Thumbs Up to Pollice Verso

I’m sure that you already know that the presidents of gladiatorial games in Ancient Rome, Emperors and other members of the imperial family and the gentry (probably) never used a thumbs down gesture to indicate that the loser of a contest would not be having the chance of going for the best out of three. Instead, the gesture used was possibly the thumb sticking out to the side, indicative of the fatal slash about to be made to the loser’s throat. The reason why the thumbs down myth gained the traction that it has is largely due to a 19th century painting by Jean-Leon Gerome. There was a print of it up in one of the rooms in my primary school – which probably tells a lot of what you need to know about the English primary school in the early 70s. The title of the painting is Pollice Verso – or – Thumb Turned (often give as thumbs down.)

You know, I do find it very interesting the way our memories can use pegs to hold on to juicy bits of information. For a long time I’ve known that hallux and pollex were medical names for big toe and thumb. It was a pair of league questions that did the rounds for quite a long time. But which was which? It was one of those pairs where I would often get confused between the two. Until I remembered Pollice Verso – Pollice clearly being derived from Pollex – which made it a case of thumbs up from me to thumbs down.

When it’s followed by a Bank Holiday I play in a Sunday evening quiz in Pontardawe with my friends Curig and Sian. I can’t do it when I’m working the next day – on a work night if I don’t get to bed by 10pm at the latest then I’m good for nothing the next day. Curig was my head of department at work for many a long year. Sian wasn’t. Sian was a nurse, and so when we were asked “What is the hallux?” she immediately leapt in with ‘Bunion.” Which is actually a good example of knowing too much. For a hallux valgas is a bunion, which kind of makes sense when you know what a bunion is. I insisted on big toe. Just as well it was right. Could have been a nasty moment.

Coming back to recall and memory pegs, one other question we were asked was – Who was the Chancellor of Germany from 1998 – 2005? Now, I will admit that as soon as the first five words of the question were asked I was thinking “Willy Brandt”. As soon as the rest of the question was asked I knew it was Gerhard Schröder. “I think I know, “ said Curig. “It’s not Willy Brandt.” I replied. He’s a good mate so I can get away with acting like a cock like this sometimes. Interestingly the team next to us, who came second, also put down Willy Brandt. Who was never Chancellor of reunified Germany, only West Germany, and had been so a good thirty years prior to the dates given. But – give the number of times that a question containing the words Chancellor and Germany does want the answer of Willy Brandt, it’s a very understandable answer to give.

Incidentally, ‘Pollice Verso’ inspired the director Sir Ridley Scott to make the film “Gladiator” in which Joaquin Phoenix’ emperor Commodus is seen using the thumbs down gesture. A case of art imitating art, I suppose. Print the legend.