What’s in a ‘digitus impudicus’


THE world’s oldest insulting gesture, flipping the bird, or sticking out the middle finger, dates to ancient Greece and was adopted by the Romans as digitus impudicus – the impudent finger.

A public intellectual, expressing his contempt for a gas-bag politician, reaches for a familiar gesture. He extends his middle finger and declares: “This is the great demagogue.”

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Opinion , Politics , Siti Kasim , Siti Thots column

   

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