Misplaced Pages

A taunt is a battle cry, sarcastic remark, gesture, or insult intended to demoralize or antagonize the recipient. Taunting can exist as a form of social competition to gain control of the target's cultural capital (i.e., status). In sociological theory, the control of the three social capitals is used to produce an advantage in the social hierarchy, to enforce one's position in relation to others. This can also be used as a tactic to gain advantage of their opponent's irrational reaction. Taunting is committed by either directly or indirectly encouraging others to taunt the target. The target may give a response in kind to maintain status, as in fighting words and trash-talk.

Taunts are also a genre of folklore according to "The Poetic Rites of Conversation," by John H. McDowell, published in the Journal of Folklore Research.

The practice of taunting has a rich historical context, dating back to ancient times. In medieval warfare, for instance, taunting was a common psychological tactic used to provoke enemies or undermine their morale. A notable example of this can be found in the account of the Battle of Agincourt (1415) during the Hundred Years' War. Before the battle, the English and French forces faced each other, exchanging taunts designed to provoke an attack. As recorded by eyewitness accounts, the two armies engaged in verbal sparring, with each side attempting to goad the other into making the first move. This psychological warfare was an integral part of the battle strategy, demonstrating how taunting has long been used as a tool in conflict.

Verbal taunts

The act of taunting can be learned by observation and improvisation. It usually follows linear thought, correlating or building in some manner to the target of taunting. Things such as the victim's appearance, intelligence, mannerisms, education, background, past offenses, etc. can otherwise be insulted. When used in this manner, the effectiveness of a taunt at provoking a response varies depending on how the specific insult relates to its victim (or their sense of self), to what level of offense they regard the taunt, and how well the victim can control their emotions when responding.

In the Eastern U.S. and Britain the chant "Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah", sung to the tune of "Bye, baby Bunting" is an insult among children. In the American South this is often used as "Nanny nanny boo-boo" and repeated with words such as "You ca-an't catch me". In Hebrew, the taunt is "Na na, banana" or "Na-na-na banana" (means the same as in English). In French, the taunt uses syllables often rendered "Nananananère," and Swedish-speaking children use the phrase "Du kan inte ta mig" ("You cannot catch me").

Gestures

Certain movements of one's body are, in many cultures, interpreted as a taunt. These can be expressed through the eyes, hands, fingers, head and other areas of the body.

Akanbe

A gesture in Japanese culture, made by pulling a lower eyelid down to expose the red underneath.

Clenched fist

A raised, clenched fist is used as a gesture of defiance by a number of groups. It is usually considered to be hostile, yet without any sexual, scatological, or notionally offensive connotations. It is believed to have originally been used in the early 20th century as popular democratic symbol.

Crotch-grab

The crotch-grab is done almost exclusively by males. It is, as the name suggests, a grabbing (or one-handed cupping and lifting) of the penis and testicles – usually through clothing. In Italy the sign is by no means purely a taunt, being also an apotropaic gesture of considerable antiquity employed, since the days of Ancient Rome, to ward off the evil eye or bad luck and also to attract good luck. It is, in this context, an invocation of the benign powers of fertility embodied in the male genitalia and, as such, lies at the root of the magical intent expressed symbolically in the fascinum and probably also the cornicello. Despite recent rulings by the Italian legal system, the (public) crotch-grab is still used by some Italian men as a means of deflecting the ill-luck threatened by objects or people related to death and burial and (more esoterically) the unlucky number 17 (said to be unlucky because it a) resembles a man hanging from a gibbet and b) because when written XVII in Roman numerals is an anagram of 'vixi' – 'I lived', a verb form considered unlucky because of its frequent occurrence in ancient Roman funerary inscriptions).

Cutthroat

The cutthroat gesture is performed by drawing the hand, or a finger(usually the thumb) or two, across the throat. It represents slitting the throat with a knife, and means that the gesturee or someone else is metaphorically being killed. It is rarely if ever used literally to refer to death (and when the whole hand is used, it is usually a benign signal to stop or pause something), though it is occasionally used as a theatrical threat ("I'm going to kill you"). The gesture earned a great deal of national notoriety in the NFL during the 1999 season in which several players did the cutthroat gesture.

Middle finger

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Taunting" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The finger gesture or "middle finger" is a gesture consisting of a fist with the middle finger extended, optionally extending the thumb as well. It is equivalent to the phrase "fuck you" due to its resemblance to the penis. It is thousands of years old, being referred to in Ancient Roman literature as the digitus infamis or digitus impudicus. Performing this gesture is also referred to as "flipping the bird", which is a combination of slang derived from the 1860s expression "give the big bird" (to hiss at someone like a goose) and the 1960s "up yours" hand gesture. In some regions, "flipping the bird" refers to the raising of the middle and index finger with the back of the hand directed at the recipient. It can also mean "Victory", which is not to be mistaken for the "Peace" gesture. The "Peace" gesture is done with the palm facing the recipient of the gesture. In Britain, this is also the case; however, if the palm faces inwards (towards the person doing the "peace" sign), it is an offensive gesture in Britain, though not considered quite as rude as "the middle finger".

Loser

The "loser" gesture used in some countries is performed by raising the index finger and thumb of one's right hand perpendicular to each other and then placing them on one's forehead with index finger pointing upward. So placed, the fingers form the letter "L" from the perspective of a viewer and signify the name-calling insult "loser" directed toward the person being spoken to or spoken about. The gesture can also be performed as a dance of sorts by placing the "L" shape on your head, grabbing your crotch, and hopping from one foot to another. This gesture was created in early 2018 as a purchasable emote "Take the L" in the video game Fortnite. It became such a problem that Epic Games, developers of Fortnite, were forced to add a setting to "disable confrontational emotes" in April 2024.

Shocker

Done by holding up the hand with the index, middle and pinky finger, implying the act of putting two fingers in a woman's vagina and one in her anus.

Tongue

Often sticking one's tongue out at another is seen as mocking the other. A variation of this is also known as blowing a raspberry. It can also be wagged in a manner suggesting cunnilingus, which is usually seen as highly vulgar.

Turkey face

The turkey face gesture is when you take your hand and put your thumb on your nose, wriggle your head back and forth and do the same thing with the hand. Cocking a snook is an old British taunting gesture in which the thumb of one hand is on the nose and the extended fingers are wiggled.

V sign

The insulting version of the gesture (with the palm inwards) is often compared to the offensive gesture known as "the finger". The "two-fingered salute", as it is also known, 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, and later in the rest of the United Kingdom; its use is largely restricted to the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. It is frequently used to signify defiance (especially to authority), contempt or derision.

Wanker

The wanker gesture is made with a loose fist (with all fingers forming a cylindrical shape), and shaken up and down (or sometimes, back and forth) at the wrist, suggesting masturbation. A picture of the young Tony Blair, later the British Prime Minister (1997–2007), using the wanker gesture became widely available (although copyrighted) in 2007.

In popular culture

In the 1975 Monty Python film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the French Knight taunts King Arthur and his companions with a series of increasingly ludicrous insults, culminating in "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries".

Versions of the Endemol quiz show 1 vs. 100 based on the United States version (Australia, and to an extent, France) are known for the contestants and mob taunting each other.

Similar game shows, such as Weakest Link, are built on taunting a defeated player.

Video games

Some multiplayer video games feature the ability to taunt a human opponent, using purpose-programmed dialog and gestures to show dominance. In games not featuring a dedicated "taunt" command, players have devised other ways, using the controls of the game, to taunt or harass opponents. In multiplayer FPS games, players may taunt a defeated opponent by corpse humping or tea bagging them, repeating the game's "crouch" command above the dead player's body. In shooter games which allow melee attacks, a common way of taunting opponents is to kill them without using a gun.

In the EA Sports UFC mixed martial arts series, taunting is a part of the in-game fight mechanics, using real-life gestures and moves performed by actual UFC fighters to add a psychological layer to the combat.

See also

• Insult
• Jibe
• Sarcasm
• Social psychology
• Teasing
• The dozens
• Trash-talk
• Fighting words

References

1. Keltner, Dacher; Capps, Lisa; Kring, Ann M.; Young, Randall C.; Heerey, Erin A. (March 2001). "Just teasing: A conceptual analysis and empirical review". Psychological Bulletin. 127 (2): 229–248. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.127.2.229. PMID 11316012.
2. Throsby, David (March 1, 1999). "Cultural Capital". Journal of Cultural Economics. 23 (1): 3–12. doi:10.1023/A:1007543313370. ISSN 1573-6997.
3. McDowell, John (May–December 1985). "The Poetic Rites of Conversation". Journal of Folklore Research. 22 (2/3): 120.
4. "Unveiling the Secrets of Medieval Sieges: "The Art of Psychological Warfare". www.medievalchronicles.com. June 12, 2023. Retrieved October 28, 2024.
5. Archives, The National. "The National Archives – Homepage". The National Archives. Retrieved October 25, 2024.
6. "The Battle of Agincourt, 1415". www.eyewitnesstohistory.com. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
7. D. Albright, Untwisting the serpent: modernism in music, literature, and other arts, . Daniel . University of Chicago Press, 2000. p. 94.
8. "AIMLExchange Search". www.aimlexchange.com. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
9. "Akanbe". www.animenewsnetwork.com – Anime News Network. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
10. poweredbyreason.co.uk, Powered By Reason. "The raised fist: a history of the symbol". People's History Museum. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
11. Lapidos, Juliet (March 4, 2008). "Can't Touch This". Slate.
12. Moore, Malcolm (February 29, 2008). "Italian court outlaws touching of genitals". The Daily Telegraph.
13. Freeman, Mike (November 23, 1999). "Pro Football; Throat Gesture Faces Ban By N.F.L." The New York Times. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
14. ^ Martínez, Antonio Marco (May 20, 2014). ""Digitus impudicus", "the impudent finger"". History of Greece and Rome. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
15. Nasaw, Daniel (February 6, 2012). "When did the middle finger become offensive?". BBC News. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
16. "bird | Etymology of bird by etymonline". www.etymonline.com. Retrieved October 14, 2024.
17. Arts, Bethel Woods Center for the. "The Peace Symbol & Woodstock: A History | Bethel Woods Center for the Arts". www.bethelwoodscenter.org. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
18. ^ Staff Henry V Archived 2008-06-07 at the Wayback Machine, British Shakespeare Company, accessed 23 April 2008.
19. Armstrong, Nancy (2003). Field guide to gestures : how to identify and interpret virtually every gesture known to man. Internet Archive. Philadelphia, Pa. : Quirk. ISBN 978-1-931686-20-4.
20. Andy Chalk (April 22, 2024). "Fortnite is adding a toggle to disable 'confrontational emotes' including Laugh it Up and Take the L". PC Gamer. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
21. Mauney, Matt (August 18, 2016). "Disney digitally alters 'crude' hand gesture in Rock 'n' Roller Coaster". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
22. "Sticking tongue out: What it means, the psychology, and conditions". www.medicalnewstoday.com. July 14, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
23. 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: Karl S. Kruszelnicki. Arrow Up Yours & Plague 1 www.abc.net.au. Accessed 23 April 2008
    • NZ:Glyn Harper Just the Answer Alumni Magazine November 2002.
24. 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
25. "Blair photo 'shows rude gesture'". March 2, 2007. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
26. Jones, T., & Gilliam, T. (1975). Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Cinema 5 Distributing.
27. "Weakest Link". NBC.com. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
28. Weakest Link (TV Series 2020– ) – Plot – IMDb. Retrieved October 30, 2024 – via www.imdb.com.
29. Writer, Phillip Martinez (December 11, 2018). "How to Taunt Your Opponent in 'Smash Ultimate'". Newsweek. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
30. Purnomo, SF Luthfie Arguby; Purnama, SF. Lukfianka Sanjaya; Untari, Lilik; Wibowo, Agung Prasetyo; Aqib, Nabil; Oktaviana, Yosse Vira (September 26, 2022). "Ludic Taunting: Does Taunting Work Differently in Video Games?". Journal of Language and Literature. 22 (2): 466–480. doi:10.24071/joll.v22i2.4197. ISSN 2580-5878.
31. Founder, Patrick Garratt; Publisher (March 23, 2012). "The day I nearly melee-killed Chet Faliszek in CS:GO". VG247. Retrieved October 27, 2024.
32. "EA Sports UFC taunts three new fighters". Engadget. August 27, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2024.

• Human behavior
• Abuse