#Thumbs up pose drawing reference movie#

The Latin term for the gesture of approval, Corbeill explains, is pollices premere, which means “press your thumbs” and has been described by Pliny the Elder as a common gesture of good wishes.

Historical confusion about that thumb-pressing gesture exposes just how difficult it can be to track the evolution of body language. In other words, it’s the opposite of what we think.” “Sparing is pressing the thumb to the top of the fist and death is a thumbs-up. We have some sculptural references but it’s mostly verbal references,” says Anthony Corbeill, a professor of Latin at the University of Virginia, who wrote a book on gestures in ancient Rome. “We don’t have videotapes of people from antiquity. The thumbs-up sign that today means “O.K.” in that lexicon expressed disapproval. It’s not that gestures wouldn’t have been used to communicate such ideas, but rather that the Romans used a wide visual vocabulary in which the meanings of certain movements were different from their modern implications.

#Thumbs up pose drawing reference movie#

But what’s the history of the gesture and how did it come to mean “yes” or “O.K.”?įirst off, the idea that the up- or downturned thumb originated as a gesture that would save or cost a gladiator’s life in Ancient Rome - an idea popularized by the movie Gladiator - isn’t quite right. It’s a widely recognized gesture: fingers curled into the palm, thumb stretched out, pointing skyward. com and you might find your answer in a future edition of Now You Know. Do you have a question about history? Send us your question at.