The bird

[Victor Steinbok]

I have no doubt that the meaning in the following is quite literal, but
it is still interesting because it is the only one of its kind that I
found pre-1900

http://bit.ly/bcfK2q

For this to have been a euphemism, there would have to have been a
breakdown in communication, at some point, for Harris (the translator)
means it quite literally.

     VS-)

On 3/4/2010 7:22 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> The photo in question appeared in 1996 in Geoffrey C. Ward's _Baseball_,
> written to accompany Ken Burns's TV series.
>
> As HDAS notes, _Funk&  Wagnall's Standard Dictionary_ of 1890-93 amazingly
> includes the phrase "give someone the finger," somewhat lamely defined, and
> with no apparent suggestion of obscenity.
>
> My  SWAG is that the gesture became widespread/ familiar to the "educated"
> in the 1880s, which seems to imply a long underground existence.
>
> Maybe it was popularized during the Civil War.
>
> I've never seen any documentation earlier than the photo.  In the light
> of the gesture's apparent existence in Ancient Rome, one can only guess that
> it may have been introduced into modern American culture by (very
> conservative) Italian immigrants.  Another SWAG, of course.
>
> JL
>
> On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 5:08 PM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC<
> Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil>  wrote:
>
>

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