Physical demonstration of the bras d'honneur gesture
Bras d'honneur (bras d'honneur; literally "arm of honor") is an obscene gesture used to express contempt. It is roughly equivalent in meaning to phrases like "fuck you" or "up yours", similar to the the finger gesture.
To perform the gesture, an arm is bent in an L-shape, with the fist pointing upwards. The other hand grips or slaps the biceps of the bent arm as it is emphatically raised to a vertical position.
The bras d'honneur is known by various names in different languages, including the Iberian slap,[a]forearm jerk, Italian salute,[b] or Kozakiewicz's gesture.[c][1]
In Brazil, the gesture is known as a "banana" and carries the same connotation as giving someone the middle finger. It can also be used to denote disrespectfully ignoring what someone just said, analogous in meaning to the expression, "I don't give a fuck".[3]
In Japan, the gesture has a positive connotation, often used to convey courage or determination[4] in a similar manner to a fist pump. To perform the gesture, a hand is placed on the opposite biceps, and then the biceps is flexed, as if the flexed biceps were being polished. Sometimes, the gesture appears in video games produced in the country; as a result, it often has to be removed during the process of game localisation to avoid causing offence.[5]
Portugal has the term manguito, a diminutive of manga 'sleeve'. It is also the most characteristic gesture performed by the Portuguese everymanZé Povinho.[3]
In Poland, the gesture is known as wał or gest Kozakiewicza ('Kozakiewicz's gesture') after Władysław Kozakiewicz, who famously displayed this gesture after breaking the world record and winning the gold medal in the pole vault at the 1980 Summer Olympics in front of a hostile crowd in Moscow.[6] (In Russia, this gesture is widely understood as a manlier, more "native", and more publicly acceptable version of the foreign "middle finger" gesture, but both of them are rarely used compared to the fig sign and verbal insults.) This coincided with the rise of the Solidarity Union in Poland in 1980.
Coat of arms of the Austro-Hungarian condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1878–1918)
In Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, the gesture is known as bosanski grb[7] ('Bosnian coat-of-arms') after the territorial coat of arms of Bosnia during the Austro-Hungarian reign, that is somewhat similar to the actual gesture. The gesture is also called od šake do lakta ('from the fist to the elbow').
In Tunisia, it is called faggousa and it is done the same way.
