970s, and it seems to be a popular myth. The first definitive known reference to the ‘V-sign’ in French is in the works of François Rabelais, a sixteenth-century satirist."[14] It was not until the start of the 20th century that clear evidence of the use of insulting V sign in England became available, when in 1901 a worker outside Parkgate ironworks in Rotherham used the gesture, (captured on the film), to indicated he did not like being filmed.[15] Peter Opie interviewed children in the 1950s and observed in The Lore And Language Of Schoolchildren that the much older thumbing of the nose (cock-a-snook) had been replaced by the V-sign as the most common insulting gesture used in the playground.[10] Desmond Morris discussed various possible origins of the V sign in Gestures: Their Origins and Distribution, (published 1979) and came to no definite conclusion: because of the strong taboo associated with the gesture (its public use has often been heavily penalized). As a result, there is a tendency to shy away from discussing it in detail. It is "known to be dirty" and is passed on from generation to generation by people who simply accept it as a recognized obscenity without bothering to analyse it... Several of the rival claims are equally appealing. The truth is that we will probably never know... —Desmond Morris[10] Speed Racer -------------------------------------------------- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BillyVance 35 #17 December 26, 2008 I learned a while ago that for Italians, it's a thumbs up. Friend of mine was at a boogie in Florida years ago, and noticed a large group of Italian skydivers packing. He asked one of them where they were from. "Italy" was the answer. He responded with a smile and a thumbs up "cool!", to which they all glared at him and muttered amongst each other. He couldn't figure out why until someone else mentioned his faux pas... Yeah the English use the two finger salute. When we held the 3rd Deaf World Record in Florida in 2005, we got to learn the Japanese, Norse, English and South African versions, but damned if I can remember what the others were. "Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JerryBaumchen 1,468 #18 December 26, 2008 Back in '91 or '92 I was in a test lab in southern Brazil doing some testing on some equipment. The testing was not going so good but finally around 3:00 PM or so everything passed the tests. I gave the 5 or 6 test engineers the 'OK' salute which is forming an '0' with your thumb & forefinger with the other three fingers staying straight. Everyone looked at me rather oddly ( the test engineers did not speak English ) and the QA Mgr came over and informed me that meant UP YOURS in Brazil. Ya gots to learn the local customs, JerryBaumchen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SuFantasma 0 #19 December 27, 2008 That really fucks-up a brazilian-italian on AFF, thumbs up and circle of awareness... talk about one pissed-off student!Y yo, pa' vivir con miedo, prefiero morir sonriendo, con el recuerdo vivo". - Ruben Blades, "Adan Garcia" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
