The origin of hand signals

Have any of you ever wondered where certain hand signals come from? Like when someone sticks their middle finger up at you what are they really trying to say? Neither have I, but for those interested in this sort of thing I have compiled the origins of some of the more interesting signals. Unfortunately time did not permit me to reference any established works on the subject, so most of what I have here has been obtained from second, third and nth hand sources coupled with some common sense.

The "V" Sign or Two Fingers

The Origin of this dates from a middle ages peasant game involving a large wheel and some candles. A player would set up two candles on the wheel directly in from of him and make what we would now call the "peace" sign to another player opposite him. Dice would be rolled and after some vigorous dancing they would be checked. If it was below 7 the candles would be moved one notch clockwise. If it was above 7 the player would be given a coupon good for a free oil change. As the candles moved the players fingers would follow and when you are making the "V" sign then you have lost the game. People would understandabley be annoyed at loosing and soon this hand signal became a bad thing and meant a subtle "fuck you" to the person you had lost to.

The Pretend Phone Signal

When someone puts their thumb to their ear and their little finger to their mouth you understand this as there is someone on the phone for you or or they feel the distance between their ear and lip is too short. But this signal has had many meanings through the ages here are just some of them.

In Victorian times when smiling was frowned upon young reckless men would use this sign to represent a smile. In fact it became so popular that a limited edition 75p coin was issued where the queen herself was making the hand sign.

In the middle ages it was used by aristocrats to say (Note: I am paraphrasing here) "I am going to get one of those sweet piercings where you get a chain from your ear to your lip".

There are very little records from the dark ages but I heard from a drunk guy in town saying that it was used in the middle ages to represent that I am interested in buying your horse. Interestingly they used both hands for this, thinking that it made them look like a horse. In other cases it was a signal that meant "I want to covet your wife".

I picked up a document from before records began that chronicles the first use of this signal. It simply meant that there is a smoke signal on the machine for you.

It seems the signal has come a full circle then.

The Invisible Drink

When someone puts and invisible drink to their mouth they are asking if you want a drink? But this was not the original meaning. In 1774 Sir Igor Ducking had an unusual tick that make him make this gesture every 37 seconds. To avoid embarrassment at social occasions and football matches he would make all his friends and everyone named Adam do it too. As Ducking always had a drink with him people thought it was something related to drinks and that is where the signal comes from.