As it’s Monday and the start of a new week, this is probably a good time to do something a little bit different than normal…something naughty. So let’s look at something that students always love: rude hand gestures in English culture! The thing that students love the most is learning how to swear (saying ‘bad’ words) and in the video below, we learn about both! 🙂
You definitely won’t learn this kind of thing from a textbook, but I think it’s very important to know the ‘real’ things that happen in culture and insulting and abusing people happens everyday. So let’s learn a little bit about it! 🙂 Watch the video and hopefully the pictures will help you understand exactly what I am saying. Below the video is a transcript of what I say about rude hand gestures. Some of the words are highlighted in bold and then explained in the glossary.
Rude Hand Gestures in the UK
Rude Hand Gestures Transcript
So, here are some hand gestures and an explanation of what they mean to normal people in Britain. Of course we can shake hands and show friendship, but it’s much more interesting to talk about the rude and insulting gestures, isn’t it? This means that ‘You’re a wanker’. This is the most insulting hand movement in the UK and if you use it, you’ll probably end up in a fight. Here’s a young Tony Blair, ex-Prime Minister, showing us how to do it properly. This is called “flicking the v’s” and it’s an insult if you’re English. Don’t confuse it with V for Victory, as copyrighted by Winston Churchill. At the start of the war, Churchill flicked the V’s at his enemies, but then changed it halfway through to be more positive. Here’s an updated version from Liam Gallagher of Oasis, proving he’s hard. Here’s John Lennon with V as a sign of peace. Here’s Liam again showing that he can use both hands. This means ‘peace’. In the UK, this means ‘piss off’. Can you see the difference? Another insult is called ‘giving the finger’ and is probably the most universally understood hand gesture. This is the wrong way to do it. That’s also a finger, but not insulting, Thank God. Of course we got it from America and it can be done by the young, or the old, but is it really insulting anymore, or is it just something to do in a photo? Us Brits prefer to use 2 fingers to insult someone, but we have learnt to do it with just one. If you give someone the finger, make sure there are no distractions. Here’s Liam again, proving that he’s multi-talented. This isn’t quite right. This guy is happy, because he knows how to insult someone properly. Are you sick of these hand gestures yet? Well, don’t worry, there’s only a few left to go. This means ‘You’re crazy’, or ‘I’m crazy’. This is of course, “You’re a loser’, or “I’m a loser” and it’s so easy that even Royals can do it. This means perfect, or everything’s OK, but don’t do it in Germany because there it means, “You’re an asshole”. This also means, “Great”, “Fantastic”, “Perfect”… I don’t know what this means. And this is a sign of peace from the future, which means, “Live long and prosper”.
Vocabulary Glossary
- wanker
- very offensive insult used to abuse sb: literal meaning – sb who masturbates
- flicking the v’s
- sticking up 2 fingers at sb as an insult
- halfway through
- in the middle of sth
- proving
- showing that sth is true
- hard
- slang: sb who is aggressive, crazy and you should not get into an argument or fight with them
- piss off
- an aggressive and angry way to tell sb to ‘go away’ (not as strong as ‘fuck off’, which is VERY aggressive)
- universally understood
- ‘everybody knows what it means’
- distractions
- sth that stops you giving full attention or focus on sth
- multi-talented
- sb who can do lots of different things very well
- sick of sth
- annoyed or bored of sth
- loser
- a person who is very unsuccessful in life
- asshole
- an aggressive way to describe a person that you don’t like
