Cocking a snook, on one hand, isn't really as perverse as it sounds, but there's still a bit of impudence in the name. The term means to touch your thumb to your nose, stick your fingers upwards, and wiggle them about in the general direction of a person who has earned your contempt. The act once was illegal in New York, and is about as obscene a gesture in England as the middle finger is here. It also goes by Queen Anne's Fan or the "five-fingered salute" (which has more connotations than this one).
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