# Very TMI-"Two in the pink & one in the stink"- Is this gesture well known or obscure? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 26, 2005, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720 "2005-01-26T06:18:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Susie\_Derkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Susie\_Derkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susie_Derkins)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720/21 "2005-01-26T15:01:32Z")
When I was a teenager (late 80’s) the phrase was “six-packing”. Well, I’m not sure the act is exactly the same, but it’s darn sure similar! Didn’t hear of “the shocker” until the linked story came out. ---
**Author:** ![Balduran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Balduran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balduran)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720/22 "2005-01-26T15:08:44Z")
Never heard of it before. ---
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720/23 "2005-01-26T17:30:55Z")
“Two in the pooty, one in the booty.” Known about it for a long time. Never actually used it, as I like my genitals where they are. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720/24 "2005-01-26T17:39:02Z")
> [@Balduran](#): > > Never heard of it before. I’ve never heard of it before either. Like your username, though. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720/25 "2005-01-26T18:55:06Z")
Known it for years. ---
**Author:** ![Sengkelat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Sengkelat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sengkelat)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720/26 "2005-01-26T19:34:06Z")
I didn’t know what it meant till now. I saw the gesture just recently on an album cover, and was told, I think by my mom, “That’s a gang sign.” I just assumed she knew what she was talking about. Now I’m quite amused. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720/27 "2005-01-26T19:35:24Z")
Not known it before. But from the link I have seen the index and little finger salute often accompanied by sticking out of the tongue so that the finger pattern forms a frame arround the stuck out tongue. Don’t know if it is related to the three finger sexual salute. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720/28 "2005-01-26T20:42:44Z")
I hadn’t heard this version. At the end of the 60s we used it as a combined gesture to indicate fucking (middle finger) bullshit (outer fingers). (We also turned it around and held up the “peace sign”–with a little on the side.) ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720/29 "2005-01-26T20:46:06Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > I hadn’t heard this version. At the end of the 60s we used it as a combined gesture to indicate fucking (middle finger) bullshit (outer fingers). > > (We also turned it around and held up the “peace sign”–with a little on the side.) Ooo! We found one thing \*\*tomndebb \*\* doesn’t know! Make that \*didn’t \* know. (I’m not being mean, **tomndebb** , I’m just impressed at the number of things you know about. Maybe even more than \*\*Q.E.D.? \*\* Hey! You guys should have a competition.) ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720/30 "2005-01-26T21:25:19Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > Not known it before. > > But from the link I have seen the index and little finger salute often accompanied by sticking out of the tongue so that the finger pattern forms a frame arround the stuck out tongue. Don’t know if it is related to the three finger sexual salute. Seems like an excellent accompaniment to me. ---
**Author:** ![RainGrowsBrite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@RainGrowsBrite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RainGrowsBrite)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720/31 "2005-01-26T22:14:32Z")
This is most popular where I live- been known as the shocker for years. You can see people [sporting](http://www.bigshocker.com/)[the](http://www.tomorrowideation.com/getoffended/Shirtpages/shocker.html)[t-shirts](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3064&item=6738745526&rd=1#ebayphotohosting) and stickers plastered onto every sign as far as the eye can see. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720/32 "2005-01-26T22:41:33Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > First I’ve ever heard of it. New to me, too. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720/33 "2005-01-26T22:47:28Z")
Never heard of this before. But I’ve heard of a similar gesture. In the 70s I went to a Star Trek convention here in Chicago. Arlene Martel, the actress who played T’Pring in “Amok Time”, said that she couldn’t make the usual Vulcan gesture, so she used a variant: the same as the Vulcan gesture, but with the ring finger bent and touching the thumb (I don’t actually remember seeing her use it in the episode, though). IOW, the same as this rude gesture, but palm out and hand raised vertically straight. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720/34 "2005-01-27T03:50:17Z")
> [@Susie Derkins](#): > > When I was a teenager (late 80’s) the phrase was “six-packing”. Well, I’m not sure the act is exactly the same, but it’s darn sure similar! Didn’t hear of “the shocker” until the linked story came out. The “Six Pack” was two fingers and a thumb around here. I’d never heard of the Shocker until this thread, but I kinda been out of the “cool lingo” loop for a while. It might be common among kids here now. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720/35 "2005-01-27T17:13:10Z")
Yes, and dammit I wish the craze would die down. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720/36 "2005-01-27T17:35:58Z")
Yes, I’ve heard of it. I heard of it…five? years ago when I started college. I can’t view the link, since I’m at work, so I have no idea what’s there, but here are a few rhymes I learned about it: “Two in the pink, one in the stink” “Two in the junk. one in the trunk.” “Two in the goo, one in the poo.” Immature? Hels yes. However, when one is drunk, this is apparanty one of the funnieast things ever. Thankfully, the only girls I ever did it too (by “did it” I mean show the symbol and maybe make a rhyme, not actuall perform the act) were either close friends or girlfriends who had a good enough sense of humor to not slap me in the face. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720/37 "2005-01-27T17:44:59Z")
Interestingly, I had never heard of the gesture, or [CollegeHumor.com](http://CollegeHumor.com), until last night when I was reading [this _New Yorker_ article.](http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?050124fa_fact2) Quoting the article, "A key to college humor, the four have realized, is that students like to think they belong to a small in-crowd that understands the joke, while the public at large remains clueless. … [A]nother familiar trope of contemporary college humor is a hand gesture known as the shocker, in which the ring finger of the hand is held down by the thumb while the remaining three fingers stay rigid. “No one over the age of twenty-five knows what it means, but I guarantee you that ninety per cent of college students know what it is,” Josh said. " ---
**Author:** ![Balduran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Balduran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balduran)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720/38 "2005-01-27T18:07:14Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Like your username, though. Thanks 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720/39 "2005-01-27T18:25:27Z")
Never heard of it. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mermaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@The\_Mermaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mermaid)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720/40 "2005-01-27T19:16:35Z")
Over 25, heard it a long time ago. I’ve seen the gesture as a punch line to a joke that goes Q: How do you make a woman do a Flipper impersonation" A: I don’t know Q: Well you do this(make gesture) and she’ll go Uh oh uh oh uh oh If you’ve ever seen the show Flipper, you’ll know exactly the sound I’m referring to. Usually accompanied by vigorously swimming backward and away. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-tmi-two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink-is-this-gesture-well-known-or-obscure/286720.md?page=3)