V sign

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This article is about offensive/peace gesture. For the formal salute, see Two-fingers salute

The V sign is a hand gesture in which the first and second fingers are raised and parted, whilst the remaining fingers are clenched. Originally considered a "Victory" sign (for V as in victory), it can also carry connotations of "Peace" and "Defiance."

In the UK, if the hand is held out with the palm towards the person performing the gesture (a peace sign reversed), this is considered to be insulting, similar in severity to the insulting gesture commonly known as "the finger."

In United States culture, it is now probably most frequently seen as a gesture of peace, a connotation that became popular during the peace movement of the 1960s.

In Asia, the gesture is often used by persons posing in photographs, with no particular meaning. This usage of the gesture has become widely seen outside Asia through its use in Japanese anime and manga. (Some have suggested that it is used by the Japanese to represent "peace" in the aftermath of nuclear bombing.)

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Current usage

In the modern world, the gesture has a very confused meaning, as it depends on the culture to which the people using it belong, and what they are trying to signify.

  • The letter V in American Sign Language.
  • "Insulting" – Straight or very slightly curled fingers, palm toward the signer, often with an upward thrust.
  • Signal Two, as in 2 drinks – Straight fingers, palm in (but not in the UK if specifying a number). In some countries, the number two is more commonly signalled by holding up the thumb and index finger.
  • "Victory" – Straight fingers, palm either way (but only with palm out in the UK).
  • "Peace" – Straight fingers, palm either way (but only with palm out in the UK). It is often used by anti-war protesters.
  • "Air quotes" – Curled index and middle fingers, palm away from the signer, invariably used in pairs.
  • "Bunny ears" – Curled index and middle fingers, palm away from the signer, usually used singularly. When used jocularly (behind someone's head in a photograph, for example), they can be straight as well as curled. In Italy, Spain and Portugal, raising the two fingers behind someone's head can sign "donkey ears" (a metaphor for stupidity) or the very offensive corna (the horns of a cuckold), suggesting the victim's partner has been unfaithful.
  • "Eye to Eye"; Sometimes the gesture is used in conjunction with pointing each finger at the signer's eyes, then to the eyes of a friend or partner. This is meant to imply the two are in agreement or otherwise understanding one another. Alternately, it can be used as an intimidating gesture (sometimes with the signer pointing each finger at the signer's eyes, then pointing their index finger at the other person), indicating that the signer is communicating: "I'm watching you." It can also be used with a mixture of both senses or the gesture. When used in the "eye to eye" context, eye contact is often supposed to be maintained.
  • Military use – In military operations, where speech is limited to the minimum, a gesture similar to "Eye to Eye" is used to draw attention to a certain location. The signer points at his own eyes and then points to a location using his index finger alone, as in regular pointing. This tells the partner to scan or pay special attention to the specified location.


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UK and the insulting sign

The UK insulting version (with the palm inwards) performs a similar social function to "the finger". The "two fingered salute", as it is also known, is traditionally performed by flicking the V upwards from wrist or elbow. "The finger" is traceable to Roman times, but is almost certainly unrelated in origin, as the insulting V sign is largely restricted to the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and Spain, where it is popular among taxi drivers in Madrid. The insulting V sign is not widely recognized in the United States, with the notable exception of fans of British punk music and Britcoms.

An often-repeated legend has it that the insulting version originates from around the time of the Hundred Years' War. According to the legend, the sign comes from a French threat to amputate the distinctive calloused bow fingers of captured Welsh archers, as without those fingers they would be unable to draw their bows. Likewise the Welsh might have used it themselves as a gesture of provocation (i.e. "Watch out - I've still got my fingers!"). There is little actual evidence to support these historical explanations, but the legend is certainly part of the cultural context of the sign.

Snopes has dealt at great length with a recent re-working of this myth which also related the phrase "fuck you" to the same origin, which is certainly untrue. [1].

On November 1, 1990 The Sun, a popular tabloid newspaper in Britain, ran an article on its front page with the headline "Up Yours, Delors" next to a large hand making a V sign protruding from a union flag cuff. The Sun urged its readers to stick two fingers up at the then President of the European Commission Jacques Delors who had suggested that more European integration might be a good thing. The article attracted a number of complaints about its alleged racism, but the now defunct Press Council rejected the complaints after the editor of the Sun stated that the paper reserved the right to use vulgar abuse in the interests of Britain.[2][3]

For a time in the UK "a Harvey (Smith)" became a way of describing the insulting version of the V-sign, much as the word of Cambronne is used in France, or "the Trudeau salute" is used to describe the one-fingered salute in Canada. This happened because in 1971, show-jumper Harvey Smith was disqualified for making a televised V-sign to the judges after winning the British Show Jumping Derby at Hickstead (Smith's win was reinstated two days later).

In Australia, the gesture is known as "the forks", as in "he gave me the forks", being an obvious reference to the resemblance of a fork by the protruding fingers. "The forks" also alludes to the verbal insult "get forked" (the polite version of "get fucked") which the palm-in V-sign is also taken to mean. It is also occasionally known, as in the UK, as "the two fingers" or just "the fingers". Also in the UK, but specifically in Scotland, the fingers have come to mean the highly insulting, "Go take a flying fuck." The UK usage is such that "V sign" is almost uniquely reserved for the insulting gesture, "peace sign" or "victory sign" being used for its alternative meanings.

The gesture can be made more offensive by combining it with the [elbow gesture].

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Winston Churchill and the victory sign

Image:Churchill waves to crowds.jpg Winston Churchill used a V sign in both versions to symbolize "V for Victory" during World War II. Early on in the war he used palm in (sometimes with a cigar between the fingers)[4]. Later in the war he used palm out[5]. It is thought that the aristocratic Churchill made the change after it was explained to him what it signified to the other classes in Britain. He developed the idea from a BBC campaign.

During World War II, Victor de Lavelaye suggested that Belgians, who were chalking up the letters RAF, should add a V for vrijheid (Dutch for "freedom"). V also stands for victoire, the French for "victory". This idea was developed by the BBC and on July 20 1941 a campaign was launched with a message from Churchill for occupied Europe.

Image:Beethoven symphony 5 opening.png

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Douglas Ritchie of the BBC European Service, suggested an audible V using the Morse code rhythm — three dots and a dash. This is the rhythm of the opening bars of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (fifth can of course also be written as Vth), and it was used as the call-sign by the BBC in its foreign language programmes to occupied Europe for the rest of the war. The irony that they were composed by a German was not lost on many of the audience or for the more musically educated that it was "Fate knocking on the door" of the Third Reich. (Template:Audio)

The same Morse V rhythm also appears in the bass line for the Clash song London Calling, the title of which is taken from the BBC World Service's station identification.

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Vietnam War and the peace sign

Image:Nixon-depart.png U.S. President Richard Nixon used the victory sign to signal victory, an act which became one of his best-known trademarks. He even used it on his (not-so-victorious) departure from public office following his resignation.

The victory sign was appropriated by the anti-war protesters as a peace gesture.

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Japan and the V sign

During the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, figure skater Janet Lynn stumbled into Japanese pop culture when she fell during a free-skate period—but continued to smile even as she sat on the ice. Though she placed only 3rd in the actual competition, her cheerful diligence and indefatigability resonated with many Japanese viewers, making her an overnight celebrity in Japan. Afterwards, Lynn (a peace activist) was repeatedly seen flashing the V sign in the Japanese media. Though the V sign was known of in Japan prior to Lynn's use of it there, she is credited by some Japanese for having popularized its use in amateur photographs. Another possible origin stems from the post-WWII Allied occupation of Japan. It is possible the Japanese later adopted the gesture into their postwar popular culture from this exposure, regardless of whether or not they understood the meaning behind its original use.

Through the 1970s and 1980s in Japan, the V sign was often accompanied by a vocalization: "piisu!" This gairaigo exclamation, which stood for "peace", has since fallen into disuse, though the V sign itself remains steadfastly popular.

Perhaps due to Japanese cultural influence, the V sign in photographs has become popular with young Koreans, Hong Kongers, and Taiwanese as well. The sign is ubiquitous in Taiwan and is closely associated with the English word, "happy". Print and television advertisements read "happy" with hands waving while displaying the V sign, and the average Taiwanese person will invariably give that word as the meaning of the sign.

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Former Yugoslavia

During the Yugoslav wars, the V sign was widely used by the Bosnians as a victory/defiance sign. This was brought about in something of a reaction to the Serbian three finger salute often raised by the Serbs.

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Discordianism and the Occult

Discordians also consider the V sign a holy symbol due to their belief in the Law of Fives and the sign's similarity to the Roman numeral five. They claim that their use of the salute predates that of the peace movement, although because of Discordianism's apparent penchant for mischief, people usually consider their claims satirical. They also, more facetiously, claim that Churchill's use of the symbol was due to his involvement in the Bavarian Illuminati. Similar suppositions regarding Churchill, the mystical significance of the V-sign, and Aleister Crowley have also independently cropped up. See also peace sign criticism.

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Mythic origins

It has long been told that the famous "two-fingers salute" and/or "V sign" derives from the gestures of Welsh archers who used the English longbow, fighting alongside the English at the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years' War. The myth claims that the French cut off two fingers on the right hand of captured archers and that the gesture was a sign of defiance by those who were not mutilated.

This may have some basis in fact - Jean Froissart (circa 1337-circa 1404) was a historian as the author of The Chronicle, a primary document that is essential to an understanding of Europe in the fourteenth century and to the twists and turns taken by the Hundred Years' War. The story of the English waving their fingers at the French is told in the first person account by Froissart, however the description is not of an incident at the Battle of Agincourt, but rather at the siege of a castle in another incident during the Hundred Years' War. Also, Froissart is known to have died before the Battle of Agincourt. Like many social memes it is difficult to be sure where this story began, but it has become a part of Western myth.

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Other

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References

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External links

ja:ピースサイン

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