10-09-2003, 12:40 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: inside the Beltway, outside the loop
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The digitus impudicus
(a.k.a "the bird") doesn't necessarily constitute disorderly conduct, according to a divided three-judge panel of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals of Texas. A summary appears on Howard Bashman's apellate law blog How Appealing: Quote:
The "bird" is "an obscene gesture of contempt made by pointing the middle finger upward while keeping the other fingers down." Merriam-Webster OnLine, at http://www.m-w.com. This gesture is of ancient origin:
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[T]he middle-finger jerk was so popular among the Romans that they even gave a special name to the middle digit, calling it the impudent finger: digitus impudicus. It was also known as the obscene finger, or the infamous finger, and there are a number of references to its use in the writings of classical authors... . The middle-finger jerk has survived for over 2,000 years and is still current in many parts of the world, especially the United States.
| Desmond Morris et al., Gestures 81-82 (1979). This symbolic gesture has come to mean many things to many people in many contexts, including "displeasure" and "mild annoyance." See Martha Irvine, Is the Middle Finger Losing Its Badness?, AP Online, Feb. 23, 2003, available at 2003 WL 13367718 (reprinted in several newspapers). See also the cover of the September 20, 2003 issue of The Economist magazine, depicting a cactus in a desert panorama giving the gesture because of displeasure with the outcome of the Cancun trade talks.
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