internet: V sign

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

The V sign is a hand gesture in which the index and middle fingers are raised and parted to make a V shape while the other fingers are clenched. It has various meanings, depending on the circumstances and how it is presented. When displayed with the palm inward toward the signer, it can be an offensive gesture in some Commonwealth nations (similar to showing the middle finger), dating back to at least 1900. When given with the palm outward, it is to be read as a victory sign ("V for Victory"); this usage was introduced in January 1941 by Victor De Laveleye as part of a campaign by the Allies of World War II, and made more widely known by Winston Churchill. During the Vietnam War, in the 196…

Evidence: — • authority: 62

When displayed with the palm inward toward the signer, it can be an offensive gesture in some Commonwealth nations (similar to showing the middle finger), dating back to at least 1900.

Evidence: — • authority: 62

The first recorded instance of the modern gesture does not appear until 1901. In that year, pioneering British filmmakers Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon were filming workers outside the Parkgate Ironworks in Rotherham, England when one man, apparently none too thrilled at being filmed, flashed the v-sign at the camera. ... What is known is that as a rude gesture, the v-sign is an almost uniquely British phenomenon, with a 1970s study by Morris and his colleagues revealing the gesture to be almost unknown outside of the British Isles, a handful of Commonwealth nations, and the Mediterranean island of Malta.

Evidence: — • authority: 62

First sightings were made ... the start of the last century. It was sufficiently niche during the second World War for Churchill to deliver his famous V-for-victory gesture as both backhand and forehand. The ruder V set in properly during the 1950s as, in the schoolyards of Britain and Ireland, it quickly nudged out the thumb set to nose with waggled fingers. The V-sign as insult is said to have been entirely unknown outside Britain and Ireland

Evidence: — • authority: 77

The insulting V-sign with the palm turned inward, is used in Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, where it carries a major offensive charge.

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Churchill himself didn’t realise that the ‘V for Victory’ symbol made with the palm inwards could be an insult until his aides briefed him. This physical gesture, frozen in motion by the wartime photographic lens, punctures our Eurocentric memory of the Second World War with a non-white colonial presence.

Evidence: — • authority: 77

When displayed with the palm inward toward the signer, it can be an offensive gesture in some Commonwealth nations (similar to showing the middle finger), dating back to at least 1900. When given with the palm outward, it is to be read as a victory sign (" V for Victor y"); this usage was introduced in January 1941 by Victor De Laveleye as part of a campaign by the Allies of World War II, and made more widely known by Winston Churchill. During the Vietnam War, in the 1960s, the " V sign" with palm outward was widely adopted by the counterculture as a symbol of peace and still used today worldwide as the " peace sign".

Evidence: — • authority: 77

When displayed with the palm inward toward the signer, it can be an offensive gesture in some Commonwealth nations(similar toshowing the middle finger), dating back to at least 1900.

Evidence: — • authority: 72

An obscene gesture is a movement or position of the body, especially of the hands or arms, that is considered exceedingly offensive or vulgar in some particular cultures. Such gestures are often sexually suggestive.

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The Roman salute, also known as the fascist salute, is a gesture in which the right hand is swung from the left shoulder to fully extend the right arm forward perpendicular to the torso, with palm down, and fingers touching. In some versions, the arm is raised upward at an angle; in others, it is held out parallel to the ground. In contemporary times, the gesture is typically associated with fascism and far-right politics. Although it originated during the 18th century in France, it is pseudohistorically associated with ancient Rome. According to an apocryphal legend, the fascist gesture was based on a customary greeting which was claimed to have been used in ancient Rome. However, no Roman…