Somewhat off- topic

[George Thompson]

Quite right.

I was at one time quietly proud -- well, mayby noisily proud -- of the
fact that I was the only person in my circle to have read both this
book and Charles Darwin's study of the earthworm.

Taylor's book might be interesting to David Barnhart because of the
range of evidence from history, literature and art that Taylor had to
gather.  As I recall, he concluded that the nose-thumbing gesture was
relatively recent, and a pervesion of the military slaute.

Darwin's books would be of interest to all who are interested in
earthworms and their well-being.  Among other things, he shows that
earthworms are completely indifferenct to music.  He put a tray of them
on his piano but got no reaction to whatever he played -- of course,
they all stood to attention when he played God Save the Queen; but an
English earthworm could do no less.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM>
Date: Tuesday, February 1, 2005 10:44 pm
Subject: Re: Somewhat off- topic

> No offense, George, but, as a retired librarian who once nearly
> had a
> nervous breakdown trying - eventually, successfully - to locate a
> number of this serial for a patron, I'd like to add that this
> periodical is very often cataloged under "Folklore Fellows
> communications" and not under merely "FF communications," at some of
> this country's finer libraries.
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Feb 1, 2005, at 3:54 PM, George Thompson wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: Somewhat off- topic
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------
> ------
> > --------
> >
> > Archer Taylor wrote a history of the nose-thumbing gesture: The
> > Shanghai Gesture.  Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia (Academia
> > Scientiarum Fennica) 1956.  76 pp.  FF communications ;  no 166.
> >
> > GAT
> >
> > George A. Thompson
> > Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre",
> Northwestern> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Barnhart <barnhart at HIGHLANDS.COM>
> > Date: Tuesday, February 1, 2005 3:35 pm
> > Subject: Somewhat off- topic
> >
> >> This query is somewhat off-topic of dialect.  Is there a
> history of
> >> gestures (e.g. middle-fingering and finger wagging [often
> >> accompanied by
> >> tsk-tsking])?  I'm sure the mummy in The Mummy Returns is
> >> anachronizingwhen he wags his finger at the young boy.  The same
> >> may be true of Walter
> >> Eckland (in Father Goose, a movie set in WWII) who is reported
> to have
> >> used a gesture of disgust and frustration by the harbour masters
> >> lackey.
> >> Regards,
> >> David
> >>
> >> barnhart at highlands.com
> >>
> >
>