Using fingers as gestures can get you into trouble. I remember when President Nixon visited England and gave the “V for Victory” sign with his hand pointed the wrong way. In England that is like giving the “One finger salute”. It did not go over well but then that was Nixon! One step from reality.



>yup, that was the case. Rules are rules, right? When I enter this country, I have to follow the rules, even if I don't agree with them, and I should not give a finger to anyone who's enforcing that rule, right? Even following all the rules, it's always an unpleasant experience passing through the borders, because as soon as they see you're not an American, they'll always look at you and treat you as if you were the bad guy (yeah, yeah, I know about the security thing, but still, it *is* unpleasant).
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>And nope, both the crew *and* the passengers were laughing.
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>>Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that incident was when the American Airlines pilot was photographed at the airport as part of a newly imposed requirement for U.S. citizens entering Brazil. As I understand it, Brazil was imposing the rule in retaliation for similar rules in the U.S. requiring photographs of all citizens of other countries entering the U.S. requiring VISAS. I also understand that American Airlines apologized to the Brazilian government, the airport authorities, the police, and anyone else who may have been offended. From what I understand, the crew laughed but NOT the passengers.