Multicultural Manners : V, Not Always for Victory

A unit of American soldiers has gathered for orientation before deployment to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Their sergeant warns the men not to use the index and middle finger to make the peace sign.

What did it mean?

Because Croats use the “V” as an informal greeting, Serbs would find it offensive if they saw peace-keeping troops making this sign, according to the U.S. Army-produced “A Soldier’s Guide to Bosnia- Herzegovina”

The V-sign has a long history. Most older Americans associate it with Winston Churchill during World War II. Although Churchill made the gesture famous, it had also been used by Belgium’s Victor De Lavelaye as a victory symbol for the anti-Nazi movement in occupied Europe.

When making the “V,” the palm faces outward. In Britain, if the palm faces inward, the message changes. Once Churchill inadvertently held the back of his hand to his troops, meaning “get stuffed.” In many parts of the United Kingdom, facing the palm inward still has insulting connotations. Since the late 1960s, in the U.S. the “V” has symbolized peace. Ancient Romans used it as an obscene gesture while contemporary Greeks and Turks make a “V” to indicate the number 2.

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Norine Dresser is a folklorist and author of “Multicultural Manners” (Wiley, 1996). Tell her your experiences c/o Voices or via e-mail at: <71204.1703@compuserve.com>.