the finger
{{Short description|Obscene hand gesture}}
{{For|fingers in general, see Finger. For other uses|Finger (disambiguation)}}
{{Good article}}
{{Pp-semi-indef}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2017}}
"The finger", or the middle finger (as in giving someone the (middle) finger, flipping the bird or flipping someone off) is an obscene hand gesture. The gesture communicates moderate to extreme contempt, and is roughly equivalent in meaning to "fuck you", "fuck me", "shove it up your ass/arse", "up yours", or "go fuck yourself". It is performed by showing the back of a hand that has only the middle finger extended upwards, though in some locales, the thumb is extended. Extending the finger is considered a symbol of contempt in several cultures, especially in the Western world. Many cultures use similar gestures to display their disrespect, although others use it to express pointing without intentional disrespect. The gesture is usually used to express contempt but can also be used humorously or playfully.
The gesture dates back to ancient Greece and it was also used in ancient Rome. Historically, it represented a phallus. In the early 1800s, it gained increasing recognition as a sign of disrespect and was used by music artists (notably more common among actors, celebrities, athletes and politicians; most still view the gesture as obscene). In more contemporary periods, the bent index and ring fingers on each side of the middle finger have been likened to represent the testes.{{cite book|last1=Rosewarne|first1=Lauren|title=American Taboo: The Forbidden Words, Unspoken Rules, and Secret Morality of Popular culture|date=2013|page=51 |publisher=Abc-Clio |isbn=9780313399343 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XWijAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA51 }}
Classical era
File:Jean-Léon Gérôme - Diogenes - Walters 37131.jpg Diogenes, pictured by Gérôme with the large jar in which he lived; when strangers at the inn were expressing their wish to catch sight of the great orator Demosthenes, Diogenes is said to have stuck out his middle finger and exclaimed "This, for you, is the demagogue of the Athenians."]]
The middle finger gesture was used in ancient times as a symbol of sexual intercourse, in a manner meant to degrade, intimidate, and threaten the individual receiving the gesture. It also represented the phallus, with the fingers next to the middle finger representing testicles; from its close association, the gesture may have assumed apotropaic potency. In the 1st-century Mediterranean world, extending the finger was one of many methods used to divert the ever-present threat of the evil eye.
In Greek, the gesture was known as the katapygon (κατάπυγον, from kata – κατά, "downwards" and pugē – πυγή, "rump, buttocks"). In ancient Greek comedy, the finger was a gesture of insult toward another person, with the term katapugon also referring to "a male who submits to anal penetration" or katapygaina to a female. In Aristophanes's comedy The Clouds (423 BC), when the character Socrates is quizzing his student on poetic meters, Strepsiades declares that he knows quite well what a dactyl is, and gives the finger. The gesture is a visual pun on the two meanings of the Greek word daktylos, both "finger" and the rhythmic measure composed of a long syllable and two short, like the joints of a finger ({{nowrap|— ‿ ‿,}} which also appears as a visual pun on the penis and testicles in a medieval Latin text). Socrates called one who made the gesture "boorish and stupid." The gesture recurs as a form of mockery in Peace, alongside farting in someone's face. The usage is later explained in the Suda and included in the Adagia of Erasmus. The verb "to play the Siphnian" appears in a fragment of Aristophanes and has a similar meaning. The usage is once again explained in the Suda, where it is said to mean "to touch the anus with a finger." Diogenes Laërtius records how the Cynic philosopher Diogenes of Sinope directed the gesture at the orator Demosthenes in 4th-century BC Athens. In the Discourses of Epictetus, Diogenes's target is instead one of the sophists.
File:Romanwallinscotl00macduoft raw 0479stone busts.png, Scotland. Silenus and bearded man with middle finger extended in the "infamis digitus" to ward off the evil eye.{{cite book |last1=MacDonald |first1=George |title=The Roman wall in Scotland |date=1911 |publisher=J. Maclehose |location=Glasgow |edition=1 |url=https://archive.org/stream/romanwallinscotl00macduoft#page/n475/mode/2up |access-date=12 July 2018}} A video of the figure on the right has been made.{{cite web |title=Bust of Silenus, Bar Hill |date=June 18, 2014 |url=https://vimeo.com/98561641 |access-date=12 July 2018}}]]
In Latin, the middle finger was the digitus impudicus, meaning the "shameless, indecent or offensive finger". In the 1st century AD, Persius had superstitious female relatives concoct a charm with the "infamous finger" (digitus infamis) and "purifying spit" while in the Satyricon, an old woman uses dust, spit and her middle finger to mark the forehead before casting a spell. The poet Martial has a character in good health extend "the indecent one" toward three doctors. In another epigram, Martial wrote: "Laugh loud, Sextillus, at whoever calls you a cinaedus and extend your middle finger." Juvenal, through synecdoche, has the "middle nail" cocked at threatening Fortuna. The indecent finger features again in a mocking context in the Priapeia, a collection of poems relating to the phallic god Priapus. In Late Antiquity, the term "shameless finger" is explained in the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville with reference to its frequent use when accusing someone of a "shameful action."
Image:Old Hoss Radbourn finger.jpg baseball pitcher Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn pictured giving the finger to cameraman, 1886. First known photograph of the gesture.]]
United States
Linguist Jesse Sheidlower traces the gesture's development in the United States to the 1890s. According to anthropologist Desmond Morris, the gesture probably came to the United States via Italian immigrants. The first documented appearance of the finger in the United States was in 1886, when Old Hoss Radbourn, a baseball pitcher for the Boston Beaneaters, was photographed giving it to a member of their rival the New York Giants.
Use of this gesture in public, while vulgar, is not unlawful, as it is considered expressive communication protected by the First Amendment. In some cases, offended police officers who have had the insulting gesture displayed to them have stopped, ticketed, or arrested people for doing so. However, it is neither a crime, nor even probable cause to stop a person, and a police officer who does so violates "a clearly established constitutional right," and does not have qualified immunity if they do so, which means they can be sued for monetary damages for the unlawful stop and/or arrest. Cruise-Gulyas v. Minard 918 F.3d 494 (2019).
Canada
In 2023, in a ruling issued February 24 regarding a Canadian man who was accused of criminal harassment and uttering threats, Quebec court Judge Dennis Galiatsatos wrote, "To be abundantly clear, it is not a crime to give someone the finger," and, "Flipping the proverbial bird is a God-given, Charter-enshrined right that belongs to every red-blooded Canadian. It may not be civil, it may not be polite, it may not be gentlemanly. Nevertheless, it does not trigger criminal liability." The accused man was acquitted.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cp24.com/mobile/news/giving-the-middle-finger-is-a-god-given-right-says-quebec-judge-1.6304963|title=Giving the middle finger is a 'God-given' right, says Quebec judge|first=Jacob|last=Serebrin|date=March 8, 2023|website=CP24}}
Early appearance in films
During a wedding sequence in one of Alfred Hitchcock's silent films, The Ring (1927), a misunderstanding results in the ringbearer giving the finger to another member of the wedding party, to comedic effect.
In the film Speedy (1928), Harold Lloyd's character gives himself the finger into a distorting mirror at Luna Park, about 25 minutes into the film.
Political and military use
File:Stamp of Ukraine s1985.jpg featuring a Ukrainian soldier in battle dress flipping off the Moskva]]
The gesture has been involved in political events. During the {{USS|Pueblo|AGER-2|6}} incident, in which an American ship was captured by North Korea, the captured American crewmembers often discreetly gave the finger in staged photo ops, undermining the North Koreans' use of the images in their propaganda. The North Koreans, ignorant of what the gesture meant, were at first told by the prisoners that it was a "Hawaiian good luck sign", similar to the shaka. When the guards finally figured things out, the crewmembers were subjected to extremely severe beatings. Abbie Hoffman used the gesture at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Ronald Reagan, while serving as the Governor of California, gave the middle finger to counterculture protesters in Berkeley, California. Nelson Rockefeller, then the Vice President of the United States, directed the gesture to hecklers at a 1976 campaign stop near Binghamton, New York, leading it to be called the "Rockefeller gesture". In 1982, Pierre Trudeau, then the Prime Minister of Canada, gave the finger to protesters in Salmon Arm, British Columbia, earning the incident the nickname the "Salmon Arm salute".{{Cite web|title = One-finger salute crude to Ont. Film Review Bd.|url = http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/mobile/one-finger-salute-crude-to-ont-film-review-bd-1.368040|website = Toronto|date = February 7, 2009|access-date = October 9, 2015}} The gesture itself has also been nicknamed the "Trudeau salute".{{cite news |last=Hopper |first=Tristin |date=August 22, 2016 |title=A B.C. museum says it's preserved the railcar from which Pierre Trudeau gave the finger to protesters |url=https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/a-b-c-museum-says-its-preserved-the-railcar-from-which-pierre-trudeau-gave-the-finger-to-protesters |work=National Post |access-date=February 20, 2021}} Former president George W. Bush gave the finger to the camera at an Austin production facility during his term as governor of Texas, saying it was "just a one-finger victory salute."{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100507110217/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_bylg-Jjz8 |title=Bush's One-Fingered Victory Salute |date=March 24, 2006 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_bylg-Jjz8 |publisher=YouTube |access-date=13 December 2019 |archive-date=May 7, 2010 |language=en}} Anthony Weiner gave the finger to reporters after leaving his election headquarters the night he lost the 2013 primary election for Mayor of New York City.{{cite web|url=http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/09/11/weiner-dodges-sexting-partner-flips-the-bird-as-he-rides-off/|title=Weiner dodges sexting partner, flips the bird as he rides off|first1=Laura|last1=Dolan|first2=Rosa|last2=Flores|first3=Tim|last3=McCaughan|work=CNN.com|date=September 11, 2013|access-date=September 11, 2013|archive-date=September 11, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130911083538/http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/09/11/weiner-dodges-sexting-partner-flips-the-bird-as-he-rides-off/|url-status=dead}} During the campaign for the 2013 German federal election, the leading candidate of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Peer Steinbrück controversially gave the finger in a photo interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung
During World War II, the 91st Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces referred to the gesture as the "rigid digit" salute. It was used in a more jocular manner, to suggest an airman had committed an error or infraction; the term was a reference to British slang terms for inattentiveness (i.e. "pull your finger out (of your bum)"). The "order of the rigid digit" continued after the war as a series of awards presented by the veteran's association of the 91st, marked by wooden statuettes of a hand giving the single finger gesture. In 2005 during the war in Iraq, Gunnery Sergeant Michael Burghardt gained prominence when the Omaha World-Herald published a photo of Burghardt making the gesture towards Iraqi insurgents he believed to be watching after an improvised explosive device failed to kill him.{{snopes|link=http://www.snopes.com/photos/military/burghardt.asp|title=Michael Burghardt}}
The middle finger has been involved in judicial hearings. An appellate court in Hartford, Connecticut ruled in 1976 that gesturing with the middle finger was offensive, but not obscene, after a police officer charged a 16-year-old with making an obscene gesture when the student gave the officer the middle finger. The case was appealed to the Connecticut Supreme Court, which upheld the decision. In March 2006, a federal lawsuit was filed regarding the free speech issue.
Giving the finger has resulted in negative consequences. A Malaysian man was bludgeoned to death after giving the finger to a motorist following a car chase. A Pakistani man was deported by the United Arab Emirates for the gesture, which violates indecency codes.
People have given the finger as a method of political protest. At a concert, Ricky Martin gave a picture of George W. Bush the finger to protest the War in Iraq. Serbian protesters gave the finger to the Russian embassy regarding their support of Slobodan Milošević. Artist Ai Weiwei has used the finger in photographs and sculptures as a political statement. As a political message to the Czech President Miloš Zeman, Czech artist David Černý floated an outsize, purple statue of a hand on the River Vltava in Prague; its middle finger extended towards Prague Castle, the Presidential seat.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24607870 |access-date=11 May 2023 |title=Czech floating finger sends president message|work=BBC News|date=October 21, 2013}} Černý had also mounted a middle finger on a pink former Soviet tank from the Monument to Soviet Tank Crews in 1991.{{cite news|last1=Wright|first1=Patrick|title=Why a pink tank made Prague see red by Patrick Wright (first published in the Guardian, 25 July 1991)|url=http://www.patrickwright.net/wp-content/uploads/pwright-pink-tank.pdf|access-date=15 April 2017|work=The Guardian|date=25 July 1991|archive-date=July 27, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727234837/http://www.patrickwright.net/wp-content/uploads/pwright-pink-tank.pdf|url-status=dead}} In 2011–2012, the pink tank with the finger was displayed again on a barge on the Vltava.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}
In 2017 Juli Briskman gave the finger to the motorcade of Donald Trump as it drove past her while bicycling, and a photograph that went viral forced her to resign from her job as a marketing executive. However, the notoriety may have been favorable in her 2019 election to the board of supervisors for Loudoun County, Virginia.{{Cite web |first=Paul |last=LeBlanc |access-date=11 May 2023 |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/05/politics/juli-briskman-trump-motorcade-flipped-off-local-office-win/index.html|title=Cyclist who flipped off Trump motorcade wins local office in Virginia |work=CNN |date=November 6, 2019}}
On February 24, 2022, the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian missile cruiser Moskva{{Cite news |title=Russian Warship Moskva Is Featured in New Ukrainian Postage Stamp |url=https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/russia-ukraine-latest-news-2022-04-14/card/russian-warship-moskva-is-featured-in-new-ukrainian-postage-stamp-6qEW3wsyWdSsEP7CeVWq |access-date=15 April 2022 |newspaper=WSJ |language=en}} attacked Snake Island as part of the 2022 Snake Island campaign. The Ukrainian border guard Roman Hrybov's last communication with the warship was "Russian warship, go fuck yourself". This was memorialized on a set of Ukrainian commemorative postage stamps on April 12{{Cite web |date=12 April 2022 |title=Укрпошта випустила мільйон поштових марок "Русскій воєнний корабль, іді …!" |url=https://www.ukrposhta.ua/ua/news/57619-ukrposhta-issued-one-million-postage-stamps-russian-warship-fk-you |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220415153404/https://www.ukrposhta.ua/ua/news/57619-ukrposhta-issued-one-million-postage-stamps-russian-warship-fk-you |archive-date=15 April 2022 |access-date=15 April 2022 |website=Ukrposhta |language=uk}}[https://www.rnd.de/panorama/ukrainische-post-hat-neue-briefmarke-mit-stinkefinger-fuer-die-russen-STSY3IHFB6W52EMY5TDZIT3NFY.html Stinkefinger für die Russen: Ukrainische Post bringt neue Briefmarke heraus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220414050556/https://www.rnd.de/panorama/ukrainische-post-hat-neue-briefmarke-mit-stinkefinger-fuer-die-russen-STSY3IHFB6W52EMY5TDZIT3NFY.html |date=14 April 2022 }}. In: rnd.de. 12 April 2022. Retrieved 14 April 2022. (in German) with the text "Russian warship, fuck you!" and a drawing of a Ukrainian soldier presenting the middle finger to the Russian cruiser.{{Cite news |title=Russian Warship Moskva Is Featured in New Ukrainian Postage Stamp |url=https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/russia-ukraine-latest-news-2022-04-14/card/russian-warship-moskva-is-featured-in-new-ukrainian-postage-stamp-6qEW3wsyWdSsEP7CeVWq |access-date=15 April 2022 |newspaper=WSJ |language=en}}
In popular culture
File:Gesto, David Černý(sochař), 21.10.2013, Praha.jpg river under Prague Castle from the Czech sculptor David Černý to the pro-Kremlin president Miloš Zeman before the precipitated 2013 parliament election in the Czech Republic]]
The use of the middle finger has become pervasive in popular culture. The band Cobra Starship released a song called "Middle Finger", and released a music video that showed people giving the finger. Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan installed a marble statue of a middle finger measuring {{convert|11|m}}, located directly in front of the Milan Stock Exchange. A now-famous photograph of Johnny Cash shows him giving the middle finger to a photographer during a 1969 concert at San Quentin State Prison, released as At San Quentin. However, the photo remained fairly obscure until 1998, when producer Rick Rubin made it the centerpiece of an ad in Billboard criticizing country radio for not giving airplay to Cash's Grammy-winning album Unchained. Cameron Diaz made the gesture during a photo shoot for Esquire. Harold Lloyd shot the finger to his own reflection in a Coney Island funhouse after getting paint on his suit in Speedy, his final silent feature, from 1928.
Athletes, including Stefan Effenberg, Ron Artest, Luis Suárez, Virat Kohli, Juan Pablo Montoya, Iván Rodríguez, Danny Graves, Jack McDowell, Natasha Zvereva, Josh Smith, Bryan Cox, and Johnny Manziel have been suspended or fined for making the gesture.{{Cite web |last=Wu |first=Andrew |date=2012-01-05 |title=Kohli fined for finger salute |url=https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/kohli-fined-for-finger-salute-20120105-1plz0.html |access-date=2023-11-06 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}{{cite web|url=https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/johnny-manziel-fined--12k-for-obscene-hand-gesture-on-monday-night-football-164010010.html |url-status=dead |access-date=11 May 2023 |title=Johnny Manziel fined $12K for obscene hand gesture on Monday Night Football|date=August 22, 2014|work=Yahoo Sports|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823031256/https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/johnny-manziel-fined--12k-for-obscene-hand-gesture-on-monday-night-football-164010010.html |archive-date=August 23, 2014 }} José Paniagua was released by the Chicago White Sox after giving the middle finger to an umpire; he never played in the majors again. Baseball executive Chub Feeney once resigned after giving the finger to fans on Fan Appreciation Night. Bud Adams, owner of the National Football League's Tennessee Titans, was fined US$250,000 for giving both middle fingers to the fans of the Buffalo Bills during a game. Professional wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin is also famous for flashing one or both middle fingers as part of his gimmick. Hockey star Jaromír Jágr made the gesture several times following goals in the early 1990s.{{cite web |url=http://www.letsgopens.com/scripts/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11601 |title=Young Jaromir Jagr loved flipping the bird|date=Mar 6, 2007|work=LetsGoPens}}
The NME Awards, an annual music awards show in the UK, uses an extended middle finger design in the trophy handed out to the winners.{{cite news|title=The Story Of The Night: NME Awards 2016|url=https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/the-story-of-the-nme-awards-2016-with-austin-texas-760106|agency=NME Awards|date=4 January 2018}} Many musical artists, including Madonna, Lady Gaga, Eminem, Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, and Adele have publicly made the gesture.{{cite web|url=http://www.hollywire.com/2014/04/wtf-ariana-grande-jennifer-lawrence-middle-finger-drama|title=WTF! Ariana Grande & Jennifer Lawrence Middle Finger Drama! - Hollywire|access-date=May 30, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926064045/http://www.hollywire.com/2014/04/wtf-ariana-grande-jennifer-lawrence-middle-finger-drama|archive-date=September 26, 2015|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea have given the gesture towards members of the paparazzi, but had to apologize when fans interpreted the gesture as directed at them. M.I.A. gave the gesture during the Super Bowl XLVI Halftime Show. The National Football League, NBC, and M.I.A. apologized. The CD itself for Kid Rock's album Devil Without a Cause is a picture of his raised middle finger. On the cover of Moby Grape's first album, Moby Grape, band member Don Stevenson was caught flipping the bird at the camera. The finger was airbrushed out of subsequent releases of the album.
In automobile driving culture, giving the finger to a fellow motorist communicates displeasure at another person's reckless driving habits and/or their disregard for common courtesy.{{cite book |last1=Trumble |first1=Angus |title=The Finger: A Handbook |date=2010 |publisher=Melbourne University Publishing |isbn=9780522857696 |page=192 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WX5LAu5qDx4C&pg=PA192}}
The finger is included in Unicode as {{unichar|1F595 |REVERSED HAND WITH MIDDLE FINGER EXTENDED}},{{cite web |url=http://emojipedia.org/reversed-hand-with-middle-finger-extended/ |title=Middle Finger Emoji |publisher=Emojipedia}} part of the Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs block.
The media sometimes refers to the gesture as being mistaken for an indication of "we're number one", typically indicated with a raised index finger. Sometimes, though, the "mistake" is actually an intentional euphemism meant to indirectly convey the gesture in a medium where a direct description would be inappropriate. For example, Don Meredith famously noted in a 1972 Monday Night Football game describing the finger of a dejected Houston Oilers fan: "He thinks they're number one in the nation."{{cite web|url=http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Sports/Monday-Night-Football-11054.html|title=Monday Night Football|website=Fun Facts & Information|access-date=July 2, 2015}} Ira Robbins, a law professor, believes the finger is no longer an obscene gesture. Psychologist David Walsh, founder of the National Institute on Media and the Family, sees the growing acceptance of the middle finger as a sign of the growth of a "culture of disrespect".
Google Street View's picture of the area around the Wisconsin Governor's Mansion, taken in 2011 during the tenure of Scott Walker, shows a jogger giving the finger in the direction of the mansion.{{cite news|url=http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/238873971.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140815042614/http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/238873971.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2014-08-15|title=The new Wisconsin salute|last=Snider|first=Christian|newspaper=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|date=January 6, 2014}}
Similar gestures
In the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, the V sign, "two-fingered salute" or "the fingers", when given with back of the hand towards the recipient, serves a similar purpose. According to a Royal Shakespeare Company synopsis of the play Henry V, a "two-fingered salute" appeared in the Macclesfield Psalter of {{circa|1330}} (in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge), "being made by a glove in the psalter's marginalia". George H. W. Bush, former President of the United States, accidentally made the gesture while on a diplomatic trip to Australia.
In countries where Spanish, Portuguese or French are spoken, and especially in Spain, Portugal, Brazil and France, the gesture involving raising a fist and slapping the biceps on the same arm as the fist used, sometimes called the bras d'honneur (French), corte de mangas (Spanish), manguito (Portugal), dar uma banana (Brazil), or Iberian slap, is equivalent to the finger.
More commonly in Turkish or Slavic regions, the fig sign (also known as nah or shish) serves as the equivalent to the finger, meaning "you won't get it" or "in your dreams". The gesture is typically made with the hand and fingers curled and the thumb thrust between the middle and index fingers. This gesture is also used similarly in Indonesia, Turkey and China.
In Japanese Sign Language, this same gesture (with all fingers curled inward except the middle one) means the following: elder brother (hand moving up), younger brother (hand moving down), and siblings in general (one hand moving up, one moving down).{{cite web |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/giving-someone-the-finger-japanese-5679407 |title=Giving someone 'the finger' in Japanese Sign Language doesn't mean what you think it does |last=O'Neill |first=Kara |date=11 May 2015 |website=Daily Mirror |access-date=28 February 2021}}{{cite web |url=https://kotaku.com/this-is-not-fuck-you-in-japanese-sign-language-1703555344 |title=This Is Not "Fuck You" in Japanese Sign Language |last=Ashcraft |first=Brian |website=kotaku.com |date=May 11, 2015 |access-date=28 February 2021}} This comes from a childish name of the middle finger, o-nii-san-yubi ("big-brother finger"), as opposed to o-tō-san-yubi ("dad finger", the thumb), o-kā-san-yubi ("mom finger", the index), o-nee-san-yubi ("big-sister finger", the ring finger) and aka-chan-yubi ("baby finger", the pinky).{{cite web|url=https://jp.tadaimajp.com/2015/03/fingers/|title=指は家族！？『手の指』のこと、何と呼びますか？|date=March 17, 2015|access-date=28 February 2021}} The equivalent words for sisters are expressed with the pinky. In the Japanese manual syllabary, the middle finger (with the front of the hand facing forward) stands for the kana せ (which, incidentally, is also an archaic word for "brother").
See also
{{Portal|Society|Freedom of speech|Language|Linguistics}}
References
{{Reflist|30em|refs=
{{cite news|url=http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/4/17/nation/6078043&sec=nation|title=A fatal finger gesture|newspaper=The Star|date=April 17, 2010|access-date=July 9, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100418220050/http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=%2F2010%2F4%2F17%2Fnation%2F6078043&sec=nation|archive-date=April 18, 2010|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}
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{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_6qLgVl4uikC&q=katapugon+finger&pg=PA186 |title=Before Sexuality: The Construction of Erotic Experience in the Ancient Greek World |author1=Halperin, David M. |author2=Winkler, John J. |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-691-03538-3 |page=186}}
{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0241%3Acard%3D627 |title=Clouds (ll. 650-6) |author=Aristophanes |author-link=Aristophanes |publisher=Perseus Project |access-date=July 11, 2012}}
{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FpM42-kWgxsC&pg=PA6 |title=Nature Embodied: Gesture in Ancient Rome |author=Corbeill, Anthony |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-691-07494-8 |page=6}}
{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0236:text=disc:book=3:chapter=2&highlight=finger%2Cmiddle#note4 |title=Discourses of Epictetus III.2.i |author=Arrian |author-link=Arrian |publisher=Perseus Project |access-date=July 17, 2012}}
{{cite book |title=Aristophanes Clouds |author=Dover, K.J. |author-link=Kenneth Dover |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1968 |isbn=0-19-814395-8 |pages=xvii, 181}}
{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0506%3Abook%3D2%3Apoem%3D28 |title=Epigrammata II.28.1–2 |author=Martial |author-link=Martial |language=la |publisher=Perseus Project |access-date=July 11, 2012}}
{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0506%3Abook%3D6%3Apoem%3D70 |title=Epigrammata VI.70.5 |language=la |author=Martial |author-link=Martial |publisher=Perseus Project |access-date=July 11, 2012}}
{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EjIgAAAAIBAJ&pg=5248,1797571 |work=Daily News |title=Ricky Martin defends obscene gesture made at Bush |via=Google News |access-date=11 May 2023 |date=16 February 2007 }}
{{cite web|last=Kleinman |first=Zoe |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-10971949 |work=BBC News|title=How the internet is changing language |publisher=Bbc.com |date=August 16, 2010 |access-date=July 11, 2012}}
{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0257%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D2 |title=Lives of Eminent Philosophers VI.2.34 |author=Diogenes Laërtius |author-link=Diogenes Laërtius |language=grc |publisher=Perseus Project |access-date=July 11, 2012}}
{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9PRRAAAAIBAJ&pg=2979,3637599&dq=middle-finger&hl=en|title=Middle finger salute leads to federal lawsuit|first=Paula|last=Reed Ward|newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|page=B1|date=March 14, 2006|access-date=July 17, 2012}}
{{cite news|url=http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/09/27/middle-finger-sculpture-in-milan-sends-strong-message/ |title=Middle finger sculpture pops up in front of Milan Stock Exchange |newspaper=National Post |date=September 27, 2010 |access-date=July 9, 2012}}
{{cite web|title=MOMA – The Collection – Ai Weiwei. Study of Perspective – Tiananmen Square |url=http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?object_id=117098 |publisher=Museum of Modern Art |access-date=August 1, 2012}}
{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=q1pQAAAAIBAJ&pg=4381,3349445&dq=middle-finger+connecticut&hl=en |title=The Moving Finger Writes Legal History|page=19-A|first=Hugh A.|last=Mulligan|newspaper=The Evening Independent|date=January 30, 1978|access-date=July 17, 2012}}
{{cite book |title=Not the classical ideal: Athens and the construction of the other in Greek art |author=Cohen, Beth |publisher=Brill |year=2000 |page=186}}
{{cite news | first = Daniel | last = Nasaw | title = When did the middle finger become offensive? | date = February 6, 2012 | publisher = BBC | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16916263 | work =BBC News Magazine | access-date = February 7, 2012}}
{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0037%3Acard%3D520 |title=Peace (ll. 546-9) |author=Aristophanes |author-link=Aristophanes |language=grc |publisher=Perseus Project |access-date=July 17, 2012}}
{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Njs0AAAAIBAJ&pg=6142,3382610&dq=middle-finger&hl=en|newspaper=The Miami News|page=2A|title=Raising middle finger not obscene, judges say|agency=Associated Press|date=December 28, 1976|access-date=July 17, 2012}}
{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JoS4ffPU1-0C&pg=PA223 |title=Roman Homosexuality |author=Williams, Craig Arthur |year=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-195-38874-9 |page=223}}
{{cite news|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SJ&s_site=mercurynews&p_multi=SJ&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB71FB962BD9D8F&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |newspaper=San Jose Mercury News|date=June 20, 1996|page=16A|title=Davis' Infamous Finger Salute Has Had a Big Hand in History; Folklorists: Roots Go Back At Least 2,000 Years To Ancient Rome|first=Michael|last=Oricchio|access-date=July 9, 2012}} {{subscription required|date=July 2012}}
{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0093%3Abook%3D4%3Apoem%3D10 |title=Satire X.52-3 |author=Juvenal |author-link=Juvenal |language=la |publisher=Perseus Project |access-date=July 17, 2012}}
{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=6E5C16D57764E6A73AA2AE9F39CD2BA6?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0497%3Asatire%3D2 |title=Satires II.33 |author=Persius |author-link=Persius |language=la |publisher=Perseus Project |access-date=July 17, 2012}}
{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0027%3Atext%3DSatyricon%3Asection%3D131 |title=Satyricon 131 |author=Petronius |author-link=Petronius |language=la |publisher=Perseus Project |access-date=July 17, 2012}}
{{cite web|last=Waldman |first=Katy |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2003/10/baseball_and_the_bird.html |title=Baseball and the bird. |work=Slate Magazine |date=October 13, 2003 |publisher=Slate.com |access-date=July 9, 2012}}
{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2p0ap5rBdBMC&pg=PA150 |title=The Body Legal in Barbarian Law |author=Oliver, Lisi |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-802-09706-4 |page=150}}
{{cite book |title=The Latin Sexual Vocabulary |author=Adams, J.N. |year=1982 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |page=39}}
{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aBsR2BEuAq0C&pg=PA213 |title=The Maculate Muse: Obscene Language in Attic Comedy |author=Henderson, Jeffrey |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1975 |isbn=978-0-300-01786-1 |page=213}}
{{cite book |title=The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology |edition=3 |author=Malina, Bruce J. |location=Louisville |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |year=2001 |page=124 |isbn=9780664222956 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ek3fSY7jRDcC&pg=PA124 }}
{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1RAqEqgfiI0C&pg=PA136 |title=The Poetics of Eros in Ancient Greece |author1=Calame, Claude |author-link=Claude Calame |author2=Lloyd, Janet |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-691-04341-8 |page=136}}
{{cite magazine|url=https://vault.si.com/vault/2007/02/05/bird-watching |url-status=live |title=Bird Watching: Through the years with the crudest finger in sports |magazine=Sports Illustrated |date=February 5, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629101634/https://vault.si.com/vault/2007/02/05/bird-watching |access-date=July 11, 2012|archive-date=June 29, 2022 }}
{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dkatapu%2Fgwn |title=A Greek–English Lexicon: κατάπυγον |author1=Liddell, Henry George |author-link=Henry Liddell |author2=Robert Scott |author2-link=Robert Scott (philologist) |publisher=Oxford University Press (via Perseus Project) |year=1940 |access-date=July 11, 2012}}
{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dkata%2F1 |title=A Greek–English Lexicon: κατά |author1=Liddell, Henry George |author-link=Henry Liddell |author2=Robert Scott |author2-link=Robert Scott (philologist) |publisher=Oxford University Press (via Perseus Project) |year=1940 |access-date=July 11, 2012}}
{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dpugh%2F |title=A Greek–English Lexicon: πυγή |author1=Liddell, Henry George |author-link=Henry Liddell |author2=Robert Scott |author2-link=Robert Scott (philologist) |publisher=Oxford University Press (via Perseus Project) |year=1940 |access-date=July 11, 2012}}
{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aalphabetic+letter%3D*s111%3Aentry+group%3D39%3Aentry%3Dskimali%2Fzw |title=A Greek–English Lexicon: σκιμαλίζω |author1=Liddell, Henry George |author-link=Henry Liddell |author2=Robert Scott |author2-link=Robert Scott (philologist) |publisher=Oxford University Press (via Perseus Project) |year=1940 |access-date=July 17, 2012}}
{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aalphabetic+letter%3D*s111%3Aentry+group%3D30%3Aentry%3Dsifnia%2Fzw |title=A Greek–English Lexicon: σιφνιάζω |author1=Liddell, Henry George |author-link=Henry Liddell |author2=Robert Scott |author2-link=Robert Scott (philologist) |publisher=Oxford University Press (via Perseus Project) |year=1940 |access-date=July 17, 2012}}
}}
Further reading
- {{Cite book |last=Fairman |first=Christopher M. |author-link=Christopher M. Fairman |year=2009 |title=Fuck: Word Taboo and Protecting Our First Amendment Liberties |publisher=Sphinx Publishing |isbn=978-1572487116}}
- {{Cite book |last1=Loheed |first1=M. J. |last2=Patterson |first2=Matt |last3=Schmidt |first3=Eddie |year=1998 |title=The Finger: A Comprehensive Guide to Flipping Off |publisher=Acid Test |isbn=1888358122}}
- {{Cite journal |last=Robbins |first=Ira P. |year=2008 |title=Digitus Impudicus: The Middle Finger and the Law |url=http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=982405 |format=PDF |journal=UC Davis Law Review |volume=41 |ssrn=982405 }}
- {{Cite book |last1=Wagner |first1=Melissa |last2=Armstrong |first2=Nancy |year=2003 |title=Field Guide to Gestures: How to Identify and Interpret Virtually Every Gesture Known to Man |url=https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetogest0000arms |publisher=Quirk Books |isbn=1931686203}}
External links
{{Commons category|The finger (gesture)}}
- {{cite web|url=http://www.simplybodylanguage.com/finger-gesture.html|title=Finger Gesture Guide|work=Simply Body Language|publisher=SteNet Services B.V}}
- {{cite web|url=http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/pluckyew.asp|title=Pluck Yew|work=Snopes.com|date=July 9, 2007}}
{{Gestures}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finger (Gesture)}}
Category:Metaphors referring to body parts