I am a college student and I am doing a research paper on how important it is to be aware of cultural differences in business and politics. I was wondering if you know where I could find the information/article about Bush giving the peace sign when it actually meant the same thing as "the middle finger" in another country......I know this is kind of a funny question, but i have looked everywhere and i was wondering if you could help!! Thank you!

-- Amber Whatley (awhatley@tamu.edu), February 09, 2000

Answers

The incident you refered to happened with President Bush and not his son. He was in Britain at the time and flashed a "reverse peace sign." It does mean the same thing as the bird. I believe it goes back to the Battle of Agincourt in France during the reign of Henry V. Follow me if you will on this: the "reverse peace sign" is actually what an archer does to pull the string back on his bow. The English archers with Henry V were credited with turning the tide in favor of the English against the French forces. The "reverse peace sign" was the English way of taunting the French whenever they met in battle after Agincourt. It took the current meaning during the 700 years that have followed that battle. I hope that helped. Sorry I couldn't give you the exact date of when Pres. Bush did his deed.

Paul Disney

-- Paul Disney (pkjdiz@hotmail.com), February 22, 2000.

The incident you refered to happened with President Bush and not his son. He was in Britain at the time and flashed a "reverse peace sign." It does mean the same thing as the bird. I believe it goes back to the Battle of Agincourt in France during the reign of Henry V. Follow me if you will on this: the "reverse peace sign" is actually what an archer does to pull the string back on his bow. The English archers with Henry V were credited with turning the tide in favor of the English against the French forces. The "reverse peace sign" was the English way of taunting the French whenever they met in battle after Agincourt. It took the current meaning during the 700 years that have followed that battle. I hope that helped. Sorry I couldn't give you the exact date of when Pres. Bush did his deed. Paul Disney

-To add to this I have been told that as the English Bowmen were so effective with their accuracy and skill that if they were captured by the French they risked having their 'plucking' fingers cut off. So I believe the reverse peace sign was actually a taunt even then. DDP

-- David Dare Parker (ddpphoto@ozemail.com.au), March 12, 2000.

After reading Ambers question it caused a synpase to fire.Way back when there was a picture in the NY Daily News of Nelson Rockefeller flipping someone the bird. It might have been students taunting the administration over the Viet-Nam war.

-- Herbert Holter (holter@francomm.com), March 31, 2000.

Thought this was relevant:

Bush actually gives the middle finger - video

http://www.freespeeches.net

-- Eric Botticelli (eb@freespeeches.net), October 27, 2004.