Two-fingers salute
Encyclopedia
- For the obscene hand gesture colloquially known as the "two-fingered salute" see V sign as an insult
The two-finger salute is a salute
Salute
A salute is a gesture or other action used to display respect. Salutes are primarily associated with armed forces, but other organizations and civil people also use salutes.-Military salutes:...
given using only the middle and index fingers, while bending the other fingers at the second knuckle, and with the palm facing the signer. This salute is used by Polish military
Polish Armed Forces
Siły Zbrojne Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej are the national defense forces of Poland...
and uniformed services and by Cub Scout
Cub Scout
A Cub Scout is a member of the section of the worldwide Scouting movement for young persons, mainly boys normally aged about 7 to 11. In some countries they are known by their original name of Wolf Cubs and are often referred to simply as Cubs. The movement is often referred to simply as Cubbing...
s.
Two-finger salute in Poland
Rogatywka
Rogatywka is the Polish generic name for an asymmetrical, peaked, four-pointed cap used by various Polish military formations throughout the ages. It is a distant relative of its 18th century predecessor, konfederatka , although similar caps has been used by light cavalry since 14th century...
. The salute is performed with the middle and index fingers extended and touching each other, while the ring and little fingers are bent and touched by the thumb http://www.nato.int/pictures/women2004/b040922n.jpg. The tips of the middle and index fingers touch the peak of the cap, two fingers meaning honour and fatherland (Honor i Ojczyzna).
It is not clear when the two-fingers salute appeared in Polish military forces. Some see its origin in Tadeusz Kościuszko
Tadeusz Kosciuszko
Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko was a Polish–Lithuanian and American general and military leader during the Kościuszko Uprising. He is a national hero of Poland, Lithuania, the United States and Belarus...
's 1794 oath. Others state that it came from the Russian army around 1815. At that time, apparently the Tsar's Viceroy in Poland
Congress Poland
The Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...
Grand Duke Constantine
Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia
Constantine Pavlovich was a grand duke of Russia and the second son of Emperor Paul I. He was the Tsesarevich of Russia throughout the reign of his elder brother Alexander I, but had secretly renounced his claim to the throne in 1823...
said that Poles salute him with two fingers, while using the other two to hold a stone to throw at him. Another legend attributes the salute to the remembrance of Battle of Olszynka Grochowska
Battle of Olszynka Grochowska
Battle of Olszynka Grochowska was the largest battle of the November Uprising and biggest friction in Europe since the battle of Waterloo. It was fought between the armies of Poland and Russia on February 25 in the woods near Grochów, at the eastern outskirts of Warsaw.- Before the battle :The...
in 1831, when a soldier who lost two fingers in the battle saluted his superior with a wounded hand.
The two-fingers salute caused problems for Polish units serving with the Allies on the western front during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Allied officers, seeing what they perceived as a Cub Scout
Cub Scout
A Cub Scout is a member of the section of the worldwide Scouting movement for young persons, mainly boys normally aged about 7 to 11. In some countries they are known by their original name of Wolf Cubs and are often referred to simply as Cubs. The movement is often referred to simply as Cubbing...
's salute, thought that Polish soldiers either were deliberately being disrespectful, or were intoxicated
Drunkenness
Alcohol intoxication is a physiological state that occurs when a person has a high level of ethanol in his or her blood....
. As a result many soldiers were arrest
Arrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
ed, until the misunderstanding could be explained. This led to the temporary use of the full hand salute when saluting foreign officers.
Cub Scouting
Many Cub ScoutCub Scout
A Cub Scout is a member of the section of the worldwide Scouting movement for young persons, mainly boys normally aged about 7 to 11. In some countries they are known by their original name of Wolf Cubs and are often referred to simply as Cubs. The movement is often referred to simply as Cubbing...
sections also use a two-finger salute.