Many hand gestures that are innocuous or positive in one country can be incredibly insulting or obscene in another. To make things more difficult, a gesture's meaning can also differ within a country, depending upon the locale. It may also have a particular meaning only to one subset of people, such as gay people or the elderly, no matter where in the country you are. The most offensive gesture in America is flipping someone off. Giving them "the finger." The gesture means screw you. The gesture involves sticking up your middle finger with your palm facing in. You can make the sign calmly, or angrily extend your arm toward the intended recipient, depending on how upset you are. This is a very old insult, even used by fourth-century philosopher Diogenes, and always known as a phallic gesture. In the past, the gesture was a bit shocking to see. A news database search reported by NPR noted the phrase "giving the finger" was used three times more from 2000 to 2010 than it was between 19.
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#What does jorge your gay meme mean movie#Īnd as anyone living in America knows, you'll see an impressive (dismaying?) assortment of people using it, from prominent politicians to movie stars. If this keeps up, "the finger" may no longer be seen as shocking and crude. Which likely means another gesture will take its place as most offensive. It's such a fun game to play with babies and tots. "I've got your nose!" you say playfully, after you've made a gentle swipe. To prove you've really snatched their proboscis, you hold up your hand, curled in a fist, with your thumb sticking up in between your pointer and middle finger. Your thumb, of course, is supposedly the baby's nose.
Alas, while this game is common in the U.S., Australia and Canada, it's never played in Turkey. In that country, the hand gesture, commonly known as "the fig," is like calling someone an unprintable name. It's also quite insulting to people in Indonesia, Italy, India and some other Asian countries. This gesture hails back to ancient times, when the Romans used it to indicate sexual union. In a positive manner, that is - to wish someone good luck and fertility.