# world's smallest violin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 24, 2001, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin/51527 "2001-01-24T07:36:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![They\_Call\_Me\_Sneeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@They\_Call\_Me\_Sneeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/They_Call_Me_Sneeze)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin/51527/1 "2001-01-24T07:36:21Z")
Whenever my mom starts waxing poetic about her childhood (“And I had to slog my way through a alligator filled-bog every day just to get to school, and since my parents were too poor to buy me shoes I had to wrap my feet in wax paper, yadda yadda deeda”), I find that the quickest way to shut her up is to show her the gesture whereby I rub my thumb against my middle finger. I only kind of know why this is a good thing to do when people are complaining about something, or looking for sympathy. When I rub said appendages, I know that I am “playing the world’s smallest violin.” But what am i playing? A regular, run-of-the-mill song? A dirge? Or is it something specific? And why is that an appropriate gesture for such a situation as outlined above? Should I have to play this violin for people unfamiliar with the gesture, what, exactly, should I say I am doing (“Here, I’m playing you a song on the world’s smallest violin.”?), and WHY am I doing it? Whereforth does all this violin nonsense come from? I want to be able to insult people in an educated manner. ---
**Author:** ![Moonshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Moonshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonshine)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin/51527/2 "2001-01-24T11:34:58Z")
I’ve wondered about that too, here in England many people add ‘Here’s the world’s smallest violin playing My Heart Bleeds For You’