Where did it originate from? and why is it considered an inapporiate behavior socially?
In: Other
English longbowmen. Back during the hundred’s years war between France and England, the story goes that French forces used to cut the middle/middle an pointer fingers off of captured longbow men, because this would prevent them from ever being able to properly pull a longbow again.
This lead to English soldiers waving their (un-cut-off) fingers at defeated French forces as a sort of “fuck you we won you didn’t get these fingers”.
Which then just eventually lead to showing someone your middle finger being taken as offensive (or in the UK, doing a backwards peace sign to someone is also offensive, to the point that the the creators of left for dead ✌🏼(2) intentionally changed the cover at of the European release.
I mean, the longest finger on your hand, which forms a very phallic shape when the other fingers are clenched and the middle finger is pointed upward… It’s not a particularly complicated origin story, and it’s likely about as old as walking erect.
Apparently this gesture goes as far back as Ancient Greece where it was understood to represent a penis. As for why that particular finger was chosen it is likely lost to time, but we can speculate the flanking fingers were taking the place of legs.
Sexual organs have long been considered vulgar so it is no surprise that many insults and foul language centers on them.
Edit: Evidently the balls have it.
Feces extractor/wiper probably. Theres still places in the world shaking hands with left hand or waving with left hand is extremely offensive.
I heard it was a gesture used by English long bow men to the French during thier many wars to show that they could still shoot. The French would sever those fingers on captured soldiers. So it was, indeed, a Fuck You.
[removed]
Other cultures have other gestures too – my understanding is showing someone the palm of your hand like you’re telling them to stop is similar in modern Greece
It’s actually an ancient gesture, dating back to at least as far as ancient Greece. The general connotation, even if normally no longer spoken, is that you’ll sodomise them with that finger, the longest of the bunch. Alternatively it can symbolise a penis, so the gesture effectively means something along the lines of “fuck you” and “shove it up your ass”
Others have explained how it may have originated, but all language and gestures are arbitrary. There’s no reason we chose the middle finger as an insult and a thumb up as a postive, other than that’s what someone started doing and others followed until it became the norm.
To explain, let’s assume the opposite, that you went to a foreign land where it’s the opposite. An angry person holds their thumb up at you in anger, while another person puts up their middle finger while congratulating you.
It’s the other context clues that tell you what the gesture means, their anger and yelling tells you that this gesture is a pejorative insult, their congratulations tell you the other is a postive affirmation.
Words and gestures don’t have any meaning on their own, and that meaning can change depending on context.
In the same vein, any word can be an insult if it’s clear there’s hate behind it, or conversely, some groups have even had success taking back a slang word by using it positively (e.g., queer).
Words and gestures are just a vehicle for us to communicate. It’s arbitrary because it’s up to us what we find acceptable or offensive.
It’s probably mythology, but I was always partial to the story of English archers waving their middle fingers to French soldiers to boast that they could still draw a bow. The French allegedly cut off the middle and index finger of any captured archers. Quite the “fuck you” if true.
Latest Answers