[not translation] Gestures of homage received
Edward Lipsett
I was asked about this at lunch, and couldn't answer. Anyone help?
A person is praised, and in jest that person (in my case,at least), lifts
his right first near his mouth, blows on the knuckles (or maybe fingernails;
I don't actually know...), and then buffs them on his collar to mean "Gee,
ain't I wonderful."
What, exactly, is that gesture supposed to represent, and where did it come
from?
--
Edward Lipsett
Intercom, Ltd.
Fukuoka, Japan
Tel: 092-712-9120
Fax: 092-712-9220
trans...@intercomltd.com
http://www.intercomltd.com
Lawrence Rogers
Larry Rogers
Hilo
Edward Lipsett
> It indicates that you think so well of yourself that you even buff your nails
I thought that might be it... OK, so can you explain why buffing your nail
indicates you think highly of yourself?
Only "upper crust" non-working class people did so, maybe?
Julian Wayne
what would otherwise be a masterwork of perfection, like the way
somebody might spend ages polishing the bonnet of a Rolls-Royce.
Julian Wayne
James Sparks
> A person is praised, and in jest that person (in my case,at least), lifts
> his right first near his mouth, blows on the knuckles (or maybe fingernails;
> I don't actually know...), and then buffs them on his collar to mean "Gee,
> ain't I wonderful."
Here is my completely unsubstantiated take on the origin.
In the old days in England and other European countries, nobility, and
gentlemen aspiring to that rank, never ever did manual labor. To do so
would have been beneath them. Such men were therefore free to take a
degree of interest in their personal grooming that was impossible for
the average man, and this grooming was another factor that set them
apart from the lower classes. Neatly clipping and even buffing one's
fingernails back then was limited to such upper-class men (women being a
separate category here), and I can imagine a foppish gentleman sniffing
dismissively and buffing his nails when asked if he might help push a
stuck carriage from the mud. "I am certainly too good for THAT sort of
thing" was the unspoken message.
And that is exactly the exaggerated image that I think we try to
convey, consciously or not, when we perform this gesture. Of course, we
do this jokingly today, but I feel certain that the origin was more serious.
I have no proof whatsoever for this, so please don't request any. <g>
James Sparks
Alan Siegrist
> A person is praised, and in jest that person (in my case, at least), lifts
> his right first near his mouth, blows on the knuckles (or maybe
> fingernails; I don't actually know...), and then buffs them on his collar
> to mean "Gee, ain't I wonderful."
>
> What, exactly, is that gesture supposed to represent, and where did it
> come from?
I have no idea where the gesture came from, but it seems to imply that
accomplishing such a seemingly arduous or complicated task was "nothing at
all" to the person being praised, and thus the only thing necessary to
restore his visage to his former pristine state is a light buffing of the
nails.
Other mere mortals might need an incredible amount of recovery time and
effort after their exertions, but not our hero.
I seem to recall some cartoon character making this gesture. Who was that?
Best,
Alan Siegrist
Orinda, CA, USA
AlanFS...@Comcast.net
Daniel Day
Daniel Day
Corbett, Oregon, USA
Mika Jz
gesture of drawing attention to the beautiful, expensive collar. As I
understand, lace used to be more expensive than gold by its weight.
http://www.answers.com/topic/1600-1650-in-fashion
Mika Jarmusz
Salem, Oregon USA
James Sparks
> I am wondering aloud if it's not so much buffing of the nails, but the
> gesture of drawing attention to the beautiful, expensive collar.
No, it's definitely a buffing action, always preceded by blowing on the
nails to steam them, as you would do to clean your sunglasses.
Also, I realized upon reading my last post that it might have sounded
like I was describing the current meaning of this gesture as being one
of thinking oneself too good for a job, but I was only trying to
describe what I believe the origin to be, not the current meaning of the
gesture, which, as Edward says, now means "Hey, I really am great,
aren't I?," in a joking way.
For non-nessies, this gesture is most often used when someone receives
a compliment. For example, if a person expresses astonishment that you
painted a picture hanging on your wall, you might give a satisfied
smile, gaze at and blow on your nails (with the fingers folded to the
palm), and buff the nails on your chest (not the collar). Puffing out
your chest and raising your eyebrows might also go along with this. The
implication is "Oh, didn't you know that I was an accomplished
painter?," but in a joking manner that is not at all conceited.
James Sparks
Alan Siegrist
> I am wondering aloud if it's not so much buffing of the nails, but the
> gesture of drawing attention to the beautiful, expensive collar.
Yes, the gesture gives the user something of a princely demeanor and the
traditional position of the buffing action is not exactly high on the collar
but more on the upper chest, which certainly could be covered by a large,
elaborate collar. Perhaps the material for the collar could be a stately
ermine which would give a nice buff to the nails.
With regards and salutations,
Alan Siegrist, Esq.
Orinda, CA, USA
AlanFS...@Comcast.net
Mika Jz
> No, it's definitely a buffing action, always preceded
> by blowing on the
> nails to steam them, as you would do to clean your sunglasses.
I realign my previous post; I shouldn't have ruled out the buffing of
the nails so soon.
As a finder-keeper of a Victorian-era Irish crochet collar at a garage
sale for .25 cents, which I treasure immensely, I would definitely blow
off my dusty fingers if I am about to touch it. <g>
> For non-nessies, this gesture is most often used when
> someone receives
> a compliment. For example, if a person expresses
> astonishment that you
<snip>
> implication is "Oh, didn't you know that I was an accomplished
> painter?," but in a joking manner that is not at all conceited.
Actually, this non-nessie hasn't encountered the actual gesture in
person, so the notion was rather vague in my mind.
Thanks for the clarification. : )
Mika Jz
M
Peter Tuffley
On 5/04/2007, at 5:22 AM, Mika Jz wrote:
>
> I am wondering aloud if it's not so much buffing of the nails, but the
> gesture of drawing attention to the beautiful, expensive collar.
Ever since I was a kid my understanding was that it was the gesture
of polishing medals on one's chest.
FWIW Peter
Alan Siegrist
> Ever since I was a kid my understanding was that it was the gesture
> of polishing medals on one's chest.
Fascinating. But if one is polishing medals, why would one blow on one's
fingers first? Do you include that part of the gesture?
Regards,
Steve Venti
>> Ever since I was a kid my understanding was that it was the gesture
>> of polishing medals on one's chest.
Same here.
Alan Siegrist wrote:
> Fascinating. But if one is polishing medals, why would one blow on one's
> fingers first? Do you include that part of the gesture?
Have you never spit shined a pair of shoes? It's not your "hand" you
are blowing on (spitting into), it's a "polishing cloth."
--
Steve Venti
The source of all unhappiness is other people.
--Wally
Anthony Bryant
On Apr 4, 2007, at 6:09 PM, Alan Siegrist wrote:
>
> Peter Tuffley writes:
>
>> Ever since I was a kid my understanding was that it was the gesture
>> of polishing medals on one's chest.
>
> Fascinating. But if one is polishing medals, why would one blow on
> one's
> fingers first? Do you include that part of the gesture?
And why is either hand appropriate, when medals are on the left side?
As I think on this, I always use my right hand, so nothing but the
nails get polished.
Secondarily, how can you polish medals with your NAILS?
To me, it's always been a "buffing up my manicure" move.
Tony
Edward Lipsett
Thanks to everyone, I now have an absolute pile of possibilities to bury my
questioner in. Like me, nobody seems to have any particular insight, but I
am quite delighted at the wide range of answers!
I find that intriguing, and refreshing, especially after years of "That word
means this and only this" comments on the list.
Steve Venti
> Like me, nobody seems to have any particular insight, but I
> am quite delighted at the wide range of answers!
You mean, you didn't find my response authoritative? Well, I never . . . !
Alan Siegrist
some sort of wild, way wongo role playing game (RPG):
| /nails ... /nails self: You blow your nails and buff them on your clothes.
This sounds just like the familiar gesture Edward was describing, so at
least the game developers thought the gesture was buffing nails and not
polishing medals.
Maybe someone could get that game to work and see if that is the gesture we
are talking about.
Alan Siegrist
> | /nails ... /nails self: You blow your nails and buff them on your
> clothes.
Oops. Forgot the URL:
http://swg.allakhazam.com/db/clist.html
Mika Jz
> You mean, you didn't find my response authoritative? Well, I
> never . . . !
Why, as a non-nessie who came up with the most far-fetched, I must open
my mouth once more to say that the combination of the medals and the
polishing cloth sounds JUST right. Not only would I not want to blow
off my fingers, oh dear, I wouldn't even try polishing my nails on my
precious lace collar, now that we found medals to shine brilliantly on
the chest.
Nora Stevens Heath
> Why, as a non-nessie who came up with the most far-fetched, I must open
> my mouth once more to say that the combination of the medals and the
> polishing cloth sounds JUST right. Not only would I not want to blow
> off my fingers, oh dear, I wouldn't even try polishing my nails on my
> precious lace collar, now that we found medals to shine brilliantly on
> the chest.
I'm afraid I'm another in the not-medals-only-nails camp, as are my NES
parents. (My N-NZ-ES husband wasn't familiar with the gesture.) James
Sparks hit the (highly buffed) nail on the head:
> For non-nessies, this gesture is most often used when someone receives
> a compliment. For example, if a person expresses astonishment that you
> painted a picture hanging on your wall, you might give a satisfied
> smile, gaze at and blow on your nails (with the fingers folded to the
> palm), and buff the nails on your chest (not the collar). Puffing out
> your chest and raising your eyebrows might also go along with this.
> The implication is "Oh, didn't you know that I was an accomplished
> painter?," but in a joking manner that is not at all conceited.
I'd go so far as to say the eyebrows are a big part of the gesture. When
I illustrated it for my family at dinner this evening, I found myself
both raising my eyebrows and examining my buffed nails in a rather
supercilious manner.
As for Alan's RPG find:
> | /nails ... /nails self: You blow your nails and buff them on your clothes.
>
> Maybe someone could get that game to work and see if that is the
> gesture we are talking about.
I think this is a text-based RPG, so the result of the command "/nails"
would be the on-screen display of the text shown here: "You blow your
nails..." Not illustrative for our purposes--not *visually*, anyway.
Nora
--
Nora Stevens Heath <no...@fumizuki.com>
J-E translations: http://www.fumizuki.com/
Nora Stevens Heath
bunch of examples culled from the Web. I'd like to track down a video
clip of this gesture in the wild, so to speak, but that might be harder
to do.
o He did say I wrote them particularly well (buff nails on lapel)...
o Mood: buff nails on lapel
o "Hey tiger," says Jokr, polishing his fingernails on his lapel, "I
think that Red Otto has the hots for you."
o I buff my fingernails on my chest nonchalantly.
o I can get pretty cheap laptops at work (*buff fingernails on lapel*)...
o "...Everyone he ever brainwashed has a special notation in their file."
She pretended to buff her nails on an imaginary lapel. "And I wasn't
among them."
o Let's be careful, I think I can hear him holding his hand to his
mouth, fogging his fingernails with a wry smile and polishing them on
his spotless lapel.
o "Turn off the oven cause you guys are done!" he announced, polishing
fingernails on the overcoat's lapel.
o ...I've been practicing on my favourite Orisinal game of the moment,
Summer Walk, to the extent that I'm today's top scorer by some way as
you can see left. (Breathes on fingernails and polishes them on lapel.)
o Al buffed his fingernails on his lapel. "We're pals, Sam."
o (blow on fingernails, wipe on blouse)
o Oh yea...I'm THAT good...(as I blow on my nails and smugly polish
them on my shirt).
These should give non-NES and others unfamiliar with the gesture a sense
of what it conveys and how it's used.
Mullins Douglas
> Thanks to everyone, I now have an absolute pile of possibilities to
> bury my
> questioner in. Like me, nobody seems to have any particular insight,
> but I
> am quite delighted at the wide range of answers!
> I find that intriguing, and refreshing, especially after years of
> "That word
> means this and only this" comments on the list.
No idea about the buffing and brushing of the nails but isn't patting
oneself on one's own shoulder a similar way of accepting homage and
perhaps yet another 'answer'? From my own New York upbringing that was
acceptable as a means of brushing off thanks or praise by treating
things as a joke.
I think it might also be interesting to hear what any Aussie members
might have to say since there seem to be significant differences
between Australia and the Untied States.
Douglas Mullins
P.S.
For a short time several years ago, I found it difficult to type 'i-t'
because of a sticky 'i' key which caused me to reflexively try to add
the missing 'i'. The result was amusing.
Mari Hodges
prison and takes off her (can't remember her name!) gloves and notices that
her hands are rough. That's how he realizes she's come for money, because
she's obviously doing manual labor herself.
Mari Hodges
Marceline Therrien
for Nonverbal Studies in Spokane, Washington:
Hi, Marceline--Thanks for your e-mail. Yes, it's called the Fingernails
Polish, is widespread in Europe and the Americas, and means, "That was
clever of me!" It's an act of self-congratulation, performed in jest, when
one has scored a point in an argument, or some other minor social triumph.
It's a stylized self-grooming action that says "see how smart I am." The
well-groomed smartness symbolizes the mental smartness in the argument.
Some liken the gesture to polishing a badge. I hope this helps, and thanks
again!