The L for Loser Gesture (Eitan Vilker)
Title: The Be Quiet or Shut Up Gesture
General Information about Item:
- Customary Lore: Hand gesture
- Country of Origin: United States
- Informant: Daniel (last name withheld)
- Date Collected: 10-21-18
Informant Data:
- Daniel was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 2004. His father is an attorney for the state of Rhode Island, and his mother is a psychologist who operates a private practice. Daniel and his family are Jewish. He has lived in the small town of East Greenwich for most of his life. Daniel attends Cole Middle School. His family hails from both Western and Eastern Europe.
Contextual Data:
- Cultural Context: Children like to use gestures that send a very clear message about how they feel about each other. Clearly insulting teases, taunts, or jabs are all heavily favored by children as a result.
- Social Context: This hand gesture was brought up as a result of the interviewer asking what insulting gestures Daniel knew. Most insulting gestures children make are used in school settings, physical activities and games, casual conversations, and at home- in short, the situations in which children spend the majority of their time.
Item:
- To use this gesture, one raises one’s thumb and index finger so that they are perpendicular to one another and lower’s the other three fingers. It is used to insult or taunt someone that has been defeated or one hoped to defeat. It can be mean-spirited, but it can also be used in a jesting manner.
Associated File:
Transcript:
- “When I want to call someone a loser, I make an L with two of my fingers. I don’t usually say it to be mean but when I’ve beaten someone at something.”
Collector’s Comments:
- This gesture is fairly specific and unsubtle in its use. It’s almost always rude or at least teasing. Furthermore, it is applicable in only a narrow range of situations- usually when a person has won some form of event or is taunting someone else in a competition or game.
Collector’s Name: Eitan Vilker
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