Comments on: Why Is The Middle Finger Offensive?

By: Orange

Orange — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:53:00 +0000

Growing up in Germany, I learned that the sign we use for “A-okay” over here (tip of index finger and thumb touching, remaining fingers extended) means asshole over there.

At least, that’s what I was always told…

By: PierreSmack

PierreSmack — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:23:00 +0000

The middle finger is an elegant solution to a variety of problems. I support and encourage its responsible use.

P.S. you know how there’s a spam-fighting image-verification thing in order to comment on this site? Well the words it’s asking me to verify right now are “Oliver” and “erection”.

By: PartiallyDeflected

PartiallyDeflected — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 01:45:00 +0000

That Jeff – Thumb and Finger is the Mongolian pull

By: Bashful

Bashful — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:14:00 +0000

Just watched the Daily Show online from Jan 29, featuring a clip from a roast of Rahm Emanuel. Here it is, your moment of Zen, courtesy of Pres. Obama…
“It hasn’t been easy for Rahm though as a young man he had a serious accident. I think, as many of you were aware of this, he was working at a deli, accident with a meat slicing machine, he lost part of his middle finger, and as a result of this, this rendered him practically mute.

Has he ever flashed that little stubby thing at you? Thatâ€™s appalling.”

By: Ms. B

Ms. B — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:57:00 +0000

Man, I hate when I do that. Of course it’s “Flight of the Conchords.” Realized it as soon as I hit “Submit Comment.”

By: Ms. B

Ms. B — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:54:00 +0000

Makes me think of the “Fighting Concords” episode when they teach the produce cart guy the art of “flipping the bird” and the discussion of why it’s called that (and how it doesn’t look like a bird at all).

By: Chichikov

Chichikov — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:48:00 +0000

In Russian I’ve heard the fig also called khren (XPEH in Cyrillic). Khren means horseradish and is also slang for prick.

By: BassMan

BassMan — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:46:00 +0000

I dunno, that lonbow story sounds like a riff on the famous ‘pluck yew’ myth.

By: That Jeff

That Jeff — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:18:00 +0000

Not one hundred percent sure this us true, but I seem to recall that English longbowmen pulled back the string with their thumbs, not with their fingers (like you’d normally think). If this is true, then I don’t see the French/English origin being true.

By: EMStoveken

EMStoveken — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:18:00 +0000

Ah “The Banana” (though I have never previously heard it referred to as such) was a common and revered gesture of disdain in my grade school years. Hey, I grew up in Jersey.

I still find that the gesture has certain merit when gesticulating at the television. Sporting events are the most common cause of this, but have utilized both this and my trademarked “lunging double finger” while watching old episodes of The Galloping Gourmet. (it’s a long story).