Hands in pocket aren’t really a offensive thing in Germany and even less the A-OK gesture.
The hands in pocket is very complex though, it has to do with France occupation of the Ruhr area after WW1 and is more of a sign of rebellion. Before that it was used together with the uprising against factory owners exploitation and the start of unions. It basically means “im not working for you until you meet my demands” so not offensive in the common sense
When I was a Brit in school my teachers would often say to me ‘take your hands out of your pockets while speaking to me!’, so its more an etiquette thing rather than being rude, I’d say.
Also for some reason they took a very specific reason for the german flag calles Dienstflagge
I need to learn my flags.
Can a non US anglosphere person comment on the V gesture?
I’ve known several brits and australians and asked them about the weird little differences that would include this and I have never heard of this being used like… offensively, as in ‘I am going to win a war with you!’
I always just thought it was developed during world war two as a shorthand way of saying ‘we will win this’, not as a way to like disparage someone?
It’s understood the same as a middle finger would be, except more Britishly.
Growing up, the story was that it came from when longbows were peak weaponry and the French were chopping the fingers off of captured English archers - the V sign was saying something like “fuck you, I can still shoot you”. There’s insult/defiance/threat in there but it’s not like throwing down the gauntlet (to be clear, we don’t do that gesture any more).
See, I had heard a different version of that story which was that this is where the middle finger expression came from, that a bunch of bowmen drew with their middle finger, thus the French would chop those off, and raising a single middle finger was a sign of ‘fuck you, i can still send hate downrange’.
Wanker isnt just Britain its australia and most likely nz as well.
A OK isn’t an offensive gesture in turkey this is full of shit
An inverted positioning by having the back of your hand seen, making the gesture downwards instead of upwards, and a general irrelevance of the other fingers than thumb and index finger is widely used as a slur to indicate a person is gay.
Other than both symbols making a chamber using thumb and index fingers, yeah A OK and that has no relation at all.
And on the topic of “The Fig”, I have never seen it used to indicate vagina. It has always been a very rude rejection of a request or a simple taunt similar to showing one’s ass in a “kiss my ass” kind of meaning. At least from what I have seen in my childhood and teenager years, this had no open meaning about vagina, although it is not far fetched to have it mean “pussy/chicken” as a similar taunt.
first one I haven’t come across yet and I am a turkish person maybe it’s older and not as widely used anymore? but yeah ur right about “the fig” (or “nah” hehe)
It can vary from place to place and group to group I guess. These things hardly have the same meaning in a general population. They sometimes even derive more meanings. The top comment (by u/soulreaverdan) in this reddit post suggest that it is a 90s joke with somewhat meaning a “got you” or derivatively derogatory “you got cucked/you are a bottom” among teens horsing around.
Never heard of the political or in-group meanings, tho.
But definitely not something a lot of mildly unruly teens would use. It was more of a bully or toxic alpha male thing back when I was a teen. I don’t see it anymore, either, thankfully.
