What does thumbs up sign mean and where did it originate?
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Thumbs up is a common gesture represented by a closed fist held with the thumb extended upward or downward is a gesture of approval or disapproval respectively. These gestures have become metaphors in English: "My boss gave my proposal the thumbs-up" means that the boss approved the proposal, regardless of whether the gesture was made — indeed, the gesture itself is unlikely in a business setting.\n\nThe source of the gesture is obscure. Though a favorite of Hollywood 'swords and sandals' epics, where the "thumbs down" symbol means that the loser in a gladiatorial combat should be put to death, recent research suggests the meanings of the symbols have changed over the years. In 1997, Professor Anthony Philip Corbeill of the University of Kansas concluded that the thumbs up actually meant "Kill him," basing his assertion on a study of hundreds of ancient artworks. Thus, the "thumbs up" was an approval of the gladiator's request to kill his vanquished foe rather than a vote to allow the defeated to remain alive. Corbeill wrote that a closed fist with a wraparound thumb was the indication for a gladiator's life to be spared.\n\nMore recently, these gestures are associated with movie reviews, having been popularized by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert in their televised reviews — the thumb up meaning a positive opinion of a film; the thumb down meaning a negative one. One or two thumbs up, often held over the head, may also be used by athletes in celebration of a victory.
869010
=I disagree.  How about a thumbs up or making a circle with your thumb and index finger as an OK sign?
207094
In India it is consider as a mark of respect to nod when some one is telling you something.It is to acknowledge the speaker.If one does not do anything it means one is not interested in listening to the other person.\nIn case the speaker is an elder or a very respected person there is only nodding and not even a yes, the listner simply gets to work after the conversation is over.
1120698
To communicate in a more clear and concise manner. With your hands (and not using American Sign Language which is a very recent creation in terms of language and communication), indicate something that is over 3 mountain ranges away and a left at the oak tree. Saying it is much clearer than hand signals.
4846
the word okay was used by the american airforce staff when the airplanes were ready for the pilotfighters to go to action ,the pilots used hand signal equivalent to the word okay.this word was used since 1940.it became part of the north american culture where it is widely used today.ok
944550
The origin of this gesture is highly speculative, but is quite possibly up to 2500 years old. It is identified as the digitus impudicus ('impudent finger') in Ancient Roman writings [1] and reference is made to using the finger in the Ancient Greek comedy The Clouds by Aristophanes. It was defined there as a gesture intended to insult another.\n\nIt has long been told that the famous "two-fingers salute" and/or "V sign" derives from the gestures of English archers, fighting at Agincourt. The myth claims that the French cut off two fingers on the right hand of captured archers and that the gesture was a sign of defiance by those who were not mutilated. Knights of the time were extremely difficult to challenge in open engagement due to the amount of armor they wore, and the enormity of the horses they rode. One problem the knights faced however, was the English longbow. From a garrison or fortification, longbowmen would string their arrows in quick recession and aim for the armors weak spots. This resulted in many casualties for the knights. If the knights did however capture the fortification, they would either kill the longbowmen, or chop off their middle finger (necessary for stringing arrows effectively). As for the bowmen that escaped, upon seeing a knight, they would hold up their middle finger in mockery of the knight as if to say "ha, ha, you didn't get me"[citation needed].
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I’ve read at least half a dozen contradictory accounts of the origin of the handshake. Because handshakes clearly predate written history, all these explanations are ultimately somewhat speculative. But the most popular story is that an open right hand showed you were not carrying a weapon; if two men met and displayed empty right hands, this presumably meant a basic level of trust existed that neither would stab the other. In one variant of this story, the handshake evolved from an elbow-to-wrist “patdown” to check for hidden knives; in another, the shaking motion was supposed to dislodge any sharp objects that may have been kept in the sleeve.\n\nOf course, this explanation, while plausible enough, doesn’t account for left-handed men, who presumably would have been happy to extend the right hand in greeting while wielding a dagger in the left. But in many parts of the world, since ancient times, the left hand has been considered the “bathroom” hand, the one never used for eating, giving, or receiving—nor, by extension, for greeting—whether you’re left-handed or not.\n\nMeanwhile, the “I’m-not-going-to-stab-you” story doesn’t tell us why the handshake won out over other greeting gestures in the West. After all, in some cultures the standard greeting (even between people who don’t know each other well) is a kiss on one or both cheeks; in others, people hug, rub noses, bow, or even stick out their tongues. Writer Margaret Visser suggests one possibility. As she noted in her book The Way We Are, at one time the English were more demonstrative with their gestures of greeting—for example, English men routinely greeted all women with a kiss on the mouth. As part of the Victorian behavioral “reforms,” public kissing of any kind became socially unacceptable and the handshake came into fashion for both men and women as a convenient way to keep a person at arm’s length. So to speak.\n\nThe Left Hand Doesn’t Know What the Right Hand Is Doing\nAt least in the United States, the handshake has become an extremely ambiguous symbol. At one level, it just means “hello” or “goodbye.” But it can also be construed to mean “we’re in agreement” or even that an informal contract has been reached, as in the proverbial handshake deal. And on a still deeper level, it can mean “everything’s OK between us,” particularly after some conflict has been resolved. But sometimes social convention awkwardly calls for shaking hands to signify the end of a meeting, even though no agreement has been reached or a state of conflict still exists. And heaven forbid that one world leader should shake hands with another whose ideology differs deeply, since people on both sides will judge this as a disingenuous move at best, and at worst, a betrayal of the leader’s values. But was the politician saying, “I accept you and your beliefs” or simply, “Hello”?\n\nThen, of course, business types will read all sorts of meaning into the very style of your handshake. Even if you execute it under exactly the right circumstances, it must be firm but not too firm; it must be held for exactly the right amount of time but no longer; it must be accompanied by direct eye contact; and, for bonus sincerity points, you should add your left hand to make a “hand sandwich.” You may also be judged on the angle of your hand and the number and intensity of shakes.\n\nAnd if this kind of confusion isn’t bad enough, that’s just the standard, run-of-the-mill handshake. Gangs sometimes use special handshakes to signify group membership, just as fraternal societies and children’s clubs use “secret handshakes” as a kind of password, a symbolic way of saying, “We’re insiders.” So if someone outside the group incorrectly attempts a handshake, the results can be quite serious. On the other hand, a high five (arguably a variety of handshake) pretty unambiguously expresses satisfaction or congratulations—but that’s t
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A thumbs up rating means all the answers have been looked over to a specific question and the voters gave the best answer a "thumbs up" rating, meaning they approve or agree with the best answer...
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it probably came from the American Sign Language sign for telephone
795338
in sign language it means "love" Brazilians use it alot!!\nI'm frm argentina and when I was there, it's infectious...everyone uses it!
714991
Agreee !! Never heard that before but thumbs up dor you !!\n\nI'll keep that in mind\n\n=0)\nGood luck
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There have been numerous attempts to explain the emergence of this curious colloquial expression, which seems to have swept into popular use in the US during the mid-19th century. Most of them are undoubtedly pure speculation. It does not seem at all likely, from the linguistic and historical evidence, that it derives from the Scots expression 'och aye', the Greek ola kala ('it is good'), the Choctaw Indian oke or okeh ('it is so'), the French aux Cayes ('from Cayes', a port in Haiti with a reputation for good rum) or au quai ('to the quay', as supposedly used by French-speaking dockers), or the initials of a railway freight agent called Obediah Kelly who is said to have written them on lading documents he had checked.\n\nThe oldest written references to 'OK' result from its adoption as a slogan by the Democratic party during the American Presidential election of 1840. Their candidate, President Martin Van Buren, was nicknamed 'Old Kinderhook' (after his birthplace in New York State), and his supporters formed the 'OK Club'.\n\nThis undoubtedly helped to popularize the term (though it did not get President Van Buren re-elected!). During the late 1830s there had been a brief but widespread craze in the US for humorous misspellings, and the form orl korrekt which was among them could explain the initials 'OK'. Such a theory has been supported by more than one distinguished American scholar, and is given in many dictionaries, including Oxford dictionaries.\n\nThe only other theory with at least a degree of plausibility is that the term originated among Black slaves of West African origin, and represents a word meaning 'all right, yes indeed' in various West African languages. Unfortunately, historical evidence enabling the origin of this expression to be finally and firmly established may be hard to unearth.
936267
It means "put up an indication in order to". Like putting up a sign saying "Exit".
473321
Annuit Cœptis is one of two mottos (the other being Novus Ordo Seclorum) on the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States. Taken from the Latin words annuo (to nod, approve) and cœpto (to begin, undertake), it literally means someone or something "has approved our beginnings". The unspecified subject is apparently the Eye of Providence, which the motto surrounds, and accordingly, the U.S. State Department gives the translation "He [God] has favored our undertakings"[1] (brackets in original).\n\nThe motto is most commonly seen on the reverse side of the U.S. one dollar bill, which contains both sides of the Great Seal.
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Oh, Snap! is an expression of disbelief. It was popularized by Biz Markie in the 1989 song "Just a Friend". It has also entered use as acknowledgement of a diss by third parties, to heighten the feeling of disrespect and insult. "Oh, Snap!" has been known to be used as a form of salutation. It may also be used as an expression of shock or amazement. It is also another way of saying "zing!"
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$%^&*$%^*(())^%^% \nthese symbols don't really mean anything. usually people use them when they are speechless, or doesn't know how to respond to a comment or retort. KIND OF like when you're mad you say "shit" or "fuck". But instead of using these terms in the comic books, they use these symbols.
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"The height of excellence".  \n\nHere's exactly what the site said... it's the Bee's Knees... much like my answer.  ;)\n\nA bee's "corbiculae", or pollen-baskets, are located on its\ntibiae (midsegments of its legs).  The phrase "the bee's knees", meaning "the height of excellence", became popular in the U.S. in the 1920s, along with "the cat's whiskers" (possibly from the use of these in radio crystal sets), "the cat's pajamas" (pyjamas were still new enough to be daring), and similar phrases which made less sense and didn't endure:  "the eel's ankle", "the elephant's instep", "the snake's hip".  Stories in circulation about the phrase's origin include:  "b's and e's", short for "be-alls and\nend-alls"; and a corruption of "business".\n\nAlso, Oxford Dictionary has an interesting explanation, too.\n\nThe Oxford English Dictionary records the expression  bee's knee as meaning the type of something small or insignificant from 1797. The plural form is US slang dating from the 1920s, when there was an explosion of terms meaning 'the acme of excellence': compare the cat's whiskers/pyjamas. The first example is dated 1923. Some of these have lasted, and some have not (the flea's eyebrows, the canary's tusks).