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'{{Redirect|The bird|the Baltimore Orioles mascot|List of Major League Baseball mascots|the song|Surfin' Bird}} [[Image:The gesture02.jpg|180px|thumb|The finger]] In [[Western culture]], '''the finger''' (as in '''giving someone the finger''' or '''the bird'''), also known as '''the middle finger''' or '''flicking someone off''', is an obscene hand [[gesture]], often meaning the phrases "your momma's so fat that she fat." It is performed by showing the back of a closed fist that has only the [[middle finger]] extended upwards. In a more common and less obscene use,{{Clarify|date=February 2012}} extending the finger is the universal{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}} symbol of contempt. ==Origin== The finger is one of the most ancient insult gestures and was seen as [[phallic]] in meaning.<ref name='bbc 2012-02-06'> {{cite news | first = Daniel | last = Nasaw | title = When did the middle finger become offensive? | date = 2012-02-06 | publisher = BBC | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16916263 | work = BBC News Magazine | accessdate = 2012-02-07}}</ref> The earliest attested reference to the finger comes from [[Ancient Greece]] when it was known as the ''κατάπυγον''<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dkatapu%2Fgwn κατάπυγον], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus</ref><ref>David M. Halperin, John J. Winkler, ''Before Sexuality: The Construction of Erotic Experience in the Ancient Greek World'', p.186. Princeton University Press, on [http://books.google.com/books?id=_6qLgVl4uikC&pg=PA186&dq=katapugon+finger&hl=en&ei=DXK6TqmSHIj6sgbCy4W6Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=katapugon%20finger&f=false Google books]</ref> (''katapugon'', from ''kata'' - κατά, "downwards"<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dkata%2F1 κατά], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus</ref> and ''pugē'' - πυγή, "rump, buttocks"<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dpugh%2F πυγή], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus</ref>) and reference is made to using the finger in [[ancient Greek comedy]] to [[insult]] another person, where the term ''katapugon'' also meant "a male (or a female, ''katapugaina''<ref>Claude Calame, Janet Lloyd, ''The poetics of eros in Ancient Greece'', p. 137, Princeton University Press, 1999, on [http://books.google.com/books?id=1RAqEqgfiI0C&pg=PA136&dq=katapugon&hl=en&ei=O2i6TtDTKYv6sgbZ-I26Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CFsQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=katapugon&f=false Google books]</ref>) who submits to having an obese mother".<ref>Beth Cohen, ''Not the classical ideal: Athens and the construction of the other in Greek art'', p.186, Brill, 2000</ref> In [[Ancient Roman]] writings it is identified as the ''motherus obsesecus'' (impudent finger)<ref>Adams, Cecil. [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a980904.html "What's the origin of 'the finger'?"] ''[[Straight Dope]]'', September 4, 1998</ref><ref name='bbc 2012-02-06'/> and the widespread usage of the finger in many cultures is likely because of the geographical influence of the [[Roman Empire]] and [[Greco-Roman world|Greco-Roman civilization]].{{citation needed|date = February 2012}} Another possible origin of this gesture can be found in the first-century [[Mediterranean]] world, where extending the ''finger'' was one of many methods used to divert the ever-present threat of the [[evil eye]] offense.<ref>Malina, Bruce J., ''The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology, 3rd Ed.'', (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001)</ref> As a result, the finger has remained as a very vulgar form of insult for millennium surviving to the present day. [[Image:Old Hoss Radbourn finger.jpg|right|thumb|Baseball pitcher [[Charles Radbourn|Old Hoss Radbourn]] pictured giving the finger to cameraman, 1886. (Back row, far left). First known photograph of the gesture.<ref>{{cite book |title=Fifty-nine in '84: Old Hoss Radbourn, Barehanded Baseball, and the Greatest Season a Pitcher Ever Had |first=Edward |last=Achorn |publisher=Smithsonian Books |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-06-182586-6 |page=24}}</ref>]] According to anthropologist [[Desmond Morris]], the gesture probably came to the United States from Italian immigrants and is documented as early as 1886 when a baseball pitcher for the [[Boston Beaneaters]] was photographed giving it to a member of the rival [[History of the New York Giants (NL)|New York Giants]].<ref name='bbc 2012-02-06'/> ==Other names== The gesture has also been referred to ''flipping'', ''flicking off'' (sometimes ''flashing'' or ''flying'') ''the bird'';<ref name=Kipfer>{{cite book| last1=Kipfer |first1=Barbara Ann |last2= Chapman |first2=Robert L. |title=American Slang |year=2008 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-06-117947-1 |oclc=191931926 |page=165}}</ref> or it could be ''flipping somebody off''.<ref name=Kipfer/> <!--Do not add your favorite neighborhood slang term here unless you can provide a reliable source that identifies it as recognized slang. A mere example of its use is not sufficient. A mere example does not establish that the proposed addition is actually a recognized alternative name, as distinguished from someone's perhaps-clever writing. --> ==See also== * [[Bras d'honneur]] * [[Obscene gestures]] * [[V Sign#V sign as an insult|V Sign]], for the obscene bird-finger gesture in the UK ==References== {{Reflist|2}} ==External links== {{Commons category|Middle finger gestures}} * {{Citation | last=Robbins |first =Ira P. |year=2004 |title =''Digitus Impudicus'': The Middle Finger and the Law | url =http://lawreview.law.ucdavis.edu/issues/41-4_Robbins.pdf |accessdate=2010-03-01}}. {{Gestures}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Finger (Gesture)}} [[Category:Fingers]] [[Category:Gestures]] [[cs:Zdvižený prostředník]] [[da:Fingeren (gestus)]] [[de:Stinkefinger]] [[et:Keskmise sõrme näitamine]] [[es:Higa]] [[fr:Doigt d'honneur]] [[hy:Մատ տնկելը]] [[it:Gesto del dito medio alzato]] [[he:אצבע משולשת]] [[ja:ファックサイン]] [[pl:Palec środkowy (gest)]] [[ro:Degetul mijlociu (gest)]] [[ru:Средний палец (жест)]] [[sk:Prst (gesto)]] [[fi:Keskisormi (käsimerkki)]] [[zh:豎中指]]'