V Sign - Other Uses

Other Uses

• In Argentina, the V sign, besides "victory", is linked to a political movement, the Peronismo.
• University of Southern California and Villanova University students, alumni, and fans "throw their Vs up" in tradition and as a sign of pride of their university and athletic teams.
• V sign, especially when printed in green, is a sign of the Iranian Green Movement.
• After the first elections in Iraq after the U.S. Invasion, a well known photo was circulated of a woman showing the V sign with one of her fingers dipped in purple ink. The ink is used to identify individuals who have already voted.
• In Poland during the Solidarity movement, protesters showed the V sign meaning they would defeat Communism. After partially free elections, when Tadeusz Mazowiecki was chosen as prime minister (August 24, 1989), he went to the MPs with the V sign, which was transmitted on TV. It is sometimes shown during debates about the fall of Communism.
• In Romania the sign represents victory and has been used as an extension of the roman salute to announce that victory has been achieved. It was used heavily during the Romanian revolution after the ousting of Nicolae Ceausescu. Mircea Dinescu is appearing in the first transmission of the Romanian Television after the revolutionaries occupied it shouting "We won!" and flashing the victory sign.
• During the Yugoslav Wars, Croatian and Bosnian troops and paramilitary militia used the sign as a greeting or an informal salute. U.S. and NATO peacekeepers stationed in Bosnia were forbidden to use the V-sign (peace symbol) to avoid upsetting or offending Serbs they might encounter.
• In Vietnam, the V sign means "hello" since the Vietnamese word for the number "2" sounds like the English pronunciation of the greeting "hi".
• In the TV miniseries V, the symbol is frequently used by the resistance to signify victory against the visitors.