"the finger" in 1932 Hollywood epic (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Douglas G. Wilson]

On 5/14/2012 12:40 PM, paul johnson wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       paul johnson<paulzjoh at MTNHOME.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "the finger" in 1932 Hollywood epic (UNCLASSIFIED)
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>
> In the late 40s and early 50'sthe finger was given from closeted fist
> and as the finger popped open you could often here, "Like fishes perch,
> sit on this" My earliest assumption was someone was going to shove a
> finger up your (dare I say it) butthole.
--

Me, I've generally seen the gesture initiated from a closed fist (of
course in the usual case out the car window one may not be able to see
the initiation). I do not recall seeing it formed the other way from an
open hand in my life although this would seem a humorous or frivolous
variant and I might not remember it. For me at any rate, flexing all of
the other fingers rapidly and simultaneously while leaving the middle
finger extended is awkward and difficult (need practice, I guess).

"Give the finger" was usual ca. 1960 in my experience as I recall. I do
not recall hearing "give the bird" until ca. 1970.

There are/were (in my limited experience)  many many 'witty' remarks to
accompany the "finger" (or other comparable rude gesture), including
"You like fish? Then [you can] perch on this", "You like cigars? Here's
one for you" [brand sometimes named], etc., etc. Probably there's a big
list of these somewhere.

-- Doug Wilson

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