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karinaal · 70-79, F
During WW II Winston Churchill used the sign as V for victory.
It surprises me to see that now some understand it as a peace sign.
It surprises me to see that now some understand it as a peace sign.
@karinaal the “crow foot” peace symbol predates Churchill’s V-sign by four or five centuries. Its current form was popularized by Picasso in the World Peace Conferences of the 1950s, when it was alleged to represent the Christian cross upside down and broken, the symbol of a Communist peace. Wikipedia has an interesting discussion. I’m not sure where Churchill picked up his two-finger V-sign (palm facing out), but he certainly popularized it during World War II.
The V-sign when made the other way (palm facing in) is equivalent in Britain to the “one-finger salute” in America. I am told it had its origins at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, when the French promised to cut off the index and middle finger of the English archers. They lost, and the English flashed their intact middle fingers at the vanquished French as a gesture of disdain. It has been so in England ever since.
I don’t think Churchill was conscious of the insulting meaning of the palm-in V-sign, when on occasion he used it instead of the palm-out.
there is no reference for the gesture before the 1970s. It could be a punk-rock subversion of Winston Churchill‘s “V for Victory” photographs – who knows? [It isn’t - However it really came about, we can be pretty sure that it’s bugger all to do with medieval archers.
# You'll be more surprised to know that it means a whole lot more of different things for many people!
The V-sign when made the other way (palm facing in) is equivalent in Britain to the “one-finger salute” in America. I am told it had its origins at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, when the French promised to cut off the index and middle finger of the English archers. They lost, and the English flashed their intact middle fingers at the vanquished French as a gesture of disdain. It has been so in England ever since.
I don’t think Churchill was conscious of the insulting meaning of the palm-in V-sign, when on occasion he used it instead of the palm-out.
there is no reference for the gesture before the 1970s. It could be a punk-rock subversion of Winston Churchill‘s “V for Victory” photographs – who knows? [It isn’t - However it really came about, we can be pretty sure that it’s bugger all to do with medieval archers.
# You'll be more surprised to know that it means a whole lot more of different things for many people!
karinaal · 70-79, F
Dear Benign,
Thank you very much for the information.
It is very interesting and I learned something so the day is not wasted.
I am not sure that I would like to know what "whole lot more of different things" that it means for many people. It is not because I do not like surprising information but I have a feeling that at least some of the meanings you are referring to are the kind that a respectable woman is not supposed to know.
Thank you very much for the information.
It is very interesting and I learned something so the day is not wasted.
I am not sure that I would like to know what "whole lot more of different things" that it means for many people. It is not because I do not like surprising information but I have a feeling that at least some of the meanings you are referring to are the kind that a respectable woman is not supposed to know.