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Biathlon
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Not to be confused with duathlon or biathle.
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Biathlon
Biathletes in the shooting area of a competition
Highest governing body
International Biathlon Union
Characteristics
Team members
Single competitors or relay teams
Mixed gender
Yes
Equipment
Skis, Poles, Rifle
Presence
Olympic
1924 (Military patrol)
1960 (Officially)
The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race where the contestant with the shortest total time wins. Depending on the competition, missed shots result in extra distance or time added to the contestant's total running distance or time.
Contents
[hide]
1 History
2 Governing body
3 Championships
4 Rules and equipment
4.1 Basic concepts
4.2 Skiing details
4.3 Shooting details
5 Competition format
5.1 Individual
5.2 Sprint
5.3 Pursuit
5.4 Mass start
5.5 Relay
5.6 Mixed relay
5.7 Team (obsolete)
6 Broadcasting
7 Biathlon records and statistics
8 See also
9 Notes
10 External links
History[edit]
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, the biathlon "is rooted in the skiing traditions of Scandinavia, where early inhabitants revered the Norse god Ullr as both the ski god and the hunting god". In modern times, the activity that developed into this sport was an exercise for Norwegian people that was an alternative training for the military. Norwegian skiing regiments organized military skiing contests in the 18th century, divided in four classes: shooting at mark while skiing at top speed, downhill race among trees, downhill race on big hills without falling, and a long race on flat ground while carrying rifle and military pack. In modern terminology these military contests included downhill, slalom, biathlon, and cross-country skiing.[1] One of the world's first known ski clubs, the Trysil Rifle and Ski Club, was formed in Norway in 1861 to promote national defense at the local level. 20th century variants include Forsvarsrennet (the military contest) – a 17 km cross-country race with shooting, and the military cross-country race at 30 km including marksmanship. The modern biathlon is a civilian variant of the old military combined exercise.[2] In Norway, the biathlon was until 1984 a branch of Det frivillige Skyttervesen, an organization set up by the government to promote civilian marksmanship in support of national defense. In Norwegian, the biathlon is called skiskyting (literally ski shooting).[3] In Norway there are still separate contests in skifeltskyting, a cross-country race at 12 km with large-caliber rifle shooting at various targets with unknown range.[4]
Called military patrol, the combination of skiing and shooting was contested at the Winter Olympic Games in 1924, and then demonstrated in 1928, 1936, and 1948, but did not regain Olympic recognition then because the small number of competing countries disagreed on the rules. During the mid-1950s, however, the biathlon was introduced into the Soviet and Swedish winter sport circuits and was widely enjoyed by the public. This newfound popularity aided the effort of having the biathlon gain entry into the Winter Olympics.
The first Biathlon World Championship was held in 1958 in Austria, and in 1960 the sport was finally included in the Olympic Games.[3] At Albertville in 1992, women were first allowed in the Olympic biathlon.
The competitions from 1958 to 1965 used high-power centerfire cartridges, such as the .30-06 Springfield and the 7.62×51mm NATO, before the .22 Long Rifle rimfire cartridge was standardized in 1978. The ammunition was carried in a belt worn around the competitor's waist. The sole event was the men's 20 kilometres (12 mi) individual, encompassing four separate ranges and firing distances of 100 metres (330 ft), 150 metres (490 ft), 200 metres (660 ft), and 250 metres (820 ft). The target distance was reduced to 150 metres (490 ft) with the addition of the relay in 1966. The shooting range was further reduced to 50 metres (160 ft) in 1978 with the mechanical targets making their debut at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.[5]
Governing body[edit]
In 1948, the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne et Biathlon (UIPMB) was founded, to standardise the rules for the biathlon and the modern pentathlon. In 1993, the biathlon branch of the UIPMB created the International Biathlon Union (IBU), which officially separated from the UIPMB in 1998.
Presidents of the UIPMB/IBU:
1947–1949: Tom Wiborn (Sweden)
1949–1960: Gustaf Dyrssen (Sweden)
1960–1988: Sven Thofelt, (Sweden)
1988–1992: Igor Novikov (USSR/Russia)
Since 1992: Anders Besseberg (Norway)
Championships[edit]
The following articles list major international biathlon events and medalists. Contrary to the Olympics and World Championships (BWCH), the World Cup (BWC) is an entire winter season of (mostly) weekly races, where the medalists are those with the highest sums of World Cup points at the end of the season.
Biathlon at the Winter Olympics
Biathlon World Championships
Biathlon World Cup
Biathlon Junior World Championships
Rules and equipment[edit]
Prone position: Sylvie Becaert, Antholz 2010.
Standing position: Raphaël Poirée (left) and Ole Einar Bjørndalen, Antholz 2006.
The complete rules of the biathlon are given in the official IBU rule books.[6]
Basic concepts[edit]
A biathlon competition consists of a race in which contestants ski through a cross-country trail system whose total distance is divided into either two or four shooting rounds, half in prone position, the other half standing. Depending on the shooting performance, extra distance or time is added to the contestant's total running distance/time. The contestant with the shortest total time wins.
For each shooting round, the biathlete must hit five targets and receives a penalty for each missed target, which varies according to the competition rules, as follows:[6]
Skiing around a 150-metre (490 ft) penalty loop—typically taking 20–30 seconds for elite biathletes to complete, depending on weather and snow conditions.
Adding one minute to the skier's total time.
Use of an extra cartridge (placed at the shooting range) to hit the target; only three such extras are available for each round, and a penalty loop must be done for each target left standing.
In order to keep track of the contestants' progress and relative standing throughout a race, split times (intermediate times) are taken at several points along the skiing track and upon finishing each shooting round. The large display screens commonly set up at biathlon arenas, as well as the information graphics shown as part of the TV picture, will typically list the split time of the fastest contestant at each intermediate point and the times and time differences to the closest runners-up.
Skiing details[edit]
All cross-country skiing techniques are permitted in the biathlon, which means that the free technique is usually the preferred one, being the fastest. No equipment other than skis and ski poles may be used to move along the track. The minimum ski length is the height of the skier minus 4 centimetres (1.6 in). The rifle has to be carried by the skier during the race at all times.
Shooting details[edit]
The biathlete carries a small-bore rifle, which weighs at least 3.5 kilograms (7.7 lb), excluding ammunition and magazines. The rifles use .22 LR ammunition and are bolt action or Fortner (straight-pull bolt) action.
The target range shooting distance is 50 metres (160 ft). There are five circular targets to be hit in each shooting round. When shooting in the prone position, the target diameter is 45 millimetres (1.8 in); when shooting in the standing position, the target diameter is 115 millimetres (4.5 in). On all modern biathlon ranges, the targets are self-indicating, in that they flip from black to white when hit, giving the biathlete, as well as the spectators, instant visual feedback for each shot fired.
Competition format[edit]
Individual[edit]
The 20 kilometres (12 mi) individual race (15 kilometres (9.3 mi) for women) is the oldest biathlon event; the distance is skied over five laps. The biathlete shoots four times at any shooting lane,[7] in the order of prone, standing, prone, standing, totaling 20 targets. For each missed target a fixed penalty time, usually one minute, is added to the skiing time of the biathlete. Competitors' starts are staggered, normally by 30 seconds.
Sprint[edit]
The sprint is 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) for men and 7.5 kilometres (4.7 mi) for women; the distance is skied over three laps. The biathlete shoots twice at any shooting lane, once prone and once standing, for a total of 10 shots. For each miss, a penalty loop of 150 metres (490 ft) must be skied before the race can be continued. As in the individual competition, the biathletes start in intervals.
Pursuit[edit]
Olympic gold medalists Olga Zaitseva and Andrea Henkel at the World Cup pursuit race in Oberhof, 2013.
Main article: Pursuit racing
In a pursuit, biathletes' starts are separated by their time differences from a previous race,[8] most commonly a sprint. The contestant crossing the finish line first is the winner. The distance is 12.5 kilometres (7.8 mi) for men and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) for women, skied over five laps; there are four shooting bouts (two prone, two standing, in that order), and each miss means a penalty loop of 150 metres (490 ft). To prevent awkward or dangerous crowding of the skiing loops, and overcapacity at the shooting range, World Cup Pursuits are held with only the 60 top ranking biathletes after the preceding race. The biathletes shoot on a first-come, first-served basis at the lane corresponding to the position they arrived for all shooting bouts.
Mass start[edit]
In the mass start, all biathletes start at the same time and the first across the finish line wins. In this 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) for men or 12.5 kilometres (7.8 mi) for women competition, the distance is skied over five laps; there are four bouts of shooting (two prone, two standing, in that order) with the first shooting bout being at the lane corresponding to the competitor's bib number (Bib #10 shoots at lane #10 regardless of position in race), with the rest of the shooting bouts being on a first-come, first-served basis (If a competitor arrives at the lane in fifth place, they shoot at lane 5). As in sprint and pursuit, competitors must ski one 150 metres (490 ft) penalty loop for each miss. Here again, to avoid unwanted congestion, World Cup Mass starts are held with only the 30 top ranking athletes on the start line (half that of the Pursuit as here all contestants start simultaneously).
Relay[edit]
The relay teams consist of four biathletes, who each ski 7.5 kilometres (4.7 mi) (men) or 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) (women), each leg skied over three laps, with two shooting rounds; one prone, one standing. For every round of five targets there are eight bullets available, though the last three can only be single-loaded manually one at a time from spare round holders or bullets deposited by the competitor into trays or onto the mat at the firing line. If after eight bullets there are still misses, one 150 m (490 ft) penalty loop must be taken for each missed target remaining. The first-leg participants start all at the same time, and as in cross-country skiing relays, every athlete of a team must touch the team's next-leg participant to perform a valid changeover. On the first shooting stage of the first leg, the participant must shoot in the lane corresponding to their bib number (Bib #10 shoots at lane #10 regardless of position in race), then for the remainder of the relay, the relay team shoots on a first-come, first-served basis (arrive at the range in fifth place, shoot at lane 5).
Mixed relay[edit]
The most recent addition to the number of biathlon competition variants, the mixed relay is similar to the ordinary relay but the teams are composed of two women and two men. Legs 1 and 2 are done by the women, legs 3 and 4 by the men. The women's legs are 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) and men's legs are 7.5 kilometres (4.7 mi) as in ordinary relay competitions.
In 2014, single mixed relay was introduced by the IBU. Each team has a man and a woman, and each runs two 3.0 kilometres (1.9 mi) legs, except the last leg where the man completes 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) for a total 13.5 kilometres (8.4 mi).
This event was first held at the Biathlon World Championships 2005 in Khanty-Mansiysk, and it was added to the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Team (obsolete)[edit]
A team consists of four biathletes, but unlike the relay competition, all team members start at the same time. Two athletes must shoot in the prone shooting round, the other two in the standing round. In case of a miss, the two non-shooting biathletes must ski a penalty loop of 150 m (490 ft). The skiers must enter the shooting area together, and must also finish within 15 seconds of each other; otherwise a time penalty of one minute is added to the total time. Since 2004, this race format has been obsolete at the World Cup level.
Broadcasting[edit]
Biathlon events are broadcast most regularly where the sport enjoys its greatest popularity, namely Germany (ARD, ZDF), Austria (ORF), Norway (NRK), France (L'Équipe 21), Finland (YLE), Estonia (ETV), Latvia (LTV), Lithuania (LRT), Croatia (HRT), Poland (Polsat), Sweden (SVT), Russia (Russia-2, Channel One), Belarus (TVR), Slovenia (RTV), Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHRT), Bulgaria (BNT), and South Korea (KBS); it is broadcast on European-wide Eurosport, which also broadcasts to the Asia-Pacific region. World Cup races are streamed (without commentary) via the IBU website.[9]
The broadcast distribution being one indicator, the constellation of a sport's main sponsors usually gives a similar, and correlated, indication of popularity: for biathlon, these are the Germany-based companies E.ON Ruhrgas (energy), Krombacher (beer), and Viessmann (boilers and other heating systems).
United States biathlete Jeremy Teela at the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Biathlon records and statistics[edit]
The IBU maintains biathlon records, rules, news, videos, and statistics for many years back, all of which are available at its web site.[10]
See also[edit]
Biathlon World Cup
Biathlon World Championships
List of Olympic medalists in biathlon
Paralympic biathlon
Biathlon's two sports disciplines:
Cross-country skiing (sport)
Rifle shooting sports
Other multi-discipline sports (otherwise unrelated to biathlon):
Duathlon
Nordic Combined
Triathlon
Pentathlon
Modern pentathlon
Heptathlon
Decathlon
Chess boxing
Omnium (track cycling)
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ Bergsland, Einar (1946): På ski. Oslo: Aschehoug.
Jump up ^ Bø, Olav: Skiing throughout history, translated by W. Edson Richmond. Oslo: Samlaget, 1993.
^ Jump up to: a b Kunnskapsforlagets idrettsleksikon (Encyclopedia of Sports), Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget, 1990
Jump up ^ https://snl.no/skifeltskyting
Jump up ^ "Biathlon: a sport on the cutting edge". olympic.org. 23 February 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
^ Jump up to: a b IBU Congress (2014), IBU Event and Competition Rules (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03
Jump up ^ Even in English-speaking countries such as Canada and the United States each country may use different terms for the same thing in biathlon. For example: Stage (USA) vs. Bout (Canada), Shooting Point (USA) vs. Shooting Lane (Canada)
Jump up ^ To be precise; the pursuit competition start intervals are determined by common rounding to the nearest whole second of the biathletes' time differences from the previous race – the amount of time each biathlete lagged after the winner to the finish line.
Jump up ^ Startseite - www.biathlonworld.com
Jump up ^ IBU (2016). "The Biathlon Family". biathlonworld.com. International Biathlon Union. Retrieved 2017-02-11.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Biathlon.
Biathlonworld.Com – A cooperation between IBU and EBU; with race results/statistics, TV schedules, live competition results, and so on.
Belarusian Biathlon Union (in Russian)
Russian Biathlon Union (in Russian)
Russian Biathlon Union (in English)
Biathlon Canada
U.S. Biathlon Association
U.S. Archery Biathlon
History of Biathlon
Veltins Biathlon World Team Challenge
Biathlon on OLN TV
Biathlon on DVD
Biathlon Russia
Biathlon Ukraine (in Ukrainian)
Biathlon Ukraine (in English)
BiathlonFrance.com
Biathlon history (in Russian)
Popular Norwegian site (in Norwegian)
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text:
Tropic of Cancer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about the circle of latitude. For other uses, see Tropic of Cancer (disambiguation).
Coordinates: 23°26′14″N 0°0′0″W / 23.43722°N -0.00000°E / 23.43722; -0.00000 (Prime Meridian)
World map showing the Tropic of Cancer
Carretera 83 (Vía Corta) Zaragoza-Victoria, km 27+800. Of all crossings of the Tropic of Cancer with Mexican federal highways, this is the only place where the latitude is marked with precision and where the annual drift between the years 2005 and 2010 can be appreciated.
The Tropic of Cancer, also referred to as the Northern Tropic, is currently 23°26′13.1″ (or 23.43698°) north of the Equator. It is the most northerly circle of latitude on Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun to its maximum extent.[1]
Its Southern Hemisphere counterpart, marking the most southerly position at which the Sun can be directly overhead, is the Tropic of Capricorn. These tropics are two of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of Earth; which also includes the Arctic and Antarctic Circles and the Equator. The positions of these two circles of latitude (relative to the Equator) are dictated by the tilt of Earth's axis of rotation relative to the plane of its orbit.
Contents
[hide]
1 Name
2 Geography
3 Climate
4 Circumnavigation
5 Gallery
6 External links
7 See also
8 References
Name[edit]
When this line of latitude was named some 2,000 years ago, the Sun was in the constellation Cancer (Latin for crab) at the June solstice, the time each year that the Sun reaches its zenith at this latitude. Due to the precession of the equinoxes, this is no longer the case; today the Sun is in Taurus at the June solstice. The word "tropic" itself comes from the Greek "trope (τροπή)", meaning turn (change of direction, or circumstances), inclination, referring to the fact that the Sun appears to "turn back" at the solstices.
Geography[edit]
The Tropic of Cancer's position is not fixed, but varies in a complicated manner over time. Currently, it gradually drifts south almost half an arcsecond (0.468″) of latitude, or 15 metres, per year (it was at exactly 23° 27′ in 1917 and will be at 23° 26' in 2045).[2] See axial tilt and circles of latitude for further information.
North of the tropic are the subtropics and the North Temperate Zone. The equivalent line of latitude south of the Equator is called the Tropic of Capricorn, and the region between the two, centered on the Equator, is the tropics.
Starting at the prime meridian and heading eastward, the Tropic of Cancer passes through 16 countries:
Co-ordinates
Country, territory or sea
Notes
23°26′N 0°0′E / 23.433°N 0.000°E / 23.433; 0.000 (Prime Meridian)
Algeria
23°26′N 11°51′E / 23.433°N 11.850°E / 23.433; 11.850 (Niger)
Niger
23°26′N 12°17′E / 23.433°N 12.283°E / 23.433; 12.283 (Libya)
Libya
The Tropic touches on the northernmost point of Chad at 23°26′N 15°59′E / 23.433°N 15.983°E / 23.433; 15.983 (Northernmost point of Chad)
23°26′N 25°0′E / 23.433°N 25.000°E / 23.433; 25.000 (Egypt)
Egypt
The Tropic passes through Lake Nasser
23°26′N 35°30′E / 23.433°N 35.500°E / 23.433; 35.500 (Red Sea)
Red Sea
23°26′N 38°38′E / 23.433°N 38.633°E / 23.433; 38.633 (Saudi Arabia)
Saudi Arabia
23°26′N 52°10′E / 23.433°N 52.167°E / 23.433; 52.167 (United Arab Emirates)
United Arab Emirates
Abu Dhabi emirate only
23°26′N 55°24′E / 23.433°N 55.400°E / 23.433; 55.400 (Oman)
Oman
23°26′N 58°46′E / 23.433°N 58.767°E / 23.433; 58.767 (Indian Ocean)
Indian Ocean
Arabian Sea
23°26′N 68°23′E / 23.433°N 68.383°E / 23.433; 68.383 (India)
India
States of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal
23°26′N 88°47′E / 23.433°N 88.783°E / 23.433; 88.783 (Bangladesh)
Bangladesh
Khulna, Dhaka, and Chittagong Divisions
23°26′N 91°14′E / 23.433°N 91.233°E / 23.433; 91.233 (India)
India
State of Tripura
23°26′N 91°56′E / 23.433°N 91.933°E / 23.433; 91.933 (Bangladesh)
Bangladesh
Chittagong Division
23°26′N 92°19′E / 23.433°N 92.317°E / 23.433; 92.317 (India)
India
State of Mizoram
23°26′N 93°23′E / 23.433°N 93.383°E / 23.433; 93.383 (Myanmar)
Myanmar
Chin State, Sagaing Division, Mandalay Division, Shan State
23°26′N 98°54′E / 23.433°N 98.900°E / 23.433; 98.900 (China)
China
Provinces of Yunnan (passing about 7 km north of the border with Vietnam), Guangxi, and Guangdong
23°26′N 117°8′E / 23.433°N 117.133°E / 23.433; 117.133 (Taiwan Strait)
Taiwan Strait
23°26′N 120°8′E / 23.433°N 120.133°E / 23.433; 120.133 (Taiwan)
Taiwan
Chiayi County, Hualien County
23°26′N 121°29′E / 23.433°N 121.483°E / 23.433; 121.483 (Philippine Sea)
Philippine Sea
23°26′N 142°00′E / 23.433°N 142.000°E / 23.433; 142.000 (Pacific Ocean)
Pacific Ocean
Passing just south of Necker Island, Hawaii, United States
23°26′N 110°15′W / 23.433°N 110.250°W / 23.433; -110.250 (Mexico)
Mexico
State of Baja California Sur
23°26′N 109°24′W / 23.433°N 109.400°W / 23.433; -109.400 (Gulf of California)
Gulf of California
23°26′N 106°35′W / 23.433°N 106.583°W / 23.433; -106.583 (Mexico)
Mexico
States of Sinaloa, Durango, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas
23°26′N 97°45′W / 23.433°N 97.750°W / 23.433; -97.750 (Gulf of Mexico)
Gulf of Mexico
23°26′N 83°0′W / 23.433°N 83.000°W / 23.433; -83.000 (Atlantic Ocean)
Atlantic Ocean
Passing through the Straits of Florida and the Nicholas Channel
Passing just south of the Anguilla Cays ( Bahamas)
Passing through the Santaren Channel and into the open ocean
23°26′N 76°0′W / 23.433°N 76.000°W / 23.433; -76.000 (Bahamas)
Bahamas
Exuma Islands and Long Island
23°26′N 75°10′W / 23.433°N 75.167°W / 23.433; -75.167 (Atlantic Ocean)
Atlantic Ocean
23°26′N 15°57′W / 23.433°N 15.950°W / 23.433; -15.950 (Western Sahara)
Western Sahara
Claimed by Morocco and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
23°26′N 12°0′W / 23.433°N 12.000°W / 23.433; -12.000 (Mauritania)
Mauritania
23°26′N 6°23′W / 23.433°N 6.383°W / 23.433; -6.383 (Mali)
Mali
23°26′N 2°23′W / 23.433°N 2.383°W / 23.433; -2.383 (Algeria)
Algeria
[show]Map all coordinates using OSM
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Place data as RDF
Climate[edit]
Relationship between Earth's axial tilt (ε) to the tropical and polar circles
Excluding cooler highland regions in China, the climate at the Tropic of Cancer is generally hot and dry except for easterly coastal areas where orographic rainfall can be very heavy, in some places reaching 4 metres (160 in). Most regions on the Tropic of Cancer experience two distinct seasons: an extremely hot summer with temperatures often reaching 45 °C (113 °F) and a warm winter with maxima around 22 °C (72 °F). Much land on or near the Tropic of Cancer is part of the Sahara Desert, whilst to the east the climate is torrid monsoonal with a short wet season from June to September and very little rainfall for the rest of the year.
The highest mountain on or adjacent to the Tropic of Cancer is Yushan in Taiwan; though it had glaciers descending as low as 2,800 metres (9,190 ft) during the Last Glacial Maximum, none survive and at present no glaciers exist within 470 kilometres (290 mi) of the Tropic of Cancer; the nearest currently surviving are the Minyong and Baishui in the Himalayas to the north and on Iztaccíhuatl to the south.
Circumnavigation[edit]
According to the rules of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, for a flight to compete for a round-the-world speed record, it must cover a distance no less than the length of the Tropic of Cancer, cross all meridians, and end on the same airfield where it started.
Length of the Tropic on 11 December 2015, at 23°26′14″N is 36,788 kilometres (22,859 mi).[3]
For an ordinary circumnavigation the rules are somewhat relaxed and the distance is set to a rounded value of at least 36,770 kilometres (22,850 mi).
Gallery[edit]
Road sign south of Dakhla, Western Sahara marking the Tropic of Cancer. The sign was placed by Budapest-Bamako rally participants; thus, the inscription is in English and Hungarian.
Sign marking the Tropic of Cancer a few miles from Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, India
Sign marking the Tropic of Cancer in Madhya Pradesh, India
Sign marking the Tropic of Cancer on National Highway 34 in Nadia District, West Bengal, India
Tropic of Cancer mark in Ruisui Township, Hualien County, Taiwan
External links[edit]
Look up tropic of cancer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Article on the Tropic of Cancer in Oman
Temporal Epoch Calculations
Useful constants See: Obliquity of the ecliptic
See also[edit]
23rd parallel north
24th parallel north
Tropic of Capricorn
Antarctic Circle
Arctic Circle
Axial tilt
Equator
Milankovitch cycles
Ducking and shaving
References[edit]
Jump up ^ "PHP Science Labs". Retrieved 2014-01-01.
Jump up ^ Montana State University: Milankovitch Cycles & Glaciation Archived August 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
Jump up ^ RhumbSolve online rhumb line calculator.
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V sign
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For the V sign of dermatomyositis, see Shawl sign.
Not to be confused with V (symbol).
Woman showing the V sign at the 2009 Moscow Spring Fest
The V sign is a hand gesture in which the index and middle fingers are raised and parted, while the other fingers are clenched. It has various meanings, depending on the cultural context and how it is presented.
When displayed with the palm inward towards the signer, it has long been an offensive gesture in some Commonwealth nations. In the 1940s, during the Second World War, a campaign by the Western Allies to use the sign with the back of the hand towards the signer (U+270C ✌ Victory hand[1] in Unicode) as a "V for Victory" sign proved quite effective. During the Vietnam War, in the 1960s, the "V sign" was widely adopted by the counterculture as a symbol of peace. Shortly thereafter, it also became adopted as a gesture used in photographs, especially in Japan.
Contents
[hide]
1 Usage
2 As an insult
2.1 Origins
3 Victory sign
3.1 Second World War: V for Victory campaign
3.2 Vietnam War, victory and peace
4 As a photography pose
4.1 Japan
4.2 Other East Asian countries
4.3 Elsewhere
5 Specific uses
6 Footnotes
7 References
8 External links
Usage[edit]
The meaning of the V sign is partially dependent on the manner in which the hand is positioned:
Singer Robbie Williams using a V sign with palm facing himself as an insult to the observer.
If the palm of the hand faces the signer (i.e., the back of the hand faces the observer), the sign signifies:
As an insulting gesture in Australia, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom.[2][3]
The number '2' in American Sign Language.
With the back of the hand facing the signer (palm of the hand facing the observer), it can mean:
The number '2'
Victory – in a setting of wartime or competition. It was first popularised in January 1941 by Victor de Laveleye, a Belgian politician in exile, who suggested it as a symbol of unity in a radio speech and the subsequent "V for Victory" campaign by the BBC.[4] It is sometimes made using both hands with upraised arms as United States President Dwight Eisenhower, and in imitation of him, Richard Nixon, used to do.
American actor Steve McQueen flashing the V sign for a mugshot, after being arrested for drunk driving.
Peace, or friend – used around the world by peace and counter-culture groups; popularized in the American peace movement of the 1960s. The commonality with the symbol's use from the 1940s was it meaning the "end of war".[5]
V (the letter) – used when spelling in American Sign Language.[6]
When used with movement, it can mean:
Air quotes – flexing fingers, palm out, both hands.[7]
This hand shape is also used in a number of signs in many sign languages, including (in American Sign Language) "to look" (with the palm down) or "to see" (palm up). When the pointer and middle fingers are pointed at the signer's eyes then turned and the pointer finger is pointed at someone it means "I am watching you." [8]
The ordinal "second" in American Sign Language has the V-sign palm forward, then the hand turns (yaws) until the palm faces backward.[9]
As an insult[edit]
The use of the V sign ("the forks") as an insulting gesture, including the use of the upwards swing at the elbow.
The insulting version of the gesture (with the palm inwards U+1F594 🖔 Reversed victory hand)[10] is often compared to the offensive gesture known as "the finger". The "two-fingered salute", (also "the forks" in Australia[11]) is commonly performed by flicking the V upwards from wrist or elbow. The V sign, when the palm is facing toward the person giving the sign, has long been an insulting gesture in England,[12] and later in the rest of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, India, Pakistan and New Zealand.[2] It is frequently used to signify defiance (especially to authority), contempt, or derision.[13]
As an example of the V sign (palm inward) as an insult, on November 1, 1990, The Sun, a British tabloid, ran an article on its front page with the headline "Up Yours, Delors" next to a large hand making a V sign protruding from a Union Jack cuff. The Sun urged its readers to stick two fingers up at then President of the European Commission Jacques Delors, who had advocated an EU central government. The article attracted a number of complaints about its alleged racism, but the now defunct Press Council rejected the complaints after the editor of The Sun stated that the paper reserved the right to use vulgar abuse in the interests of Britain.[14][15]
On April 3, 2009, Scottish football players Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor were permanently banned from the Scottish national squad for showing the V sign while sitting on the bench during the game against Iceland. Both players were in their hotel bar drinking alcohol after the Scottish defeat to The Netherlands until around 11 am the next morning, meaning that both of the players breached the SFA discipline code before the incident as well, but the attitude shown by the V sign was considered to be so rude that the SFA decided never to include these players in the national line-up again.[16][17] Ferguson also lost the captaincy of Rangers as a result of the controversy.[18] McGregor's ban was lifted by then SFA manager Craig Levein and he returned to Scotland national squad in 2010.[19][20]
Steve McQueen gives the sign in the closing scene of the 1971 motorsport movie, Le Mans. A still picture of the gesture[21] was recorded by photographer Nigel Snowdon and has become an icon of both McQueen and the film itself. The gesture was also flashed by Spike (played by James Marsters) in "Hush", a Season 4 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The scene was also featured in the series' opening credits for all of Season 5. It was censored by BBC Two only in its early-evening showings of the program.[22][23]
For a time in the UK, "a Harvey (Smith)" became a way of describing the insulting version of the V sign, much as "the word of Cambronne" is used in France, or "the Trudeau salute" is used to describe the one-fingered salute in Canada. This happened because, in 1971, show-jumper Harvey Smith was disqualified for making a televised V sign to the judges after winning the British Show Jumping Derby at Hickstead. His win was reinstated two days later.[24]
Harvey Smith pleaded that he was using a Victory sign, a defence also used by other figures in the public eye.[25] Sometimes foreigners visiting the countries mentioned above use the "two-fingered salute" without knowing it is offensive to the natives, for example when ordering two beers in a noisy pub, or in the case of the United States president George H. W. Bush, who, while touring Australia in 1992, attempted to give a "peace sign" to a group of farmers in Canberra—who were protesting about U.S. farm subsidies—and instead gave the insulting V sign.[26]
Origins[edit]
A commonly repeated legend claims that the two-fingered salute or V sign derives from a gesture made by longbowmen fighting in the English and Welsh[27] archers at the Battle of Agincourt (1415) during the Hundred Years' War, but no historical primary sources support this contention.[28] This origin legend dictates that the English and Welsh archers who were captured by the French had their index and middle fingers cut off so that they could no longer operate their longbows, and that the V Sign was used by uncaptured and victorious archers in a display of defiance against the enemy. Moreover, it was common practice in warfare of that period to summarily execute common soldiers, since they held no ransom value.
There is evidence against this interpretation as the chronicler Jean de Wavrin, contemporary of the battle of Agincourt, reports that the captured archers would have three fingers cut, and not two.[29][30] It is a well known fact as it shows that wielding an English longbow requires three fingers instead of only two as it is the case for modern bows.[31]
The first unambiguous evidence of the use of the insulting V sign in the United Kingdom dates to 1901, when a worker outside Parkgate ironworks in Rotherham used the gesture (captured on the film) to indicate that he did not like being filmed.[32][33] Peter Opie interviewed children in the 1950s and observed in The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren that the much-older thumbing of the nose (cock-a-snook) had been replaced by the V sign as the most common insulting gesture used in the playground.[32]
Between 1975 and 1977 a group of anthropologists including Desmond Morris studied the history and spread of European gestures and found the rude version of the V-sign to be basically unknown outside the British Isles. In his Gestures: Their Origins and Distribution, published in 1979, Morris discussed various possible origins of this sign but came to no definite conclusion:
because of the strong taboo associated with the gesture (its public use has often been heavily penalised). As a result, there is a tendency to shy away from discussing it in detail. It is "known to be dirty" and is passed on from generation to generation by people who simply accept it as a recognised obscenity without bothering to analyse it... Several of the rival claims are equally appealing. The truth is that we will probably never know...[32]
Victory sign[edit]
Second World War: V for Victory campaign[edit]
Winston Churchill, British prime minister, giving a V sign in 1943
On 14 January 1941, Victor de Laveleye, former Belgian Minister of Justice and director of the Belgian French-speaking broadcasts on the BBC (1940–44), suggested in a broadcast that Belgians use a V for victoire (French: “victory”) and vrijheid (Dutch: "freedom") as a rallying emblem during the Second World War. In the BBC broadcast, de Laveleye said that "the occupier, by seeing this sign, always the same, infinitely repeated, [would] understand that he is surrounded, encircled by an immense crowd of citizens eagerly awaiting his first moment of weakness, watching for his first failure." Within weeks chalked up Vs began appearing on walls throughout Belgium, the Netherlands and Northern France.[34]
Buoyed by this success, the BBC started the "V for Victory" campaign, for which they put in charge the assistant news editor Douglas Ritchie posing as “Colonel Britton”. Ritchie suggested an audible V using its Morse code rhythm (three dots and a dash). As the rousing opening bars of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony had the same rhythm, the BBC used this as its call-sign in its foreign language programmes to occupied Europe for the rest of the war. The more musically educated also understood that it was the Fate motif "knocking on the door" of the Third Reich. ( Listen to this call-sign. (help·info)).[34][35] The BBC also encouraged the use of the V gesture introduced by de Laveleye.[36]
By July 1941, the emblematic use of the letter V had spread through occupied Europe. On 19 July, Prime Minister Winston Churchill referred approvingly to the V for Victory campaign in a speech,[37] from which point he started using the V hand sign. Early on he sometimes gestured palm in (sometimes with a cigar between the fingers).[38] Later in the war, he used palm out.[39] After aides explained to the aristocratic Churchill what the palm in gesture meant to other classes, he made sure to use the appropriate sign.[25][40] Yet the double-entendre of the gesture might have contributed to its popularity, "for a simple twist of hand would have presented the dorsal side in a mocking snub to the common enemy".[41] Other allied leaders used the sign as well; since 1942, Charles de Gaulle used the V sign in every speech until 1969.[citation needed]
The Germans could not remove all the signs, so adopted the V Sign as a German symbol, sometimes adding laurel leaves under it, painting their own V's on walls, vehicles and adding a massive V on the Eiffel Tower.
In 1942, Aleister Crowley, a British occultist, claimed to have invented the usage of a V-sign in February 1941 as a magical foil to the Nazis' use of the Swastika. He maintained that he passed this to friends at the BBC, and to the British Naval Intelligence Division through his connections in MI5, eventually gaining the approval of Winston Churchill. Crowley noted that his 1913 publication Magick featured a V-sign and a swastika on the same plate.[42]
Resistance graffiti on a Norwegian road, depicting the V-sign together with the initials of King Haakon VII.
A German V-sign and slogan on the Palais Bourbon in occupied Paris. The banner beneath the "V" reads "Germany is Victorious on All Fronts".
The V-sign (and its morse code equivalent) incorporated on an American propaganda poster for the War Production Board, 1942 or 1943.
Vietnam War, victory and peace[edit]
Nixon departing the White House on 9 August 1974
U.S. President Richard Nixon used the gesture to signal victory in the Vietnam War, an act which became one of his best-known trademarks. He also used it on his departure from public office following his resignation in 1974.
Protesters against the Vietnam War (and subsequent anti-war protests) and counterculture activists adopted the gesture as a sign of peace. Because the hippies of the day often flashed this sign (palm out) while saying "Peace", it became popularly known (through association) as the peace sign.[43]
As a photography pose[edit]
Japan[edit]
Young Japanese women giving V gesture in Tokyo (2006)
The V sign, primarily palm-outwards, is very commonly made by Japanese people, especially younger people, when posing for informal photographs, and is known as pīsu sain (ピースサイン, peace sign), or more commonly simply pīsu (ピース, peace). As the name reflects, this dates to the Vietnam War era and anti-war activists, though the precise origin is disputed. The V sign was known in Japan from the post-World War II Allied occupation of Japan, but did not acquire the use in photographs until later.
In Japan, it is generally believed to have been influenced by Beheiren's anti-Vietnam War activists in the late 1960s and Konica's advertisement in 1971.[44][45] A more colorful account of this practice claims it was influenced by the American figure skater Janet Lynn during the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Hokkaidō. She fell during a free-skate period, but continued to smile even as she sat on the ice. Though she placed third in the competition, her cheerful diligence and persistence resonated with many Japanese viewers. Lynn became an overnight foreign celebrity in Japan. A peace activist, Lynn frequently flashed the V sign when she was covered in Japanese media, and she is credited by some Japanese for having popularized its use since the 1970s in amateur photographs.[43]
Because of its popularity in Japan, it exists as an Emoji and is in Unicode, as the sequence U+270C, or ✌.
Other East Asian countries[edit]
In Mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan, the V sign is a popular pose in photographs. It is used in both casual and formal settings. For the most part in these countries, the gesture is divorced from its previous meanings as a peace sign or as an insult; for most the meaning of the sign is "victory" or "yeah", implying a feeling of happiness. It is used in both directions (palm facing the signer and palm facing forward). In certain contexts the sign simply means "two", such as when ordering or boarding a bus.
The pose is gaining significant popularity in South Korea due to the common usage amongst Kpop idols and young people – especially in selfies. V signing is commonly linked with aegyo, a popular trend in Korea meaning 'acting cutely'.
Elsewhere[edit]
An investigator flashes V-for-victory signs upon the 2006 arrival of material gathered by the Stardust spacecraft at the Johnson Space Center in Texas.
In the United States, the usage of the V sign as a photography gesture is known but not widely used. The original poster for the 2003 film What a Girl Wants showed star Amanda Bynes giving a V sign as an American girl visiting London. In the US, the poster was altered to instead show Bynes with both arms down, to avoid giving the perception that the film was criticizing the then-recently commenced Iraq War.[46]
Specific uses[edit]
In Argentina, the V sign, besides "victory", is linked to a political movement, Peronism.
In South Africa after the Nationalist Party won the 1948 election with less voters than the opposition, V's appeared as graffiti representing the word "Volkswil" (will of the people) and questioning thus the results.
University of Southern California and Villanova University students, alumni, and fans "throw their Vs up" in tradition and as a sign of pride of their university and athletic teams. The V sign in this form frequently accompanies the motto "Fight on!" at USC.
V sign, especially when printed in green, is a sign of the Iranian Green Movement.
After the first elections in Iraq after the U.S. Invasion, a well known photo was circulated of a woman showing the V sign with one of her fingers dipped in purple ink. The ink is used to identify individuals who have already voted.
In Poland during the Solidarity movement, protesters showed the V sign meaning they would defeat Communism.[47] After partially free elections, when Tadeusz Mazowiecki was chosen as prime minister (August 24, 1989), he went to the MPs with the V sign, which was transmitted on TV.[48] It is sometimes shown during debates about the fall of Communism.
In Romania the sign represents victory and has been used as an extension of the Roman salute to announce that victory has been achieved. It was used heavily during the Romanian revolution after the ousting of Nicolae Ceaușescu. Mircea Dinescu is appearing in the first transmission of the Romanian Television after the revolutionaries occupied it shouting "We won!" and flashing the victory sign.
During the Yugoslav Wars, Croatian and Bosnian troops and paramilitary militia used the sign as a greeting or an informal salute. U.S. and NATO peacekeepers stationed in Bosnia were forbidden to use the V-sign (peace symbol) to avoid upsetting or offending Serbs they might encounter.[49]
In Vietnam, the V sign means "hello" since the Vietnamese word for the number "2" sounds like the English pronunciation of the greeting "hi".
Ringo Starr of the Beatles uses the V sign extensively while quoting the phrase "Peace and Love" as a sort of catchphrase.
A variation is to put the V sign with the fingers on either side of the mouth (usually with the knuckles facing the observer) and to stick the tongue out. Most of the time the tongue is wriggled around. This is used to signify cunnilingus and the gesture is often off-colour.
A partially obscured V sign can be added to someone else's head to produce devil's horns or "bunny ears" for an amusing photo. In September 2013, Manu Tuilagi apologised to Prime Minister David Cameron after making a "bunny ears" sign behind his head in a photo taken during a visit by the British and Irish Lions squad to Downing Street.[50]
In Indonesia, candidate of presidential election Joko Widodo use that sign for political campaign. The sign called "Salam Dua Jari".[citation needed]
In Belgium, the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) political party uses it as a rallying gesture. During the taking the oath of the actual Belgian federal government, three N-VA ministers used the V sign instead of the formal three-fingers sign.[51]
Lech Wałęsa and George H. W. Bush, July 1989
Singer Rihanna using the V sign, 2011.
2009 Iranian election protests
Footnotes[edit]
Jump up ^ "Victory Hand". emojipedia.org Emojipedia.org.
^ Jump up to: a b V sign as an insult:
UK: Staff. No ban for speeding V-sign biker BBC 14 March 2008
UK: Staff. Two fingers Prescott BBC, 22 May 2001
IE: Staff. Shambolic Irish give two fingers to the past Irish Independent
AU: Keim, Tony (18 November 2008). "Long tradition of flipping the bird". Courier Mail. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
AU: Karl S. Kruszelnicki. Arrow Up Yours & Plague 1 www.abc.net.au. Accessed 23 April 2008
NZ: Glyn Harper Just the Answer Alumni Magazine [Massey University] November 2002.
Jump up ^ Eric Patridge, Tom Dalzell, Terry Victor. (2008.) The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, Routledge, p. 683. ISBN 0-203-96211-7
Jump up ^ "20th July 1941: 'V for Victory' widespread across Europe". ww2today.com.
Jump up ^ Zelinsky, Nathaniel (18 March 2011). "From Churchill to Libya: How the V symbol went viral". Washington Post. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
Jump up ^ Staff. American Manual Alphabet Chart Center for Disability Information & Referral (CeDIR), Indiana Institute on Disability and Community at Indiana University
Jump up ^ Gary Martin. "Air quotes". phrases.org.uk.
Jump up ^ ""see" American Sign Language (ASL)". lifeprint.com.
Jump up ^ ""numbers" ASL American Sign Language". lifeprint.com.
Jump up ^ "The Unicode Standard, Version 8.0, range 2700–27BF" (PDF). unicode.org.
Jump up ^ Tony Keim "Long tradition of flipping the bird", Courier Mail, November 18, 2008, accessed April 14, 2011.
Jump up ^ Staff Henry V, British Shakespeare Company.Accessed 23 April 2008
Jump up ^ Defiance, contempt or derision:
Staff, V-sign, encyclopedia.com cites The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English 2008 "Brit. a similar sign made with the first two fingers pointing up and the back of the hand facing outward, used as a gesture of abuse or contempt." Accessed 9 May 2008.
Staff. Hooligan grandson of legend, Daily Mirror, 20 December 2007
Staff. V-sign led to assault on school bus teens The Press (York), 1 March 2008
Jump up ^ "Up Yours Delors". The Sun. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
Jump up ^ Wheeler, Brian (2005-06-24). "BBC NEWS | Politics | From two jags to two fingers". Newswww.bbc.net.uk. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
Jump up ^ "Finished: Furious Walter tells disgraced pair their Rangers days are over". Daily Mail. London. 3 April 2009.
Jump up ^ Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor banned for life by Scotland, The Guardian, Friday 3 April 2009
Jump up ^ "Gers strip Ferguson of captaincy". BBC News. 1 January 2007. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
Jump up ^ "Allen McGregor recalled to Scotland squad to face Sweden". The Daily Mail. August 2, 2010. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
Jump up ^ "Sweden 3-0 Scotland". BBC. August 11, 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
Jump up ^ http://stvmcqueen.tripod.com/salute.jpg
Jump up ^ Radar: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 4 – TV Tropes
Jump up ^ Still photograph of the gesture in the Season 5 opening credits of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Jump up ^ Staff On this Day 15 August 1971: 'V-sign' costs rider victory "BBC The infamous gesture won him an entry in the Chambers dictionary which defined 'a Harvey Smith' as 'a V-sign with the palm inwards, signifying derision and contempt'". Accessed 23 April 2008
^ Jump up to: a b Staff. The V sign, www.icons.org.uk. Accessed 23 April 2008
Jump up ^ Webster Griffin Tarpley and Anton Chaitkin (2004). George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography, Progressive Press paperback edition (2004), p. 651(web link to Chapter -XXV- Thyroid Storm). Tarpley & Chaitkin cite the Washington Post, 3 January 1992.
Jump up ^ "The Hundred Years War: Battle of Agincourt". britishbattles.com.
Jump up ^ David Wilton, Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends, Oxford University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-19-537557-2.
Jump up ^ "Two fingers up to English history…". The BS Historian. 2007-07-02. Retrieved 2017-05-21.
Jump up ^ Wavrin, Jean de (1400?-1474?). A collection of the chronicles and ancient histories of Great Britain, now called England. 2. From A. D. 1399 to A. D. 1422 / by John de Wavrin, lord of Forestel ; transl. by William Hardy,... and Edward L. C. P. Hardy,.. London: Longman. p. 203.
Jump up ^ "Traditional English Draw". www.primitivearcher.com. Retrieved 2017-05-21.
^ Jump up to: a b c Staff. The V sign, www.icons.org.uk web.archive.org
Jump up ^ "Parkgate Iron and Steel Co., Rotherham (1901)". YouTube. British Film Institute. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
^ Jump up to: a b The V-campaign, Virtual Radiomuseum
Jump up ^ C. Sterling, 2003, Encyclopedia of Radio London: Taylor and Francis, page 359. at Google Books
Jump up ^ "The V sign at BBC's H2G2 website". Bbc.co.uk. 1990-11-01. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
Jump up ^ "Newswatch 1940s". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
Jump up ^ "Churchill outside Downing Street". Number-10.gov.uk. Archived from the original on December 2, 2007. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
Jump up ^ "Churchill's famous victory sign". Number-10.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 2007-06-13. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
Jump up ^ Staff. "The V Sign". The British Postal Museum & Archive (BPMA).
Jump up ^ James Jerman, Anthony Weir, Images of Lust: Sexual Carvings on Medieval Churches London: Routledge, 2013, page 145.
Jump up ^ Kaczynski, Richard. Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley. North Atlantic Books, 2010, p. 511.
^ Jump up to: a b Staff. The Japanese Version (the Sign of Peace) ICONS. A portrait of England. Accessed 1 June 2008
Jump up ^ "雑誌に載ったわたし。". 日刊「きのこ」　skipのブログ.
Jump up ^ 1971's buzzwords
Jump up ^ Ascher-Walsh, Rebecca (Apr 11, 2003). "Sign of the Times". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
Jump up ^ Francisco, Ronald (2010). Collective Action Theory and Empirical Evidence (1 ed.). Springer. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-4419-1475-0. Subtle gestures, noise, and artwork are additional symbolic signs that dissidents use in coercive countries. Poland's Solidarity's signal was two fingers held up in the form of the letter V. This gesture diffused widely in Eastern Europe and now it is used in Palestine as a symbol of unity and nationalism.
Jump up ^ "End to 45 years of Red rule". New Straits Times. 1989-09-13. Retrieved 2012-01-29. Tadeusz Mazowlecki, who nearly fainted during his opening speech, flashed a V-for-victory sign as deputies voted his Cabinet into office by 402–0 with 13 abstentions.
Jump up ^ "A Soldier's Guide: Bosnia-Herzegovina". Dtic.mil. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
Jump up ^ "Manu Tuilagi forced to apologise for playing prank on Prime Minister David Cameron in No 10 visit". Daily Telegraph. 17 September 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
Jump up ^ "Prestation de serment: trois N-VA font le 'V', signe de la victoire et de ralliement de leur parti (vidéo)". RTL Newmedia.
References[edit]
Desmond Morris with Peter Collett, Peter Marsh and Marie O'Shaughnessy. Gestures: Their Origins and Distribution. London: Jonathan Cape, 1979. ISBN 0-224-01570-2; NY: Stein and Day, ISBN 0-8128-2607-8
Armstrong, Nancy; Wagner, Melissa (2003). "The 'V'". Field Guide to Gestures: How to Identify and Interpret Virtually Every Gesture Known to Man. Philadelphia: Quirk Books. pp. 227–30. ISBN 978-1-931686-20-4.
Lefevre, Romana (2011). "V". Rude Hand Gestures of the World: A Guide to Offending Without Words. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. pp. 122–3. ISBN 978-0-8118-7807-4.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to V-sign.
Photos of the V sign:
Churchill Outside no. 10
Churchill Victory Sign
Nixon departing office
Paavo Väyrynen after Finnish Centre party named him foreign trade and development minister
Need4Peace
The V sign in the news:
Guardian 6 June 2002: In pictures the V sign
Sky News 18 June 2004: OAP fined £100 for V sign
BBC 3 April 2009: Scottish footballers dropped for V sign
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