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How to insult George Bush, wherever you are in the world
Emine Saner The Guardian, Tuesday 16 December 2008 larger | smaller
Article history
A man throws a shoe at President George W. Bush during a news
conference in Iraq. Photograph: AP
George Bush was on the receiving end of the worst of all Middle
Eastern insults at the weekend when an Iraqi journalist threw his
shoes at the outgoing US president at a press conference in Baghdad.
Throwing a shoe at a person's head isn't, of course, considered
insulting in only the Islamic world, though it does carry a
particularly degrading symbolism (showing the sole of your shoes is
considered deeply offensive; when the statue of Saddam Hussein was
toppled in Baghdad in 2003, Iraqis beat it with their shoes). Bush
steps down in January, but this surely won't be the last offensive
gesture he encounters on his travels. Here, then, is our handy guide.
The V sign
In his book Gestures the anthropologist Desmond Morris concluded that
we will never know the origin of the two-fingered salute. One theory,
though widely discredited, is that the French threatened to cut off
the fingers of English archers at the Battle of Agincourt; the English
would hold up two fingers as a sign that the French had failed. Not to
be mistaken with the victory or peace signs: Churchill often got his
fingers facing the wrong way - and on a tour of Australia in 1992,
George Bush Sr flicked the Vs to a group of farmers.
The bras d'honneur
Not easily misunderstood - the slap of one hand against the crook of
the opposite elbow, the aggressive thrust of the forearm and fist, and
the giant phallus it is supposed to resemble. Particularly popular in
France (where it is translated as "the arm of honour") and southern
European countries. An exaggerated "screw you", if you like.
The thumbs up
In the Middle East, this is possibly the biggest insult you can
inflict with your shoes on. A Fonz-style double thumbs up adds insult
to insult. The same goes for parts of west Africa and South America.
Loosely translates as "sit on this".
The OK sign
Like the thumbs up, the hand gesture that westerners know to mean
everything is fine (it comes from the hand signals used by divers) has
other meanings elsewhere. Do it to someone in southern Europe, and
you'll be telling them they are "nothing" (or "zero"); in Brazil or
Turkey an "arsehole".
Bunny ears
Although this gesture is more commonly considered a prank to sabotage
photographs, it is closely related to the Italian cornuto gesture,
whereby two "horns" held up behind someone's head are supposed to
imply their spouse is cheating on them.
Biting the thumb
"I will bite my thumb at them, which is a disgrace to them, if they
bear it." So said Sampson to his fellow Capulet servant Gregory in the
first scene of Romeo and Juliet. Rarely used in southern Europe these
days but surely due for a comeback.
Open hand
Nobody likes having an open palm thrust in their face - the aggression
is obvious - though in Greece, where it is known as the moutza, it
means "I rub shit in your face". It originated in Byzantine Greece
where criminals were paraded through the streets, faces blackened with
soot, or worse.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2008
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Cool info Leila  ! LMAO |
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