The Siachen Glacier, known as the world's highest battleground, is 6,300 meters (20,670 feet) high and spans 77 kilometers (47 miles) across the Line of Control that separates India- and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir...Fingers crossed? I didn't want to say anything about how religious people might perceive an giant avalanche that buries the soldiers on one side of a conflict that exists for reasons I have not studied. But I'm surprised to hear a Pakistani general say "we are keeping our fingers crossed," referring to what I've always thought was a Christian gesture. I presume the remark was translated, and I wonder what the general really did say, and what other images and gestures of hope stand in for crossed fingers around the world.
"It's a very massive scale slide," Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said Saturday. "They are under the slide, but we haven't lost hope. The rescue work is on, and we are keeping our fingers crossed."
And yet:
[O]ne theory goes that during the various times when Christianity was illegal, the crossing of fingers was a secret sign for Christians to recognise each other. Yet whilst the Sign of the Cross has evolved into a good luck symbol and retained its Christian meaning, Fingers Crossed has lost any Christian connection.
This change of emphasis may have begun during the so-called 'Hundred Years War' between France and England (1337-1457). An archer would cross his first and second fingers, pray or wish for luck, and then draw back his longbow string with those same fingers. Maybe.
Another theory suggests that the sign pre-dates Christianity, when it was believed that benign spirits dwelt at the intersecting point of the cross, as in the Solar Cross. In Europe, the sign was made by two people; the first to make the wish and the second to support it. Linking their fingers firmly would squeeze and energize the spirits into beneficial action. Maybe.
In China, crossing the index and middle fingers is the sign for the number ten, which happens to coincide with the Chinese and Japanese written character for ten....
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18 comments:
It's never occurred to me to think of crossed fingers as a Christian gesture. I've always considered it one of those many (pagan?) gestures to stave off bad luck. In any case I what it is now is an English colloquialism. Likely enough the Pakistani General attended school in the US.
They're buried under 70 feet of snow in one of the most inaccessible places you can imagine. They'd better cross their toes too.
I wonder if the US will send any help.
I never associated that with Christianity either.
In the last few years, the prevalence of natural disasters in the Muslim world could lead one to believe that God hates them. Tsunamis in Indonesia, floods in Pakistan, earthquakes in Iran-- does Allah not hear their prayers?
One could be led to believe this-- I don't. Mostly they are the victim of poor construction practices, and the corruption of public officials.
It would be wonderful if they manage to get people out of that alive. Hopefully they can find them. Everything I've ever heard is that the biggest difficulty is digging in the right place.
The fish never noticed he was in water.
Agree with Synova on crossing the fingers. Never heard it before, but it's an interesting notion.
And, Pasta, I was about to reflexively say, "You know we will", because that's what any American Administration would do, then I remember what we have in the White House
In World War I on the Italian front:
During the three-year war in the Austro-Italian Alps at least 60,000 soldiers died in avalanches. [This conservative statistic comes from the research of Heinz von Lichem, in his outstanding three-volume study Gebirgskrieg 1915-1918] Ten thousand died from avalanches in the "lesser" ranges of the eastern half of the high front -- the Carnic and Julian Alps. In the "high" Alps to the west, the Ortler and Adamello groups, the Dolomites, avalanches claimed 50,000 lives.
20,000 ft is incredibly high. Even at 14,000', flight crews are required to use oxygen, and the oxygen content is 43% less than at sea level. 20,000' is severe conditions, and very physically demanding. Someone not acclimated is very likely to just pass out.
"The Kashmiri question," came about because Kashmir at the time of partition in 1947 had a Hindu ruler, but a Moslem population. It was awarded to India on the principle of "cuius regio,eius religio," which Pakistan has not been willing to accept.
"Pakistan" is a made-up name for the state. There is no such people as the "Paki." P stands for Punjabi, a for Afghani, k for Kashmiri, and i probably for Indian, though Pakistan now claims they just put that in there to make the name more euphonius.
India and Pakistan are both empires in that their populations consist of a number of different peoples speaking very different languages. Both states have adopted English as one of their official languages, since it is one they can all understand, is relatively easy to learn, and does not immediately start a fight with all the other language speakers.
and, of course, after 150+ years of British rule, the document archives and other machinery was already in place.
If you cross your fingers and hold that hand to your chest you are hoping for something really hard.
Behind your back is your way of excusing yourself from telling a lie.
Crossed fingers held out in front of you conveys the letter r.
The r can be used within subsystems. For example an r slapped against the opposing palm conveys the word 'rule' That's a subsystem. That palm slap is. If you slap an L the word conveyed is 'law.' Further, if instead of slapping you used the r to draw a line on the palm then the idea conveyed would be 'regulation,' whereas a p used to point to a spot on the opposing palm would be 'policy.'
Turns out the crossed finger r is very handy indeed. It is used or a couple hundred r related English words when you use your imagination about it. We could go to the dictionary to r and see word after word using r to express an English word. Rocket for example is an r flying up like a rocket. Rabbi uses two of them, ready, really, reason, recreational vehicle, rectum. Kidding on that last one, you get the point.
If you are sufficiently bold and if the people you are talking to understand your quirks then you can use the r to force words that use other letters into being related r words. For example the word for family uses f + f to form a circle horizontal to the ground. You could change that to relation by using r + r instead. I'm trying to say two efs and two ars.
I love that r.
It makes respect and you can put that respect on something respectfully.
It has religion.
Recognize is one of the loveliest words I know.
Realize and relax.
Rest.
It is one of the best letters there is because it stands up so precisely and is recognizable from a great distance
Are you ok? Starts with an r to the lips.
Put a little ice on that.
If that's your way of saying shut up I'll add it to the 500,000 previous ways other people have suggested the same thing. And I will. And then you'll be asking, why so quiet?
I expect that most Pakistani generals speak fluent English and are more than passingly familiar with British idioms.
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