The The finger reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

The finger

The finger (aka the one-finger salute, or in Canada, the Trudeau salute) is in some cultures an offensive hand gesture made by extending the center finger of the human hand while bending the other fingers at the second knuckle. Its figurative meaning is fuck you. It is also referred to as "flipping the bird", "flipping (someone) off", or the "dirty bird".

The origins of this gesture is highly speculative. It is identified as the "impudent finger" in Ancient Roman writings. It was defined there as a gesture intended to insult another. It has been noted that the gesture resembles an erect penis. Ancient Romans considered an image of an erect phallus as a talisman against evil spells. As a consequence, displaying this gesture to another may not have been a pseudo-sexual insult but rather a insulting statement along the lines of -- "I'm going to protect myself against your witchcraft, before you even start."

The gesture is generally considered offensive in the United States, where the FCC has banned it from broadcast television. As a result the gesture is often censored, and airbrushed out or replaced with large-pixel blocks. This gesture occurs frequently on television shows like The Jerry Springer Show or on music videos shown on MTV or VH1.

In parts of Europe (most notably the U.K) a related but slightly different gesture is quite common; the index and middle fingers of the hand are extended (and slightly bent) and the rest of the fingers are curled inward. This gesture is often known as the V-sign, and is usually pushed upwards. It should not be confused with Winston Churchill's famous "V for Victory", which uses the same arrangement of fingers but with the palm facing away from the signer.

Legend has it that the "V-sign," originated with English and Welsh archers in the Battle of Agincourt, who used it to demonstrate to their French opponents that they still had the fingers needed to pull back their bows (prisoners' fingers were allegedly amputated to prevent them from using their martial skills).

As such, it started life as a gesture of defiance, but has since become connected with phrases such as "Up yours" etc and is considered to be offensive.

In some Mediterranean countries, and much of Asia, it is permissible to use the middle finger to point to something (on a written page for example) and Western cultures often do recognize the use of the middle finger to point to things. However, it is considered more polite to use the index finger to point to something.

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