The bird

[victor steinbok]

Aside from the fact that the quoted comment was in a nested message
from Jon Lighter (not mine), here's a list of what I've observed
directly. One or more of these might have come from ESL/immigrants, so
take the list with a large grain of salt. I have not attempted to look
for any of these (except, unsuccessfully, for "shoot the bird"), so I
am not listing any sources. As I said, these are personal
observations, not research.


flip the bird/finger
shoot the bird (not sure of exact use, but I've heard it in
future/conditional context, in addition to historical attestations, as
in, "X will tell Y what to do with his mother, Y will shoot the bird,
and that's that.")
flick the bird
wave/stick the finger
flash the bird/finger/hand-puppet
show the finger/finger-puppet/hand-puppet
drop a bird [on]
drop the log
stick [up] the finger

The puppet ones struck me as unusual, at the time, which is why I remember them.

I am not suggesting that all of these are widespread and many may well
be narrow or isolated cases. I'm just reporting what I heard.

VS-)

On Sat, Mar 6, 2010 at 11:57 AM, Robin Hamilton
<robin.hamilton2 at btinternet.com> wrote:

> From: "Victor Steinbok" <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
>
>>> 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.
>
> I've always heard this as giving someone the finger (with a sub-vocalised
> translation as, "Up yours, Jack.")
>
> Whether this is a Brit/USA distinction, or just my idiolect, deponent
> stateth not.
>
> ???
>
> give someone the finger
> tip someone the finger
> tip someone the bird
> flip the bird
>
> Possible evolution?
>
> Also (body language) does it tie in with placing the thumb beneath the nose
> and wiggling the remaining four fingers?
>
> {Or with the thumb beneath the nose, bending three down, and leaving the
> forefinger upright?}
>
> [And does this code differently from a non-finger-waved gesture?]
>
> Shakespeare, _R&J_, Question: "Dost thou bite your thumb at me?" -- Answer:
> "Nay [no?], but I bite my thumb."
>
> Ecco carnute (if Wilson will forgive my mangled Latin/Italian) -- do all
> these terms and gestures ultimately derive from the Italian?
>
> Robin

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