"two-fingered salute to the rest of society"

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	Abil  #537733  Mon, 07 Jul 08 01:35 PM He was supported by opposition Liberal Party leader Brendan Nelson, who described the image as a "two-fingered salute to the rest of society". (From BBC news) Does the highlighted phrase mean insult / affront to the society? This is new to me. Thanks    Abil Joined on Wed, Jun 11 2008 Regular Member (732)
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	optilang  #537737  Mon, 07 Jul 08 01:40 PM Abil He was supported by opposition Liberal Party leader Brendan Nelson, who described the image as a "two-fingered salute to the rest of society". (From BBC news) Does the highlighted phrase mean insult / affront to the society? This is new to me. Thanks A two-fingered salute is a very rude gesture. It basically means  _ _ _ _  Off    optilang Joined on Tue, May 13 2008 Poland Senior Member (2,169) OptiNative British English Speaker Wherever I may roam, I'm still a Londoner.

	Abil  #537740  Mon, 07 Jul 08 01:50 PM Thanks Optilang, I got it.    Abil

	Delmobile  #537747  Mon, 07 Jul 08 02:17 PM In the US, a one-fingered "salute" is more common. It's called, variously, giving someone the finger, flipping the bird, or flipping someone off. Here's an interesting Wikipedia article about the gesture.    Delmobile Joined on Wed, Jan 2 2008 Mobile, AL, USA Regular Member (532)
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	Abil  #537757  Mon, 07 Jul 08 02:31 PM Delmobile, I did not understand the meaning of one-fingered salute. Can you explain it a bit more. Also, you seem to have forgot to post the link to Wikipedia article. Thanks for your efforts.    Abil
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	optilang  #537760  Mon, 07 Jul 08 02:39 PM Here's the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_finger It has a different meaning in the UK.    optilang

	Marius Hancu  #537765  Mon, 07 Jul 08 02:54 PM Things are a bit more complicated. You can have both the Victory sign and the insult, depending on how your palm is facing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_sign In this context, it's  probably the latter.      Marius Hancu Joined on Wed, Apr 26 2006 Montreal, Canada Veteran Member (11,673)

	optilang  #537770  Mon, 07 Jul 08 03:03 PM Marius Hancu Things are a bit more complicated. You can have both the Victory sign and the insult, depending on how your palm is facing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_sign In this context, it's  probably the latter.   It's definitely the latter. We refer to the Victory salute/sign as that, and the two-fingered salute as the other.    optilang

	Abil  #537785  Mon, 07 Jul 08 03:29 PM Thanks Optilang and Marius Hancu.    Abil