There are no convincing claims about the primordial "meaning" of the middle finger or the origin of its disrepute, except that when it's stuck up alone it resembles a penis. ![]() Nobody can say Socrates didn't ask for it. It was a unique way to respond to all those irritating questions. Here's what you can do with your Socratic method.Įven before the Romans, an Athenian playwright and comedian named Aristophanes created a feisty character who gives Socrates the finger. Until, of course, one of those enemies stabbed Caligula in the neck. And the lunatic emperor Caligula - famed for such crimes as wearing women's clothes and murdering indiscriminately - was said to have habitually offered his digitus infamis to be kissed by his enemies, just to flaunt his imperial disdain. Augustus Caesar once booted an entertainer for giving a heckler the finger. Long before punk rock and eight-lane highways, the middle finger was known as the digitus impudicus or digitus infamis (indecent or infamous digit) by Romans and medieval Europeans. ![]() It can be displayed statically, waggling and waving, thrusting with rage, or drooping dispassionately from the hand of a rapper. It's also known as "the bird," a poor symbolic avian that is endlessly flipped and flicked. Or the "expressway digit," a remarkable single-sign code by which California drivers communicate their complex emotions. There's the "single-digit salute" favored by punk rockers and rebellious celebrities. Like the Devil Himself, the middle finger bears many names and adopts many guises. ![]() But why is waving one of your fingers offensive? David Clark answered this question for us back in 2009, and we're reposting it today in honor of a one-finger salute that aired on MSNBC this morning. The middle finger is one of our species' oldest and most ubiquitous insulting gestures.
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