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No more far fetched than...

Posted by Word Camel 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?

My Fair Lady as pronounciation of "Mayfair Lady" in Eliza's Lisson Grove dialect. :)

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