Posted on 01/22/2005 10:10:44 AM PST by nickcarraway
Jenna's gesture shocks those who recall it meaning devil worship
Jenna Bush's Longhorn salute during her father's inauguration festivities caused a stir in Norway, suggesting that Austin and Oslo are two cities separated by the same hand gesture.
"Sjokkhilsen fra Bush datter," read an outraged headline on Norwegian news Web site Nettavisen. Translated: "Shock greeting from Bush daughter."
Sjokkhilsen, indeed. The University of Texas marching band and Norway's death-metal musicians inspire the same reverent hand gesture from their respective legions, the time-tested "horns" produced by extending one's index and pinkie fingers.
The "Hook 'em, Horns" that Bush flashed when The Eyes of Texas was played at the Black Tie and Boots gala Wednesday was misconstrued by some in Norway as a sign of the devil used by a musical scene that terrorized the country in the late 1980s and early '90s.
Bush's gesture has more innocent roots, credited to UT head cheerleader Harley Clark in 1955. Clark, a former state district judge who retired to Dripping Springs, introduced the sign at a pep rally that November as a response to Texas A&M's "Gig 'em" sign, a thumbs-up gesture.
"Surely everybody in the world takes offense at the Aggie Gig 'em sign," Clark says. "I can't think of anything more repulsive than that hand gesture."
Death metal's history
In Norway the horns carried a greater menace. The country has long been a hotbed of death metal, a subgenre of music with a sordid history of church burnings, murder, inadvertant bludgeonings (with sheep skulls), pet sacrifices and sundry behavior best described as anti-Christian. There the gesture has little to do with sports rivalries.
Largely a reaction to the country's conservative population, its black or death-metal scene popped up roughly 20 years ago and has a grisly history, best documented in the book Lords of Chaos.
The appropriately named band Mayhem was at the epicenter of Norway's unsettling music movement. One of its founders, Oystein Aarseth, was stabbed to death in 1993 by a member of rival death-metal band. Of course, Aarseth was hardly a saint. When one of his bandmates, ironically nicknamed "Death," killed himself, Aarseth and another musician reportedly cannibalized him.
Norwegian death metal made headlines again in 2003. At a Mayhem show (death has been unsuccessful at breaking up the group), the group's current singer lost control of a sheep head he was ritualistically carving, and it flew into the crowd, fracturing the skull of a fan.
Needless to say, Norway's more prudish contingent was aghast upon seeing the daughter of the American president flashing a sign associated with such behavior.
It could be worse ...
America's metal scene has long inspired similar horn throwing, particularly during concerts. But without the arson and bloodshed, the worst crimes committed by low-grade U.S. metal bands are against good taste and good tunes.
There have been no reports so far as to any such misunderstandings about Bush's gesture in Italy, which has its own interpretation of the horns. Called the mano cornuto, when the hand is brought up to the forehead, the gesture signifies that one has been cuckolded.
"I suppose it can mean different things to different people in different parts of the world," Clark says. "I guess the Norwegians and Italians should be happy that our mascot was a longhorn and not a unicorn."
down under the word rout is the same as the f word here. we had to change the baseball song from rout for the home team to cheer for the home team.
Norwegians don't chew tobacco.
Don't even ask what they do around the bonfire. If you want to live stay away from College Station.
This got me flamed on another thread but I'll say it again: Ignorant, parochial Europeans!
"The country has long been a hotbed of death metal, a subgenre of music with a sordid history of church burnings, murder, inadvertant bludgeonings (with sheep skulls), pet sacrifices..."
Over here we give them life w/o parole. Try that Norway!
Norway needs a nap.
Go easy on them.
We have to remember that European Leftists are very provincial and unsophisticated. :-)
Or imagine this.
Imagine freepers reading a silly piece in the MSM and getting all fired up and outraged about it. Some people could castigate such people for being close minded and ignorant of the MSM.
"Caused a stir in Norway."
Who cares?
Witty!
There are people who spend half their lives looking for things to be offended about and the other half of their lives complaining that they got offended.
It sure seems like many Freepers does :-)
All I can say is that this whole hand sign thing has caused a whole lot more stir here on freerepublic than in Norway.
Cultural differences, period. There was a cartoon character whose name translated into a "private part" in Tagalog and Filipinos were offended. It isn't PC, it's cultural and linguistic differences.
It's also an ancient European hand gesture indicating cuckoldry. I read this in a book about hand gestures, some years back. This would be a good day to dig around for that book.
They should have kept their mouth shut. Now the world knows they are a bunch of sickoes.
This is just a small peephole showing how other countries are so eager to believe the worst of our president and our country. That said, their MSM's rush to judgement is amusing. Our MSM is probably jealous they didn't think of it first.
Why do people get downright hostile over such little things?
On both sides. Now freepers HATE Norwegians because of a cultural misunderstanding?
Ole, Sven, and Nels came into the bar. They were high-fiving each other, shouting, and generally having a celebration of some sort.
"Line 'em up," Ole shouted as the party continued.
They drank and carried on for hours. Finally the bartender’s curiosity got the better of him. "Just what are you celebrating?" he asked.
"51 days! We did it in 51 days!" they responded.
"What did you do in 51 days?" he probed.
"Put the puzzle together," they replied, "51 days, and the box said 3-5 years!"
Stupid Norwegians!
How can anyone look at Jenna and be paying attention to her hands! There's so much more at which to gawk!!
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