[Ads-l] (On topic?) Donald's gesture while introducing Melania

[Ben Zimmer]

To bring this back on-topic, the term I most often see for this gesture is
"finger gun(s)." Not in OED or any other dictionary I checked, though it
merits a Wikipedia entry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_gun

A quick database check finds relevant examples back to the '60s ("Young
18-Yr. Burglar Captured With 'Finger Gun'," Philadelphia Tribune, Jan. 7,
1961, p. 11), though I don't know at what point the finger gun moved from
simply mimicking a handgun (a la Travis Bickle at the end of "Taxi Driver")
to the more approbatory Trump-style interpretation.


On Fri, Jul 22, 2016 at 6:02 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> In speeches, DT also occasionally six-gun-points with both hands at
> once, like a kid playing Wyatt Earp.
>
> JL
>
> On Thu, Jul 21, 2016 at 11:20 PM, Robin Hamilton
> <robin.hamilton3 at virginmedia.com> wrote:
> > I know there is plagiarism software available, but is there a program
> which
> > would allow a comparison to be run between the content and syntax of
> Trump's
> > promises, and the typical rhetoric of a nineteenth century snake-oil
> > salesman?
> >
> > Robin Hamilton
> >
> >
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Subject: Re: (On topic?) Donald's gesture while introducing Melania
> >
> > And his bizarre brag-fantasy about shooting someone on Fifth Avenue
> > and not losing a single voter....
> >
> >
>

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