Joe The Observer

Today, work started with this really funny, really interesting talk about how "giving people the finger" has evolved over the years. Not ten years back, giving someone the finger involved two arms, a big production where the left hand was placed on top of the right arm, as the right hand formed the finger. And then there was the whole etiquette of whether you use a bare middle finger, or if you bend the index and ring into this sort of half-mast frame alongside it.

The conversation shifted and Joe, one of the guys at Q101, mentioned the nod. He said that you nod downward if it’s a formal thing – typically to bosses or coworkers you don’t know all that well. But an upward nod, chin to the sky, that sort of thing is reserved for friends and folks you know or trust. Nod down equals formal, nod up equals casual.