The other night at dinner, I asked my daughter how school was. She gave me the thumbs up and I thought it was weird for an 8 year old to do this. I don't know why I thought it was weird - it just was for me.
Coincidentally, as I logged into my home email account to check emails later that same evening and there was a Yahoo story about people giving the thumbs up. The article pointed out Senator Edward Kennedy gave a big thumbs-up as he left the hospital last Wednesday. Hillary did it just last week too at a "we're-not-mathematically-defeated-yet campaign rally in Florida." And, John McCain can't not do it.
It seems everyone is using the thumbs up - including 8 year old little girls. But who knew it had more meaning than, "good job," or "all is good?"
The thumbs-up gesture goes all the way back to ancient Rome. It was a hand gesture that was used by the crowd to say if the gladiator should live or die after a fight. And contrary to the positive modern day meaning, back then it meant "get him out of here," or death, while a concealed thumb (considered thumbs-down) meant the gladiator lived.
During World War II, American pilots would use a thumbs-up to indicate to the crew that they were ready, that everything was good.
According to Roger E. Axtell's book, "Gestures: The Do's and Taboos of Body Language Around the World," the sign has a derogatory meaning in parts of West Africa, South America (except Brazil), Iran, Greece, some Middle Eastern countries, and Sardinia.
Similarly, in Iran, a thumbs up is an obscene gesture, equivalent to the use of a certain finger in the US. So if you travel - keep this in mind.
In Italy, in the right context, it can simply indicate the number one and is perceived as "OK."
In Russia the meaning of this expression is "well done."
In the UK, a thumbs up sign can be used as a farewell or greetings.
In India, the gesture is well accepted, but similar gestures have negative connotations.
In Egypt, it means perfect or very good and it is common between people.
This somewhat useless information doesn't stop here though... I have more.
We all know that the thumbs up (or down) is associated with movie reviews. Hitchhikers use a thumbs up gesture to "hitch a ride." But I didn't know that in scuba diving, the thumbs-up gesture is a specific diving signal given underwater. Or that in basketball, when a held ball occurs, an official will jerk both thumbs in the air, signalling that a jump ball is in order. And I sure did not know that supporters of Texas A&M University athletic teams use the thumbs-up sign, associated with the yell, "Gig 'em, Aggies."
This is probably more information about the thumbs up sign than you ever wanted to know, right? You can read the Yahoo article here or check out Wikipedia for even more information.
I wonder... will my boss give me a thumbs-up for this blog post or a thumbs down?
1 comments:
Two thumbs up from me Kerry! You get a pass for writing about the Red Sox on your previous post :)
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