====================================================================== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. ======================================================================
On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 5:08 PM, Nick Fredman <nick.fred...@iinet.net.au>wrote: > > > Well I assume you mean the forefinger and little finger salute which is > closely associated with metal (and sometimes used somewhat ironically at > other rock gigs), and is politically harmless I think. As an historical > aside, on the HBO-BBC drama Rome a character did exactly this gesture as a > very serious curse. The show was touted as a very accurate representation on > ordinary life among the different classes in ancient Rome, and so I suppose > this was a real gesture and there's been some weird transmutation to what it > means today. Watching it I burst out laughing and wondered how many takes > the actor needed to do before he could spot thinking of Spinal Tap or > Wayne's World and keep a straight face. > > It is called the corna or 'sign of the horns'. While the exact origins of its use in metal are somewhat obscure, Ronnie James Dio probably has the best claim to popularizing it. He was Italian and got it from his superstitious grandmother. The sign has ancient pagan roots and depictions can be found on engravings and pottery going back millenia in the Mediterranean region. I believe it may have had some association with Dionysus or similar horned god-figures. Amusingly some years ago Bush was photographed giving the nearly identical traditional 'hook'em horns' gesture at a performance by the Texas Longhorns marching band and this was caught by the European tabloid press and became something of a scandal.. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
