# Etymology of "Short-fingered vulgarian" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 11, 2016, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770 "2016-01-11T02:37:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/21 "2016-01-12T18:44:05Z")
And Kurt Andersen and Graydon Carter met when they both worked at Time magazine. Not sure either of them ever met Homer. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/22 "2016-01-12T19:11:33Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > And Kurt Andersen and Graydon Carter met when they both worked at Time magazine. Not sure either of them ever met Homer. You mean blind, bruise-covered Homer? ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/23 "2016-01-12T19:30:14Z")
Or perhaps fat, donut-eater Homer ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/24 "2016-01-31T22:18:02Z")
Good Gadfrey, he _does_ have one set of stumpy little fingers, doesn’t he? > **[A Gallery of the Most Startling Photos of Donald Trump's Shrimp Fingers](https://www.gawker.com/a-gallery-of-the-most-startling-photos-of-donald-trumps-1756117831)** > > It is not, as a rule, charitable to poke fun at another person’s physical shortcomings. However, when that person is both a public figure and a politician who actively and continually draws on the tenets of racism, misogyny and homophobia as a... I’ll bet he has to strain to reach a seventh chord when he plays th’ piano. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/25 "2016-01-31T22:27:12Z")
As I remarked in another thread, the epithet still rankles The Donald, to whom , according to Graydon Carter, who originally applied it, Trump still sends pictures of his hands: > [@](#): > > Just to drive him a little bit crazy, I took to referring to him as a “short-fingered vulgarian” in the pages of Spy magazine. That was more than a quarter of a century ago. To this day, I receive the occasional envelope from Trump. There is always a photo of him—generally a tear sheet from a magazine. On all of them he has circled his hand in gold Sharpie in a valiant effort to highlight the length of his fingers. I almost feel sorry for the poor fellow because, to me, the fingers still look abnormally stubby. The most recent offering arrived earlier this year, before his decision to go after the Republican presidential nomination. Like the other packages, this one included a circled hand and the words, also written in gold Sharpie: “See, not so short!” I sent the picture back by return mail with a note attached, saying, “Actually, quite short.” Which I can only assume gave him fits. > **[Steel Traps and Short Fingers](https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/10/graydon-carter-donald-trump)** > > In his November editor’s letter, Graydon Carter reveals the presidential candidate’s thin-skinned response to a favorite 25-year-old epithet. If this account is true (and I have no reason to doubt it), the hilarious part is that what Trump objects to is the “short-fingered” part. I guess he has no problem with the “Vulgarian” part. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/26 "2016-02-01T01:46:47Z")
Ah, the sad plight of the Queens _nouveau riches_, a searing envy for the long and elegant fingers of the true elite. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/27 "2016-02-01T01:48:39Z")
I know it probably doesn’t have anything to do with the history and meaning of the phrase but to me it envokes a vision of someone giving the “bird” and having such short fingers it really doesn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![ethelbert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@ethelbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ethelbert)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770/28 "2016-02-01T17:42:03Z")
When I saw this thread title, I assumed it was just a euphemistic translation of Fat Fingered F\*\*\*. I have heard this phrase (though not often), while I have never heard the phrase “short fingered vulgarian”. I’m not sure exactly what it means, except that it is most assuredly not complimentary, but it is great fun to say. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-short-fingered-vulgarian/742770.md?page=1)