When the middle finger’s popularity grew once more, it became known as a wordless version of the goose-like honks and hisses of displeasure preferred by Brits and other Europeans.

The obscene gesture itself is far older than that, though. As many writers have pointed out, the middle finger became a symbol of the penis at least 2,500 years ago.In Aristophanes’ 423 B.C.E ...

Proudly displaying a middle finger 2,500 years ago was usually meant as a joke. Today, “flipping the bird” is considered so vulgar that it’s frequently blurred in media.