History Main / MemeticHandGesture

* The Mikuru Beam pose from ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'', involving flashing a VSign over your eye. There's a double version with two hands over both eye, but the singular version is the most remembered one.

* In ''LightNovel/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'', Yuuta covers most of his face with his hand in his Dark Flame Master persona. Nibutani mockingly mimics it when imitating him from time to time.

** One episode of ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' has a "trial" scene that replicates many of these perfectly.

* University of Louisville fans frequently throw up an "L", formed by holding the index and middle fingers of the right hand together, raising them as a unit, and sticking that thumb to the side. (Only the right-hand version can form an "L" viewable by someone facing the gesturer.) Much like rivals of Texas, USF, and the like with "Horns Down", U of L's rivals, ''especially'' University of Kentucky fans (aka Big Blue Nation), inevitably respond with an inverted version, and they have no qualms about making that one double-barreled.

* University of Louisville fans frequently throw up an "L", formed by holding the index and middle fingers together, raising them as a unit, and sticking their thumb to the side. Much like rivals of Texas, USF, and the like with "Horns Down", U of L's rivals, ''especially'' University of Kentucky fans (aka Big Blue Nation), inevitably respond with an inverted version (either single- or double-barreled).

* The Kliq/Wolfpac sign, AKA "2 Sweet", later passed down to Bullet Club. (Search "fox head" in the Real Life folder for its origin.)

* The [[http://www.fortunecity.com/olympia/mcmahon/48/multimedia/kliq2.jpg Kliq/Wolfpac sign]], [=AKA=] [[https://img.vvlcdn.com/b/GunsGallowsRaw_0_0.png "2 Sweet"]].

* The "shocker" is a sexually charged gesture which involves the ring finger folded down and held by the thumb, with the other three fingers extended and the index and middle finger being kept together, with the back of the hand facing away from the gesturer. Which can lead to trouble for fans of three schools in particular, all of which use variations of the gesture with the back of the hand facing toward the gesturer.
** Arizona State University and the University of Houston separate the middle and index fingers. ASU calls its version "The Pitchfork", an allusion to the pitchfork carried by the school's Sun Devil mascot. For Houston, nicknamed Cougars, this gesture represents "The Cougar Paw". [[labelnote:Explanation]]UH's first live mascot, Shasta, was injured in an accident and lost a toe. The gesture is in her honor and may at one point have been meant to discourage rival teams from heckling their injured mascot.[[/labelnote]]
** In the variant used by Wichita State University, which is actually ''nicknamed the Shockers'', the ring finger remains folded down, but ''isn't'' held by the thumb—which is instead pointed outward. ("Shockers" is actually short for "wheatshockers", an antiquated term for a wheatfield harvest worker.) In the Wichita context, the gesture represents the letter "W".

* A heartwarming version was adopted by Wake Forest University football fans in the 2006 season. A few months before the season, Luka Abbate, younger brother of star Wake linebacker Jon Abbate, died from injuries suffered in a car crash while he was returning from a lacrosse practice. Jon asked to change his number from 40 to his brother's lacrosse number of 5 for that season, and his coach agreed. Before the fourth quarter of Wake's first game, the Abbate family held up all five fingers of their hands as a tribute to Luke. As the Demon Deacons made an unexpected run to the Atlantic Coast Conference title, the gesture was picked up by the team, Wake's fanbase, and even ''opposing fans''. This gesture inspired the title of a 2011 film about Abbate and the 2006 Deacons season, ''The 5th Quarter''.

* The "shocker" is a sexually charged gesture which involves the ring finger folded down and held by the thumb, with the other three fingers extended and the index and middle finger being kept together, with the back of the hand facing away from the gesturer. Which can lead to trouble for fans of three schools in particular, all of which use the gesture—but with the index and middle finger held apart, and also with the back of the hand facing toward the gesturer...
** Arizona State University, which calls its version "The Pitchfork", an allusion to the pitchfork carried by the school's Sun Devil mascot.
** The University of Houston, nicknamed Cougars, where this gesture represents "The Cougar Paw". [[labelnote:Explanation]]Their first live mascot, Shasta, was injured in an accident and lost a toe. The gesture is in her honor and may at one point have been meant to discourage rival teams from heckling their injured mascot.[[/labelnote]]
** Wichita State University, which is actually ''nicknamed the Shockers'', uses a variation in which the thumb is held outward instead of curled toward the palm. ("Shockers" is actually short for "wheatshockers", an antiquated term for a wheatfield harvest worker.) In the Wichita context, the gesture represents the letter "W".

** Wichita State University... which is actually ''nicknamed the Shockers''. ("Shockers" is actually short for "wheatshockers", an antiquated term for a wheatfield harvest worker.) In the Wichita context, the gesture represents the letter "W".

* Wrestling/ZackRyder's hand gestures in the shape of "L" and "I", for Long Island.

* In UsefulNotes/{{Cricket}}, the "out" signal (right arm raised, index finger pointing "to the heavens", as commentators often say), as well as the "six" signal (both arms raised, palms showing).

** The same gesture as the "fox head," with the thumb, middle and ring fingers pointing forward, is also the salute of the Turkish nationalist Grey Wolf movement.

** The cuckold's horns. Holding your hand in this fashion behind someone's head, especially for a picture, is a prank implying that someone is sleeping with the person's wife. Occasionally a V-sign is used instead, especially in America, where it's called "Bunny Ears" and carries no cuckold implications. Ditto in the UK, where it's usually known as "Deer Antlers" or just "Deer"(dear). Often in the UK, this is also a cheeky term of endearment.

** The Japanese fox head sign -- traditionally associated with {{kitsune}} -- has been used as a substitute for the horns by Music/BabyMetal.

** Gendo's [[AdjustingYourGlasses two fingers to the bridge of his glasses]] is also trademark of him.

** The cuckold's horns. Holding your hand in this fashion behind someone's head, especially for a picture, is a prank implying that someone is sleeping with the person's wife. Occasionally a V-sign is used instead, especially in America, where it's called "Bunny Ears" and carries no cuckold implications. Ditto in the UK, where it's usually known as "Deer Antlers" or just "Deer(dear). Often in the UK, this is also a cheeky term of endearment.

** The cuckold's horns. Holding your hand in this fashion behind someone's head, especially for a picture, is a prank implying that someone is sleeping with the person's wife. Occasionally a V-sign is used instead, especially in America, where it's called "Bunny Ears" and carries no cuckold implications.

* ''Franchise/TheTerminator'': Both from ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', the T-1000's silent finger waggle and the T-800's final thumbs up.

** Gendo's two fingers to the bridge of his glasses is also trademark of him.

* "Air quotes". Holding both hands up with the index and middle fingers extended, then flexed when saying a specific word to emulate quotation marks. Sometimes used to [[SarcasmMode denote sarcasm]] over what you're saying. Also used when imitating [[Film/AustinPowers Dr. Evil]].

** Also Trump's "accordion hands", his habit of holding his hands with the palms facing and moving them apart and together while talking, as if playing an invisible accordion. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhDz8xMXU8s Some have made it less invisible.]]

[[/sport]]

[[folder:TabletopGames]]
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has the sign of the aquila (crossing both hands across the chest and hooking thumbs), meant to represent the Imperium's two-headed eagle insignia. The Adeptus Mechanicus has a variant where the fingertips are folded up, representing their cogwheel insignia.

* Music/AmonAmarth's song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndu33Uv7Aco "Raise Your Horns"]] is partly a HeavyMeta reference to the "horns" gesture in {{metal}} fandom (hand upraised, palm facing the band, pinkie and index finger straight, thumb and other fingers curled).

** The most well known example from recent series is [[Series/KamenRider555 Takumi's epic wrist flick]], which does double duty as a suave taunt and [[CharacterTic a way to identify if it's really Takumi in the suit]]. An earlier example was [[Series/KamenRiderRyuki Shinji Kido's fist pump]], but the wrist flick returned with [[Series/KamenRiderDouble Shotaro]] and [[Series/KamenRiderDrive Shinnosuke]].

** Several poses the Kamen Riders pull as they shout "HENSHIN!" become this. The poses used to be more elaborate and dancelike, the sort that these days are associated solely with ''PowerRangers/SuperSentai''. [[Series/KamenRider Takeshi Hongo's]] is legend, and imitated everywhere. Now the poses are more subtle, but when done right, less is more.

* UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's [[https://outline-prod.imgix.net/20170424-0us2Ytc6WP3NndATExff?auto=format&q=60&w=1000&s=a0a589663afdf6a1862593821c640cc8 habit of making the "ok" hand gesture as he speaks]] has become this. It's common for his supporters to pose for pictures while making the same gesture. Because of this, there are those who see it as a racist/white supremacist gesture.