Cock A Snook
Published by Rick on Wednesday, October 22, 2008.
Prior to the wide use of handkerchiefs, blockages in the nose were commonly cleared by holding one nostril closed with the thumb, and blowing any obstruction on to the ground.
This was not an overly pleasant sight to witness, and to clear one’s nose “at” someone was a calculated insult. Even miming the gesture by raising the hand to the nose was insulting (as it is to this day).
Cocking a snook first appears as a description of this action in the late 18th century.
Snook is said to be derived from the name of Sevenoaks in Kent (so pronounced by fashionable London travellers of the day) either because the local rustics continued to make do without newfangled handkerchiefs, or because the street urchins thumbed their noses at strangers passing through.
This was not an overly pleasant sight to witness, and to clear one’s nose “at” someone was a calculated insult. Even miming the gesture by raising the hand to the nose was insulting (as it is to this day).
Cocking a snook first appears as a description of this action in the late 18th century.
Snook is said to be derived from the name of Sevenoaks in Kent (so pronounced by fashionable London travellers of the day) either because the local rustics continued to make do without newfangled handkerchiefs, or because the street urchins thumbed their noses at strangers passing through.
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