编者按：手掌朝前的 “ V ” 形手势，在美国文化中有三种截然不同的意义。

The palm-forward “ V ” sign, formed by raising and spreading the first two fingers, has had three distinct connotations in American culture. The oldest and least common is obscene . As a variant of the European “ cuckold ” or “ horns ” gesture , the “ V ” sign is a double phallic insult, meaning “ Your wife has been cheating on you ” or, when placed surreptitiously behind another's head , “ His wife has been cheating on him . ” American children who jokingly “ put horns ” behind friends ' heads in group snapshots are unknowingly reproducing something that southern Europeans would find highly offensive. ( Russian children practice the same mischief , giving what they call “ horns of the Devil . ” )The second meaning of the “ V ” sign was invented in 1941 by Belgian propagandist Victor De Lavalaye. Wanting a symbol for resistance to the Nazi occupation, he came up with the single letter “ V ” , which stood not only for his own first name, but also for English victory, Flemish vrijheid, and French victoire. The symbolism caught on rapidly and was immortalized by Winston Churchill , who used it constantly in public appearances. Thus throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the gesture meant simply “ victory . ”

The most recent transformation came in the 1960s , when American antiwar protesters , sensitive to the military implication, used the sign sarcastically against the army, so that it became known as the “ peace sign. ” In the 1970s , when the Vietnam War and hippiedom both wound down , the demilitarized[5]“ V ” was a common greeting among Free Love faddists, acid heads , political radicals , and ultimately , young people in general. By about the middle of the 1970s, it had become assimilated into the mainstream, so that it ceased to give clues to the user's philosophy.

In the United States , the gesture is typically given with the palm facing the viewer. The British　use both this version and an older, palm-back version ; the later is obscene and corresponds to the American “ finger ”. Churchill got some unexpected stares in 1941 when, evidently unaware of the vulgar usage, he gave the palm-back “ V ” to British troops, saying ,in effect, “ Fuck you . ” In England today you would have to be a social hermit not to understand the distinction. Or maybe just a member of the insular ruling class. Astonishingly , Margaret Thatcher repeated Churchill's error after her victory in the 1979 elections.

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