Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2018 February 24

= February 24 =

Hand gesture
What's the name of this hand gesture, palm clapping the fist? It's an invitation for sex, like shocker, but can't google it out. Is it on the list of gestures? 212.180.235.46 (talk) 16:19, 24 February 2018 (UTC)
 * It's also missing from obscene gesture. I don't know if there's a name, but I suppose it's closest to Bras d'honneur, in the sense that the fist is meant to mimic an erect penis. The same gesture (well, similar) has a non-obscene version meaning, roughly, "let's get to work" or "let's get started". Matt Deres (talk) 20:44, 26 February 2018 (UTC)

Pin curls
Watching a noir movie, The Third Man, I asked my wife how a female character got her hair looking that way in 1949. She said “pin curls.” I did not find mention of pin curls in Wikipedia. Is it covered under some other name? I found some results br Googling but they were random pictures or how-tos and nothing on the history of the style, famous actresses known for them and other encyclopedic coverage. Edison (talk) 21:25, 24 February 2018 (UTC)
 * Hair rollers? Sleigh (talk) 22:29, 24 February 2018 (UTC)
 * (e/c) I believe it's just another term for hair roller, specifically the type that has bristles, such as the two examples on the left here, rather than some other mechanism. Or, even more specifically, like the ones here, where the bristles are very pin like. Matt Deres (talk) 22:31, 24 February 2018 (UTC)
 * It's always refreshing to realise the limitations of WHAAOE. I found Encyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural History to be a starting point. Carbon Caryatid (talk) 23:44, 24 February 2018 (UTC)

The Third Man Best movie ever. μηδείς (talk) 02:37, 25 February 2018 (UTC)


 * Pin curls pre-date hair rollers! The basic idea is to roll the hair round a finger, then use a clip of some sort to keep the coil together until the hair dries. The "pin" was probably named from the bobby pin (hair grip in the UK) - though there are other types of clip which can be used (look for the duck-billed clip, if you can get past the platypus and the various ducks which Google will offer you first). Wymspen (talk) 14:38, 25 February 2018 (UTC)


 * Here is a video on how pin curls are done. Please note these are NOT done with hair rollers, it's a different technique using clips the video calls "sectioning clips", like these, though I believe that bobby pins (as noted above) could be used as well.  Wymspen is basically correct here, these are not hair rollers.  -- Jayron 32 17:37, 26 February 2018 (UTC)
 * What they are calling sectioning clips are elsewhere called duck-billed clips. Wymspen (talk) 14:46, 27 February 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the clarification! -- Jayron 32 15:13, 27 February 2018 (UTC)


 * So much for the how-tos. Anything on "the history of the style, famous actresses known for them and other encyclopedic coverage"? Carbon Caryatid (talk) 15:57, 27 February 2018 (UTC)