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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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 Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 5:00 pm Post subject: How to insult George Bush, wherever you are in the world |
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An excellent little tutorial:
How to insult George Bush, wherever you are in the world
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George Bush was on the receiving end of the worst of all Middle Eastern insults at the weekend when an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at the outgoing US president at a press conference in Baghdad. Throwing a shoe at a person's head isn't, of course, considered insulting in only the Islamic world, though it does carry a particularly degrading symbolism (showing the sole of your shoes is considered deeply offensive; when the statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled in Baghdad in 2003, Iraqis beat it with their shoes). Bush steps down in January, but this surely won't be the last offensive gesture he encounters on his travels. Here, then, is our handy guide.
The V sign
In his book Gestures the anthropologist Desmond Morris concluded that we will never know the origin of the two-fingered salute. One theory, though widely discredited, is that the French threatened to cut off the fingers of English archers at the Battle of Agincourt; the English would hold up two fingers as a sign that the French had failed. Not to be mistaken with the victory or peace signs: Churchill often got his fingers facing the wrong way - and on a tour of Australia in 1992, George Bush Sr flicked the Vs to a group of farmers.
The bras d'honneur
Not easily misunderstood - the slap of one hand against the crook of the opposite elbow, the aggressive thrust of the forearm and fist, and the giant phallus it is supposed to resemble. Particularly popular in France (where it is translated as "the arm of honour") and southern European countries. An exaggerated "screw you", if you like.
The thumbs up
In the Middle East, this is possibly the biggest insult you can inflict with your shoes on. A Fonz-style double thumbs up adds insult to insult. The same goes for parts of west Africa and South America. Loosely translates as "sit on this".
The OK sign
Like the thumbs up, the hand gesture that westerners know to mean everything is fine (it comes from the hand signals used by divers) has other meanings elsewhere. Do it to someone in southern Europe, and you'll be telling them they are "nothing" (or "zero"); in Brazil or Turkey an "arsehole".
Bunny ears
Although this gesture is more commonly considered a prank to sabotage photographs, it is closely related to the Italian cornuto gesture, whereby two "horns" held up behind someone's head are supposed to imply their spouse is cheating on them.
Biting the thumb
"I will bite my thumb at them, which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it." So said Sampson to his fellow Capulet servant Gregory in the first scene of Romeo and Juliet. Rarely used in southern Europe these days but surely due for a comeback.
Open hand
Nobody likes having an open palm thrust in their face - the aggression is obvious - though in Greece, where it is known as the moutza, it means "I rub shit in your face". It originated in Byzantine Greece where criminals were paraded through the streets, faces blackened with soot, or worse.
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jkelly80
Joined: 13 Jun 2007
Location: you boys like mexico?
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| Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 5:06 pm Post subject: |
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Bush is an easy target, but I feel hella bad for him at the moment.
Cheney, Armitage, Pearl, Feith, Wolfwowitz, Podhoretz, Rumsfeld--These are the guys who should get the shoe/v-sign/etc. |
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Jandar
Joined: 11 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 5:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Baathist symps! |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 5:19 pm Post subject: |
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And now you'll be able to throw shoes at him yerselves!
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/mp/5218545/throw-shoes-bush-online/
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Following in the footsteps of the Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at US President George W Bush, anyone can take a virtual swipe at the US leader on the internet thanks to a new game.
The aim of Sock and Awe (www.sockandawe.com), launched by Britain's Alex Tew, is to knock Bush out with a shoe, a feat already attained by 1.4 million players, according to the website on Tuesday.
Aptly named after the US "Shock and Awe" military campaign to knock out Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein , the game gives players 30 seconds to aim at a figure of Bush ducking behind a rostrum.
It was in protest against the Bush administration's Iraqi policy that journalist Durgham Zaidi threw both his shoes at the outgoing president on Sunday during his swansong visit to the battleground. The action won Zaidi widespread plaudits in the Arab world where Bush's policies have drawn broad hostility.
Tew, 24, drew world attention with his milliondollarhomepage.com, a website he conceived when 21 to help raise money for his university education by selling off pixels at a dollar a piece.
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Haha...Sock and Awe
I got him 6 times, but he's a tricky bastard! |
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some waygug-in
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 5:29 pm Post subject: |
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Wayyyy cool! I think I'll use this for my winter camp.  |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 5:49 pm Post subject: |
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| I feel hella bad for him |
This expression has just recently been showing up here at Dave's. Is it a regionalism? The product of someone somewhere's bad grammar? It appears to me to be an evolved form of 'hell of a', as in "I had a hell of a good time Saturday night", meaning 'very' which is all it means above. |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Quote: |
| I feel hella bad for him |
It appears to me to be an evolved form of 'hell of a', as in "I had a hell of a good time Saturday night", meaning 'very' which is all it means above. |
Yeah, but with jkelly it could be used facetiously (or some other way, I guess).
As for its origins, I dunno. I never heard it my hometown (Boston). I think jkelly is from the midwest, so maybe its a regional expression. But it sounds very valley-girl-esque to me. |
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Fishead soup
Joined: 24 Jun 2007
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:23 pm Post subject: |
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Here's some more
South Korea- placing the thumb between your index finger and middle finger is pretty offensive.
Thailand and other parts of SE Asia- While it may be tempting to touch a
freshly shaved head. This is partculary offenisive in Thailand where there are many Buddhist monks.
Showing the sole of your foot at any one.
Posing by a decapitated Buddah statue with your own head replacing the
missing Buddah head. |
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tomato
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.
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| Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Fishead soup wrote: |
| South Korea- placing the thumb between your index finger and middle finger is pretty offensive. |
That's how the T is made in the international sign language alphabet.
In the Korean sign language books, they change it somewhat.
But guess what the Korean sign is for "brother."
Yes, you guessed it: the middle finger! |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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| Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:29 pm Post subject: |
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In Saddam's Iraq if you said something against Saddam your sister would get raped.
So many of those who like to go after Bush were kind of silent when Saddam , Ali Khamnai or Osama Bin Laden killed a lot of people. But it is all just a coincidence right?
These types are no different than those in South Korea who say Bush is evil and Kim Jong Il is a patriot fighting to reunify the country |
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jkelly80
Joined: 13 Jun 2007
Location: you boys like mexico?
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| Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 7:08 pm Post subject: |
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| caniff wrote: |
| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Quote: |
| I feel hella bad for him |
It appears to me to be an evolved form of 'hell of a', as in "I had a hell of a good time Saturday night", meaning 'very' which is all it means above. |
Yeah, but with jkelly it could be used facetiously (or some other way, I guess).
As for its origins, I dunno. I never heard it my hometown (Boston). I think jkelly is from the midwest, so maybe its a regional expression. But it sounds very valley-girl-esque to me. |
I think it's a California term, circa 2002. I think it's hella stupid, but for some reason I can't stop. |
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some waygug-in
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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Jandar
Joined: 11 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 8:09 pm Post subject: |
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Under Saddam the shoe thrower would have been shot or decapitated. |
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cheeseface
Joined: 13 Jan 2008
Location: Ssyangnyeon Shi
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| Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 8:25 pm Post subject: |
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| Jandar wrote: |
Under Saddam the shoe thrower would have been shot or decapitated. |
Someone throwing shoes at bush under Saddam's rule would have been what? Bull shit, if someone had done that while Saddam was in power and hit bush they would have been given a medal.
Saddam already built Bush's father's face into the floor of one hotel so people could walk on his image. Anyone who got the son would be a hero.
Wait a second......
Thousands of Iraqis have demanded the release of a local TV reporter who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush at a Baghdad news conference.
Crowds gathered in Baghdad's Sadr City district, calling for "hero" Muntadar al-Zaidi to be freed from custody. There were similar scenes in Najaf.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7783608.stm |
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Jeff's Cigarettes
Joined: 27 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 8:34 pm Post subject: |
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I think this is funnier:
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| The TV journalist allegedly suffered a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding after the incident, his older brother, Dargham, told the BBC. |
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