What do English bowmen, the French, and lopped-off digits have to do with the classic middle-finger insult? Absolutely nothing. A San Diego truck driver wonders about the true origin of the one-finger salute. There’s a great debunking of the...
Here’s a bit of campus slang accompanied by a hand gesture: awkward turtle. Grant explains what it means and how it’s used. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Awkward Turtle Slang” Grant, I’m looking at...
Why is it that what you say to your family and what they hear are different? If you say “no,” your child hears “maybe,” and if you say “maybe,” she hears “ask again and again,” and “yes” is...
It’s California in the 1980s, and—uh-oh!—you’re outsmarted or caught doing something stupid and someone else says, “Ooooooooooo, moded!” This Schadenfreudian slip of an expression was sometimes accompanied by a chin-stroking...
Navy veterans will recognize the two-fingered gesture that looks as if someone’s turning an invisible doorknob. It accompanies the order turn to, meaning “get to work.” How did this handy expression get started? This is part of a...
gesture security n.— «His agency would mix up the deployment of the marshals, presumably to fool the bad guys. This, of course, assumes the bad guys had prior knowledge of which flights the incognito air marshals would be on. Unless I’m...