flip off

中指を立てる仕草は相手を侮辱するジェスチャーとしてよく知られています。

英語では、


flip off


という動詞で表現します。


The president left Trump National Golf Club at 3:12 p.m. after spending the day there on the edge of the Potomac River.

A thick column of black SUVs escorted Trump past two pedestrians, a Guardian reporter wrote in a pool report — “one of whom gave a thumbs down sign.”

“Then it overtook a female cyclist, wearing a white top and cycling helmet, who responded by giving the middle finger.”

The cyclist was photographed for posterity. So was an “IMPEACH” sign held aloft outside the golf club that day.

On Twitter, Voice of America reporter Steve Herman offered his account as eyewitness to the following events:

“The cyclist flipped off @POTUS a second time when the motorcade halted at the traffic light,” he wrote. “No, we do not know her name.”
(Avi Selk. A cyclist flipped off Trump’s motorcade and entered the annals of presidential protests. Washington Post. October 29, 2017.)


以前に、"flip the bird"という表現を取り上げたことがありますが、"flip off"はこれと同義です。

"flip"には突然キレる（怒り出す）という意味もあります。

どういう語源なんだろうと思って辞書を引いてみると、"flip"は"fillip"という別の動詞から来ているそうなのですが、この"fillip"とは指先ではじくときの音を模した擬声語とされているそうです。