Flipping Birds
Not the Brit version of Angry Birds, but an interesting article on the BBC site today about the origin of the one finger salute, as demonstrated by singer MIA during the Superbowl halftime show:
Digitus ImpudicusI watched the halftime show and missed that. Or maybe it just didn't register.
Fine her and move on. She did it for publicity and is getting TONS of it.
Its been very distracting from the rest of the show and the other performers, the ones with, ya know actual talent, should be pissed.
...and the other performers, the ones with, ya know actual talent, should be pissed.
You mean the talented performers that lip-synced most of their performance?
Myself, I spent the entire half-time show trying to figure out who the fuck she was. And I missed the finger too.
I didn't miss
this one, though.
I think you had to actually watch the super bowl to get all up in arms over the halftime finger malfunction.
Well, I did watch, but I missed the finger too. So...big deal.
Why do you say that, IM?
We took a break from watching GOT to see the halftime show.
I thought it was one of the better ones I've seen in years.
I think you had to actually watch the super bowl to get all up in arms over the halftime finger malfunction.
Possibly true in America. But not, apparently in Britain, as the most appalled quotes come from people who didn't watch, have never watched it, had no idea the Super Bowl was on or what it was and do not know who she is,
but are ashamed to be British nonetheless.
Shrug. It is an offensive gesture.
Silly tart should have given them the good old two finger salute and she would have been cheered for making a peace sign.
(I defend my right to call another female a silly tart when she has used poor judgement and tried to inflame public opinion in a wholly conservative environment).
Why do you say that, IM?
We took a break from watching GOT to see the halftime show.
I thought it was one of the better ones I've seen in years.
Just that I've heard people who didn't even watch it talking about the finger. And upset about it! Here! In my real life!
And I watched but missed that part.
Of course, I could just be immune to the finger, having seen it often. ;)
Possibly true in America. But not, apparently in Britain, as the most appalled quotes come from people who didn't watch, have never watched it, had no idea the Super Bowl was on or what it was and do not know who she is, but are ashamed to be British nonetheless.
Shrug. It is an offensive gesture.
Silly tart should have given them the good old two finger salute and she would have been cheered for making a peace sign.
(I defend my right to call another female a silly tart when she has used poor judgement and tried to inflame public opinion in a wholly conservative environment).
See, I was just happy to get through yet another Super Bowl without 79 people dying in a riot. :rolleyes:
Really, it's the same thing as when everyone cried about Roseanne grabbing her crotch (like a baseball player) when THEY ASKED HER to sing the National Anthem at a baseball game. Was it a stupid and classless action? Yes. But they asked
Roseanne. Not known for having a singing voice. What the fuck did they expect? They expected comedy, that's what, and when the public became outraged they were all like "Whew, they're not even WONDERING why we asked HER."
Meh.
Not really the same as singing at the Superbowl halftime show.
She sang between a couple Padres (of all teams) games.
I was sitting way over on the other side of the room, and Madonna was all tiny on the screen because of the camera shots the control room was selecting. I wanted to see how she was doing, so I pulled a foot stool up to about 2 feet away from the TV, and I watched (a little off to the side so everyone else could see too) from that close. I never saw the finger. Now it's possible that my eye was focused on some other part of the screen when she flipped the bird, but I didn't see it at all. I saw one point where Madonna lost her footing and almost fell. Nobody is talking about that. I saw how the big rising platform toward the end was shaking back and forth like crazy when Cee Lo Green was dancing, and Madonna dropped down on her knees. I wasn't sure if her dropping like that was part of the routine or if she dropped down out of fear because the platform was swaying so much and she didn't want to fall. She made the move look natural.
And the most amazing thing I saw was the guy bouncing on the rope on his butt. WTF was that?
But a finger? No.
I'm sorry about your finger, Glatt.
glatt! I noticed her stumble too, trying to get up onto something?
My cow orker was like "Girl, did you see how many times she dropped and popped? My knees couldn't do that and the woman is 53!"
And the rope guy was amazing!
Awesome! The rope and some droppin' and poppin'!
...And the rope guy was amazing!
Quoting another Dwellar (Mr. Helm, I believe):
...taint of steel...
It really was an interesting article. Not about the superbowl at all. The Romans used to do it, you know......
I didn't, I always thought it was a modern American gesture, I don't remember it when we were kids, people started to copy it form American TV when were teens.
I thought the europeans all had their own hand gestures too, i thought the Italians was something to do with touching the thumb to the front teeth.
That's just because they eat so much spinach.
I guess I could go get Thor if you want, I just got home.
I've noticed a slight difference in the American and Australian ways of flipping the bird.
US birds have the first, third and fourth fingers curved only from the second knuckle joint. I.e. the first section of the finger is vertical beside the main bird finger.
In Australia, the three fingers are curved down behind the hand as much as possible (often need to be tucked in with the thumb) and only the bird finger is straight upright and visible.
Accent, eh?
I think that depends on how vehement you're being/the chances that you might need to pretend your gesture was unintentional...... I am quite surprised by how shocked people are by it round here though. I can always get a laugh with a quick flip..... :lol:
My cousin was having an argument with her father one day. She gave him the bird and said, "here's one for you", then she turned her hand 90 degrees and said, "here's one for your dog", then she closed her fist and used her whole arm and said, "and here's one for your horse!"
It was the funniest sequence of birds I've ever seen in my life. I still laugh about it.
We would get in trouble at school if we flipped someone off, so we would hold up the first three fingers next to each other and say, "Read between the lines."
We used to flick the v's at people using facial gestures.
In the same way that stroking the chin meant "Chinny reck-on" (you are lying), rubbing the mouth and nose with the splayed index and centre finger was accepted shorthand for Up Yours.
I haven't done that whilst working in school, but it was still current when I worked in an office.
It was only used amongst pals of course, you couldn't hope to get away with it against a boss.
And it was considered funnier in a social setting, where you could make the gesture openly.
I've used 'the ol pushing up my glasses with my middle finger' for ages and ages.
I don't wear (and have never worn) glasses.
I amuse myself, easily.
I amuse myself, easily.
I amuse myself, endlessly.