Editing V sign (section)

==Usage==
[[File:NIXONcampaigns.jpg|thumb|U.S. presidential candidate [[Richard Nixon]] using the gesture as a victory sign in 1968]]
[[File:Steve McQueen.jpg|thumb|Actor [[Steve McQueen]] making the V{{nbsp}}sign (for peace) during a [[mug shot]], after a drunk driving arrest (1972)]]
The meaning of the ''V'' sign is partially dependent on the manner in which the hand is positioned.

Where the palm of the hand is facing inward toward the signer (i.e. the back of the hand faces the observer), this is seen as insulting gesture in Australia,  Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.<ref name="V-sign-as-an-insult">V sign as an insult:<!--references for countries listed-->

* UK: Staff. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pphk5Crsp5A][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pphk5Crsp5A Workforce of Parkgate Iron and Steel Co., Rotherham (1901])  [[BFI]]  1901
* UK: Staff. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/beds/bucks/herts/7296889.stm No ban for speeding V-sign biker] [[BBC]]  14 March 2008
* UK: Staff. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/vote2001/hi/english/features/newsid_1344000/1344190.stm Two fingers Prescott] [[BBC]], 22 May 2001
* IE: Staff. [http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/shambolic-irish-give-two-fingers-to-the-past-135500.html Shambolic Irish give two fingers to the past] [[Irish Independent]]
* AU: {{cite news |last=Keim |first=Tony |date=18 November 2008 |title=Long tradition of flipping the bird |url=http://www.couriermail.com.au/lifestyle/tradition-behind-the-bird/story-e6frer4f-1111118071016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120910220355/http://www.couriermail.com.au/lifestyle/tradition-behind-the-bird/story-e6frer4f-1111118071016 |archive-date=10 September 2012 |access-date=14 April 2011 |newspaper=Courier Mail |ref=none}}
* AU: [http://www.abc.net.au/profiles/content/s2193276.htm?site=science/k2 Karl S. Kruszelnicki]. [http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/moments/s655611.htm Arrow Up Yours & Plague 1] [http://www.abc.net.au/ www.abc.net.au]. Accessed 23 April 2008
* NZ: Glyn Harper [http://www.massey.ac.nz/~wwpubafs/magazine/2002_Nov/stories/questions.html Just the Answer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219021729/http://www.massey.ac.nz/~wwpubafs/magazine/2002_Nov/stories/questions.html|date=19 February 2018}} Alumni Magazine [Massey University] November 2002.
* ZA: {{cite web |last=Greenaway |first=Mike |date=2 July 2022 |title=The day that Wales' JPR Williams was almost lynched in Durban |url=https://www.iol.co.za/sport/rugby/springboks/the-day-that-wales-jpr-williams-was-almost-lynched-in-durban-c22f81d2-8c4a-4d9c-9d69-0aa7cd4c85c0 |access-date=2 July 2022 |website=[[Independent Online (South Africa)|IOL]] |ref=none}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7UIjVGcSe8MC&pg=PA683 |page=683 |title=The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English |isbn=9780203962114 |last1=Victor |first1=Terry |last2=Dalzell |first2=Tom |date=December 2007 |publisher=Taylor & Francis }}
</ref>

With the palm outward toward the observer, it can mean "victory", in a setting of wartime or competition. This was first popularised in January 1941 by [[Victor de Laveleye]], a Belgian politician in exile, who suggested it as a symbol of unity in a radio speech and the subsequent "V for Victory" campaign by the BBC.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ww2today.com/20th-july-1941--for-victory-widespread-across-europe|title=20th July 1941: 'V for Victory' widespread across Europe|work=ww2today.com}}</ref> It is sometimes made using both hands with upraised arms as [[President of the United States|United States president]] [[Dwight Eisenhower]] and, in imitation of him, [[Richard Nixon]], used to do. This sign came to mean "peace" or "friend", used around the world by peace and counter-culture groups; popularized in the American [[peace movement]] of the 1960s. The commonality with the symbol's use from the 1940s was its meaning the "end of war".<ref>{{cite news |last=Zelinsky |first=Nathaniel  |date=18 March 2011 |title=From Churchill to Libya: How the V symbol went viral |newspaper=[[Washington Post]]  |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/from-churchill-to-libya-how-the-v-symbol-went-viral/2011/03/18/AFzPiYYB_story.html | access-date=14 December 2015}}</ref>

In [[American Sign Language]], the number 2 is signalled with two fingers raised and the palm towards the signer, the letter V with the palm away,<ref>Staff. [http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/cedir/kidsweb/asl.html American Manual Alphabet Chart] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503055955/http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/cedir/kidsweb/asl.html |date=3 May 2009 }} 
Center for Disability Information & Referral (CeDIR), Indiana Institute on Disability and Community at Indiana University</ref> and the ordinal ''second'' with the sign palm forward before being turned ([[Aircraft principal axes#Vertical axis (yaw)|yawing]]) until the palm faces backward.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/n/numbersordianlandcardinal.htm|title="numbers" ASL American Sign Language|work=lifeprint.com}}</ref> General [[finger-counting]] systems use either facing for the number 2.

The V shape is also used in a number of signs in many [[sign languages]], including (in American Sign Language) "to look" (with the palm down) or "to see" (palm up). When the pointer and middle fingers are pointed at the signer's eyes then turned and the pointer finger is pointed at someone it means "I am watching you."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/s/see.htm|title="see" American Sign Language (ASL)|work=lifeprint.com}}</ref>

V-signs in motion are used in [[air quotes]], flexing the fingers, palm out, of one or both hands.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/air-quotes.html|title=Air quotes|work=phrases.org.uk|author=Gary Martin|date=11 December 2023 }}</ref>