A reader narrows it down: “Mr. D.—I vaguely remember seeing Clinton,
early on, doing the ‘perp thumb’ but with the thump protruding from between
the index and and middle fingers when he was annoyed or worked up about
something. It seemed even more obviously a deportment coach’s way of
subduing an angry, aggressive pointing gesture.”
I recall reading some years ago that hand gestures are highly
culture-specific, so that what is a cheery greeting in Albuquerque will get
you killed in Addis Ababa. If this is right, there must be some culture
somewhere in which all this thumb display is grossly insulting. (If the
thumb is tucked between first and second finger, in fact, you are not far
from a south-European gesture signifying “go pleasure yourself.”) If there
is indeed such a culture, could we hear from it please? Where are the
multiculturalists when you need them?