| Two-fingers Salute |
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The two-fingers salute is a Salute given using only the middle and index fingers, while bending the other fingers at the second knuckle, and with the palm facing the signer. This salute is used by Polish military and uniformed services and by Cub Scouts . TWO-FINGERS SALUTE IN POLAND The salute is performed with the middle and index fingers extended and touching each other, while the ring and pinky fingers are bent and touched by the thumb. The tips of the middle and index fingers touch the visor of the hat. The salute is performed only while wearing a hat. The two-fingers salute appeared in Polish military forces probably before or during the Napoleonic Wars , or Kościuszko 's Uprising in 1794 . Legends attributing creation of the salute to the Battle Of Olszynka Grochowska during November's Insurrection 1830 - 1831 are apparently inaccurate since at an earlier time than this, the Tsar's Viceroy In Poland Grand Duke Constantine was reported to say that "Poles salute him with two fingers because in the other three they are holding a stone ready to throw at him". All legends, however, attribute the two-fingers salute to an incident when a soldier saluted his superior (most legends specify a general) with a wounded hand, from which his ring and pinky fingers had been detached as a result of a Shrapnel explosion. In remembrance all Poles salute using only two fingers. The two-fingers salute is said to have caused problems for Polish units serving with the Allies on the western front during World War II . Allied officers thought that Polish soldiers saluting with two fingers were making fun of them or were deliberately trying to offend them. As a result many soldiers were arrested, but the practice was later explained by their Polish superiors. This led to the temporary use of the full hand salute when saluting foreign officers. CUB SCOUTS' TWO-FINGERS SALUTE Cub Scout s also salute with two fingers. Scouts salute by touching their caps, while Poles touch the sides of their cap's visors; Cub Scouts salute to their brow when uncovered, while Poles do not salute uncovered (they point at the emblem). Interestingly, the Polish Cub Scouts do not use the two-fingers salute, and salute by shaking their heads or by touching their Cub Scout Badge on their breast. Some Scout organizations use a variation known as the Three-finger Salute . In British scouting Boy Scouts salute with three fingers to represent the three rules of the Scout law. Wolf Cubs salute with only two fingers to represent the two rules of the Cub law MYTHICAL ORIGINS It has long been told that the famous "two-fingers salute" and/or " V Sign " derives from the gestures of Welsh Archers who used the English Longbow , fighting alongside the English at the Battle Of Agincourt during the Hundred Years' War . The myth claims that the French cut off two fingers on the right hand of captured archers and that the gesture was a sign of defiance by those who were not mutilated. This may have some basis in fact - Jean Froissart (circa 1337-circa 1404) was a historian as the author of ''The Chronicle'', a primary document that is essential to an understanding of Europe in the fourteenth century and to the twists and turns taken by the Hundred Years' War. The story of the English waving their fingers at the French is told in the first person account by Froissart, however the description is not of an incident at the Battle of Agincourt, but rather at the siege of a castle in another incident during the Hundred Years' War. Also, Froissart is known to have died before the Battle of Agincourt. Like many social memes it is difficult to ever know for sure where they began but this story has become a part of western myth. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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