Cocking a snook
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
I wrote 'cocking a snook' in a blog comment the other day and as I typed it, I wondered if it was a universal saying.
I understand it to mean showing mocking disregard for something or someone, even contempt. I didn’t realise it described a gesture, the one where someone thumbs their nose at another person, or, as the internet informs me:-
‘place one's hand so that the thumb touches one's nose and the fingers are spread out, in order to express contempt.’
As I recall, the fingers are waggled, to exaggerate the gesture. The expression was first recorded in 1791, but became popular in the nineteenth century.
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Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
It is not particularly offensive, being used by children to tease their peers, or be rude to adults behind their backs. Sometimes, to exaggerate the gesture , the other hand is used, thumb to little finger, to make the meaning even clearer.
Apparently, it is a familiar gesture across Europe and in the USA.
I never heard it called anything but 'thumbing your nose' at something. I like your phrase better!
ReplyDeleteOkay...interesting but what is a "snook"? Where does the word come from?
ReplyDeleteI use cocking a snoot in the way you have described it, but I would add one more element. Disrespectful to a poorer or less educated person.. a bit arrogant.
ReplyDeleteI have seen the gesture but didn't know cocking a snook. I heard it called thumbing your nose, but I like your name better!
ReplyDelete