Five Fingered Salute

[sagehen]

Michael Quinion writes:
>> In conjunction with Bronx cheer, I think the "five fingered salute" is
>> probably open palm toward the person to be disrespected, thumb to nose,
>> fingers spread and waving, tongue out.
>
>That's the sense in which I have encountered it. We Brits would more
>commonly call it "cocking a snook" at somebody. In my piece on the
>latter phrase, at <http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-coc4.htm>, I
>describe "five fingered salute" as an American expression. In view of
>comments on this list that suggest it isn't known, might that be
>incorrect?
 ~~~~~~~
I don't think the expression is unknown here, but it is, or was, more
usually called "thumbing your nose" at someone.  As kids, we understood it
to mean "kiss my ass."  The gesture and the expression have been pretty
much superceded by "the finger," once felt to be ruder, but through
familiarity losing its sting.
I always thought "cocking a snook" meant just an upward flicking of the
thumb on the tip of the nose, with the hand relaxed, a more dismissive than
aggressive gesture.
A. Murie