In American culture, a thumbs up is a sign of approval and confidence. Why? Where did that come from? Of all the fingers, why that one?

It seems that before the thumbs up as the "all OK" sign, someone had to invent it. It seems like it was popularized by American pilots in WWII. As the story goes, the pilots and ground crews would flash thumbs up to signal that the planes were ready to roll off the airstrip and into combat. Since then, it's become an inseparable part of American idiomatic body language and is spreading overseas with the rest of American culture.

Joe Navarro points out in his book What Every Body is Saying that the thumbs up may be wired into us as a display of confidence.

Besides the ubiquitous and consciously made thumbs-up, we humans use the display of our thumbs in a wide variety of circumstances to illustrate confidence, or if we hide our thumbs, the lack of it.

Navarro points to these examples, which I encourage you to try out for yourself:

• Clasp your hands together, with your fingers intertwined and making one big fist, as though you're praying. This is a near universal gesture of supplication. Then make one small change- stick your thumbs up! Suddenly, the whole gesture changes into one of confidence, rather than hope.
• Sticking your hands in your pockets with your thumbs showing. From a body language perspective, this communicates more confidence than inserting all five fingers into one's pockets. Even worse- those that stick just their thumbs in their pockets, with the rest of their hands hanging out, actually communicate a lack of confidence!
• Grabbing the lapel of a jacket or sport coat with the thumbs up. Imagine your favorite tweed-wearing professor professing at the front of the class- chances are, he may be grabbing his jacket lapels and subconsciously giving a thumbs-up, thus asserting his confidence in his position of authority over the students in his class.
• The "steepling" shown by newscasters and public presenters. Touch your fingertips of your right and left hand together, with your thumbs on top. Voila!

Wonderful, you say; I'll immediately go practice my thumb posture in front of a mirror. 

This is very interesting, but in this article I'm more concerned about answering why the thumbs-up (even subconsciously made) almost universally indicates a show of confidence. Why the thumb? Does it all stem with the consciously-made thumbs-up gesture popularized during WWII, or does it go back further than that?

My hypothesis is that it is because the thumb is representative of the human creative faculty. The opposable thumb is what sets him above and apart from the rest of the Kingdom Animalia. The opposable thumb allowed us to develop creativity, which means we can make the tools and institutions necessary to conquer, subjugate, and master our environs and our neighbors.

Leonard Shlain, in Leonardo's Brain, writes (p.122):

In the same way that the middle finger came from medieval archers taunting their foes (as the story goes, captured archers had their middle fingers cut off to prevent them from ever drawing a bow again- so to give an enemy the middle finger was to communicate that you were unbeaten and able to fight), giving the thumb communicates (rather less combatively than the middle finger) that we still possess the fundamental evolutionary innovation we need to manipulate the world and mold it to our image.

Why else would we refer to the weak as being "under the thumb" of the strong?

So thumbs allowed human beings to display curiosity, and creativity. It seems logical to think that this could explain why a thumbs-up has since become a sign of confidence: the thumb is the original instrument of mastery over the natural world.

Navarro isn't able to explain why the thumbs-up communicates confidence, and I don't recall ever reading an explanation in other sources. My theory came to me while reading Leonardo's Brain. I don't know if others have written about this or not. Even if it turns out that I'm wrong and am reading too much into the humble thumbs-up, I hope I'll continue to think of the gesture as an expression of the fundamental capacity a human being has to forge his own way and shape the world in his image.

With a big thumbs-up,
Dillon Dakota Carroll
Madrid, Spain

Confession: I'm a bit of a language-learning addict. I got hooked as a Freshman in college and haven't really stopped. While in the US I started learning Spanish, while in Spain I started learning Italian. Now I'm going to Italy soon and I'm learning French.

While a bit of an ADD way of learning languages, it has given me lots of opportunities to think about what works and what doesn't. A couple of weeks ago I wrote a 2 part series to communicate what I've learned about my particular style of learning languages (itself a hodgepodge of influences, in particular AJATT.com).

Now I want to dive deeper into the role a smartphone can play in language learning.

The great thing is that you can put into practice most all of the language learning rules I wrote about with a modern smart-phone. You can use it to create a micro-immersion climate, consume fun content in your L2, and chat with friends from around the world. With a device that fits in your hand, you can do everything from listen to internet radio, read books and magazines, or do exercises in an app like Duolingo, all in your L2. 

I was recently in Columbus, Georgia for a family event. My family used to live in the area for quite some time.

While there, we stopped by the Columbus Riverwalk overlooking the Chattahoochee River. The city has been developing the riverwalk quite a bit, which included demolishing an old dam on the river to make a white water rapids course. We were lucky to get towards the area as the sun was nearing the horizon, making for some beautiful shots of the river.

Last week I wrote about how we need to make more space in our lives for exploration along untrod paths and the act of spontaneous discovery. I gave a couple examples, including another recent article about a couple days I spent on the Trans-America Trail.

I was going through some old pictures of mine and saw some other examples of recent trips I've taken where I was able to see old landscapes in new ways. They made for some pretty pictures, and show how you can find novelty and beauty in even mundane places, like the woods behind your house or a local nature park.

Abandoned Phillips 66 Natural Gas Station