Explanations
Posted by R. Berg on January 08, 2002
In Reply to: flipping the bird posted by The Fallen on January 08, 2002
: : : : Where does the phrase "flipping someone the bird" come from?
: : : I couldn't find anything on the use of "bird" for finger in this phrase.
: :
The following, from Eric Partridge's A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English
may be relevant although it makes no mention of the hand gesture. To give someone
the bird is "to dismiss [him], send him about his business . . . late C. 19-20.
[From] the theatre . . . In Australia, 'give the bird' is to treat with derision:
from before 1916."
: : In obsolete theatrical usage (Partridge gives a date
of 1883), "the bird" is defined as "a hissing of an actor," from the sound made
by geese.
: I'm wondering whether we can point the finger at Cockney rhyming slang again here... always a useful last resort. Could "bird" be rhyming slang for "third", as in third finger? Or is this too far-fetched?
Being far-fetched or not isn't an important criterion. Sometimes the correct explanation is less intuitively plausible than the incorrect ones. Maybe "bird" originated as rhyming slang, maybe not--what we need is some historical evidence.
- History
of gesture R. Berg 01/08/02
- History of gesture Chris Yate
01/10/02
- History of gesture Sauerkraut 01/11/02
- History of gesture... the horns The Fallen 01/11/02
- History of gesture Sauerkraut 01/11/02
- History of gesture Chris Yate
01/10/02