Fw: [USA-L News] British Deaf Association in controversial posterdrive

[Dan Parvaz]

> Any other explantations?

Here are the (rather contradictory) purported origins of the V-sign from
_Gestures_ (Desmond Morris et al.):

The obscene V-sign...

1. as a corrupted form of the Victory sign
2. as a modified cuckold horn-sign
3. as an enlarged phallus
4. as a double penis
5. as symbolically inserted fingers
6. as spread female legs
7. as open female genitals
8. as the female pubic triangle
9. as an eye-poking gesture
10. as covert middle-finger jerk (in the US)

Quite the list, ain't it? Morris et al. place the earlist record of this
gesture in the writings of Rabelais, where Panurge is engaged in a
"gestural duel" with Thaumast. Panurge actually wins the contest by making
the V. Despite this early French reference, the data suggests that
currently the insulting meaning of the V "is confined almost entirely to
the British Isles" (their data was collected only from Europe and
N. Africa.).

V-with-the-palm-out,

Dan.


____________
,,,
.. .   D A N  P A R V A Z  --  Geek-in-Residence
 U    University of New Mexico Linguistics Dept
 -    dparvaz@{unm.edu,lanl.gov}   505.480.9638