![]() In episodes of South Park alone, young Craig has been known to “flip off” his share of people. Naturally, cable TV, which is not under the same jurisdiction as commercial TV, is far more accepting. Lawyer Ira Robbins notes that this approach “allows individuals to criticize the police in a nonviolent way without risking arrest and prosecution.” Similarly, just one use of the F-word on commercial television could garner a $325,000 fine by FCC media watchdogs, the finger has been popping up without any incident on TV. Nevertheless, the decisions almost always conclude that giving the finger does not support a disorderly conduct conviction, even when it is directed toward a police officer. Consequently, the courts are continually faced with arrest cases where the police arrest obstreperous individuals for using lewd gestures. Without question, the finger is our most common insulting gesture. The amusing little volume Field Guide to the North American Bird sets forth step-by-step illustrations for more than fifty variations, including the “Peel the Banana,” the “Corkscrew,” and the “Fly Fisherman.” However you do it-out of hostility or just in jest-giving the finger is the perfect surrogate for the verbal “fuck you” when the latter is unavailable. If the finger is used to convey a wide range of emotions, even the manner in which one delivers it is equally diverse. As Professor Timothy Jay explains, “Speaker anonymity allows one to disrespect people without recourse or retaliation.” Yes, when words fail, there is always the finger. To turn an old phrase, “Let your fingers do the talking.” What makes the finger handy is that it can be used to cover great distances and penetrate realms that the good-old F-word cannot. Whether it is a result of road rage or just a playful clandestine scratching of the head by a co-worker at a staff meeting, not a word needs to be spoken. The popularity of the gesture may in part be due to its efficiency. The first documented appearance of the finger in the United States was in 1886 when Old Hoss Radbourn, a pitcher for the Boston Beaneaters, was photographed giving it to a member of the rival New York Giants. In our modern era, according to anthropologist Desmond Morris, the gesture probably came to the United States via Italian immigrants. Although the latter gesture is still common throughout Europe, the United States seems to have an exclusive hold on the former. At the time, the finger went hand in hand with the “forearm jerk.” This is where a clenched fist is jerked forcibly upward while the other hand is slapped down in the bend of the elbow. The gesture became so abhorrent that Augustus Caesar banished an actor from Rome for giving the finger to an audience member who hissed at the man during a performance. In an epigram of the first century poet Martial, he “points his finger, and the insulting one at that, towards Alcon, Dasius and Symmachus.” When Emperor Caligula offered his extended middle finger, rather than his hand, for his subjects to kiss, observers found the act scandalous and offensive. It was in ancient Rome, however, where it was called the digitus impudicus, or the “impudent finger,” that the finger rose to the fore. Historically, the obscene gesture dates back to a passage in The Clouds by Aristophanes. As obvious as this may be, few people-if any-ever consider that notion when “flipping off” the trucker who just cut in front of you on the highway. In our case, the raised finger was initially most likely meant to resemble the erect penis, with the tucked-under fingers as testicles. ![]() Unlike swearing aloud, which is based upon actual words with specific meanings, gestures are purely visual, and the finger has a kind of inherent meaning that words don’t have. In the United States, the ubiquitous finger is our call to arms. Bush has been caught numerous times on tape grinning broadly and flashing what he called the “one-finger salute.” It has been described as “flipping someone off” or “giving someone the bird,” but when it comes right down to it, the gesture of raising the middle finger ultimately translates as “fuck you!” Every nation has its own array of verbal assaults, but they also have their arsenal of insulting gestures as well.
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