Now You Know: Flipping the Bird

This month's Esquire has been less than stellar. However, in the Answer Fella section a reader asks about the origins of flipping the bird at someone. I never really thought about the gesture, but obviously something that means "Fuck Off" has to be somehow phallic. Answer Fella reveals:

Whatever the version —in Britain, it's given with the palm facing inward and the middle and index fingers extended; in Arab lands, the middle finger is bent while the others are kept straight—this gesture always has been understood as obscenely phallic. British anthropologist and author Desmond Morris, a bold man unafraid of saying testicle , tells AF, "When you extend that [middle] finger, the thumb and forefinger become one testicle, the third and fourth fingers become the other testicle, and the middle finger becomes the erect penis. The [gesture] you have in America is the Roman one. The only explanation for it being so popular in America is that it came over with Italian immigrants."

In the Russian tradition one gives a "figa" Usually used when when someone asks for something and you want to say "no way buddy" in a stronger sort of way, by putting your thumb between two fingers. I never understood as a child why this was inappropriate. But as i grew up, it sort made more sense why my mother was horrified when she saw me do it. Man, i miss my innocent days.