Welcome to Good Mythical More. You made it, you’re here. And it turns out there’s a lot of gestures that we use here in America that if you use those same gestures in other parts of the world, people could be offended. And vice versa. And this is the type of thing that… It’s how culture works, This is the type of thing I need to know. So I don’t know. That’s probably true. So I don’t do it. But first random disturbing fact coming your way. There are anywhere between 25 to 50 active serial killers in the United States according to the FBI. Ugh. 25 To 50. Active. Active. Active. Of the approximate 15,000 murders committed annually in the US, 150, victims a year estimated to have been killed by serial killers. John Douglas, a former chief of the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit, told “People”. Capital People. Capital people. He just told people, anyone who would listen back in 2015, that those 150 murders might be attributed to the work of between 25 to 50 serial killers. How’s that make you feel? Well, the most disturbed of any random disturbing fact we’ve had, I think. Yeah. It’s unsettling, isn’t it? Yeah. I’m kind of wondering. I feel like that kind of makes sense, honestly. I just don’t like to think about it… Yeah, but like making sense of it. If you’re a person who would kill someone, chances are you would kill more people than people who don’t kill people. Eh, I don’t know. And also, it just means that there’s one or two, there’s less than one per state. Like there’s… Okay, that helps, thank you. Every serial killer’s got like a two state territory. Okay. So, you’re kind of like, eh. Well, yeah, we probably have like a NorCal and a SoCal. Well, the thing is, is that this is a big state with a lot of people. So we probably have three or four. Okay. Yeah. A mid Cal. But what are the chance, if we run into ’em, you know. California attracts the weirdos. I mean, why do you think we are here? I mean, what are the chances that one of them’s just like in our studio right now. What if one of them’s a mythical beast? Like sitting at this producer’s table back here, you know. Stevie, are you looking at somebody? Yeah. No, nobody here is a serial killer. But most serial killers. Yeah say that with more conviction. They present like they’ve got it all together, man. Ted Bundy was this nice guy, you know, I mean, one of us could be a serial killer and would the other one know? I mean, I may be hiding it from you and my family. Yeah. And everyone else. Don’t say that, but I do think, but has a serial killer ever watched our content and… Oh for sure. For sure. It’s hard to avoid. Well, I just feel like I need to… It’s hard to avoid. Hey. You… Have we become a target? serial killer. Just stop it. Don’t say anything to challenge his ego. ‘Cause it’s almost assuredly a man. True. Just don’t, just be like, “Hey, I’m glad”, just be like, “Glad you enjoy the show. Keep watching.” You know what I’m saying? Like, “Watch the show instead of kill people.” Like, “More GMM, less mayhem” Less killing Less killing people. So many lives saved just now. Okay. I want to tell everyone, that we are not intending to offend anyone with the hand gestures we’re about to show. We’re just learning here. So please, don’t be offended if you’re the serial killer that’s watching. Don’t be offended. Okay? Sure. I was gonna say, exceptions. Yeah, we don’t wanna offend you. Okay. I know this one. You know, like. First one, is the stop hand sign. Stop hand? Yeah. Like “Stop!” “Stop!”. Well, like giving someone the hand, that’s offensive here, right? No. Like. No, it’s not offensive. Maybe like…. Yeah. Like you’re directing a car. Talk to the hand. If you say talk to the hand. You’re fully extending your arm and there’s no bend in your elbow. I feel like that’s going to an extreme. This is like more of a… This is showing someone this part of your hand. Yeah, yeah, yeah. In some culture. This is offensive. Yeah. So it’s in Greece. What do you think it means if you do that in Greece? What could that mean? Like, just picture yourself there. You know, you’re probably in a nice, every, all the buildings are so pretty. You got the ocean. You know what I’ve been doing with this hand? Do you know the places I’ve stuck this hand? I’m making you look at it. Could it be, smell my hand? ‘Cause I know in some cultures showing someone the bottom of your foot is offensive. Right? And I think in several places, so like if you, in America, we tend to just like, we put our feet up on things, we cross our legs, we show you the bottom of our foot, we leave our shoes on inside. We have no manners. Right? No decorum. But showing somebody the bottom of your foot is offensive somewhere. And I don’t know why. So this feels similar. You’re not supposed to see this man. It’s too white. I kind of need to know so that I can apply it. You’re trying to communicate something though. I need this. You know, like, it’s not, it’s all these hand gestures are like, you know, we give someone the bird and it’s, you know, F U. I don’t know what it. So like what… I don’t know what it means. So like, what are you trying to… Up yours maybe. Yeah like that type of thing The bird means go to hell. Do you think? That’s what I was told as a child. What’d you say? But nothing Bird means go to hell. Nothing about the physicality of raising this finger. Oh. That’s an interesting. I don’t, I think it just means “screw you” basically. Yeah. Yeah. Your options are, “this food you prepared is delicious”. What? That wouldn’t be offensive. “You’re wishing ill upon them”. Or “Good job” Guys. How about the second one? Yeah. Or good job. I think it’s good job. That makes sense. It’s just like I’m casting a spell of dispersion on you. Urgh You know what I’m saying? Spell of dispersion. A spell of dispersion. So you’ll disperse your seeds. Well that’s the answer, right? Yeah. You’re wishing ill upon them. Cursing them. The meaning stems from ancient times. But specifically during the Byzantine empire, prisoners would be dragged through the streets and onlookers would use this gesture to smear cinder all over the wrong doer’s faces to worsen their ridicule. Oh, oh. And so then it turned into, ah, I don’t have to do that. Let’s do this. I don’t have any cinder. I don’t want to touch the… I don’t wanna my hands dirty, just, you know what I mean? I would be doing this if I had some and I was…whatever. Don’t do that in Greece. I think… That’s actually super interesting. Amy, didn’t you just come back from Greece? I did, yeah. Did you do that? I don’t think so. Did you wave at anybody? ‘Cause you offended a lot of people. I think if you…Okay. This is the first one that… I’ve never heard of a gesture… This is the first one. and understood the origin of it. The fact that it was, it literally was a thing that was being done that was offensive in like somebody’s face, that got downgraded to the easy version. I wonder if all bad hand gestures are like that. I bet they do. Wow. Learning things. Let’s get another. I was trying to look up the origin of just like the middle finger, but it’s somewhat ambiguous, somewhat unknown. – Okay. It says it was used in ancient times as a symbol of sexual intercourse in a manner meant to degrade. Okay. Hmm Well it does kind of look like a cock and balls. Okay. Crossing your fingers. What does this mean in Vietnam? Ooh. I don’t know. Toward the person? Is there a motion involved? No. Is there a twisting? I’m so fascinated by this because… it’s almost a corollary for, this is offensive words, right? So you’ve got, like…roll with me on this for a second. So you’ve got things that are curse words, which is literally just sounds that we have determined. First of all, all language is just sound that we have attached meaning to. Yes. Right? And then you can be like, okay, “I’m gonna say the F word in America and that’s gonna be offensive”. And maybe it means like something, like it’s a food somewhere else or whatever. Right? Yeah. I love, Yeah, that’s funny. Right? And… I’d love to eat a good F word, But it kind of just shows you that all this is just completely invented. We just commonly agree. Culture, man. I’m not saying that you should not be offended by these things ’cause they’re not, because they’re meaningless. I’m saying that because they’re technically meaningless and we’ve attached meaning to them as a culture within that culture it actually is offensive. If it offends enough people, by definition, it is offensive. Do you know what I’m saying? Well, also the, That’s kinda crazy. meaning behind the thing is the offensive part. Right? That helps. It’s not, Yeah. So like, you know, the intention of the person. Intent. The intent, Yeah. The intent and the meaning behind it. Right. But you lose the reason why. And you just know it represents something that you’re supposed to make you mad. I guess what I’m saying is, there’s a part of me… It’s like people in Greece. that wants to say, “This is ridiculous.” “Oh, that’s not offensive.” No, but if we start saying that you can’t use your hands to offend people, then where do we go next? Then we’ve gotta really start rubbing stuff in their face. You know what I’m saying? By having something that’s a representation of something that means ill intent, we can keep it in our hands and in our words without having to take it into physical action. That’s the beauty of it. So it’s not meaningless. It’s actually a great way to like modulate humanity. This…that’s beautiful, Rhett. Well, I’m just, you know, it’s just a realization. This seems like a censored bird to me. I think this is, I mean, when you… when you wrap your fingers around each other, I still don’t quite know what answers we’re looking for. We’re looking for a historical origin? Like no. We’re looking for what it means. It just means… I guess my point is so many of the things that are offensive to us, like the bird, I don’t know why, I just know that it is offensive. No, but the meaning behind flashing the bird is “screw you”, etc. But when I see it. So if someone held this up to you in Vietnam, it would also have a rude… It could mean… intention. You’ll never find a partner. Okay. I think this means “mama’s boy”. Okay. Because it sort of looks like. “Oh…” Valid. “you never separated from your mother.” Okay. The options are “don’t cross me”, Don’t you cross me. Too obvious. A inappropriate word for female genitalia. Okay. Or like degrading way to say you wanna hook up with someone. I think it’s the fe…here, take a look at that. Take a look at that angle. Female genitalia. You got a crooked vagina? You’ve got a crooked vagina. I don’t even have to look at it to know. It’s, Yeah, it’s the equivalent of calling someone the C word in… Okay Yeah. Yeah. What do you think? I have a friend who is from a different country. Good for you man. Branching out. And uses the C word when he really, really wants to say that somebody’s bad. That’s, that’s the worst. But it’s controversial obviously, because you’re equating somebody with a term for the female anatomy, which is a sexist, thing like calling somebody who’s not as tough calling a P word. Right? So are you asking should you confirm? I’m asking Stevie as a woman, if that is offensive to you? If somebody gets mad and calls somebody the C word are you like, “Don’t use that”. And before you answer… I’m asking you to represent all women. I would like, yeah you are representing all… Right? And give the definitive answers so that we two boys can just take it and just roll with it. Well I will say this has come up on “Best Friends Back, Alright!” Oh Yes. But in the context that I’ve always thought the C word was like the worst curse word. Right. And I never ever, ever say it, But a lot of, Brits use it constantly, almost like, I mean, I say the F word all the time if you listen to the podcast, but I never say the C word. And it’s hard for me to… use it. I don’t think because it’s related to, female anatomy necessarily. Just because, it seems like quite possibly the worst curse word. Do you you feel that way? Yeah. Well, no. And he explained, and so he’s from Australia and he explained, he’s like, when you say that word in a conversation, everyone in America, especially, like stops and is like, “He just said the C word” and he’s like, it has power and I use it, I use it because of the power that it has in this cultural context. Yeah. So I just found it fascinating and I’m, same way. That’s the worst curse word in my book. I never say it, never go there. I rarely use curse words colloquially because of, you know, my extensive upbringing in not using them. The majority of my life was trained to not use any curse words. So I usually use ’em in a party party environment. It’s just party talk. That’s what I call it. Like party talk man. All I’m doing is party talk. I get potty mouth in party talk. But actually this morning I was, I was talking to Lily, she asked me something and it really… It brought up something that I was angry about that had nothing to do with her. So to express my anger, I actually used the F word. Yeah. And her eyes got a little bigger and it was like, She knew that I was… She was like, “Wow, I didn’t mean to upset you.” I’m like, “No, I just wanna let you know” When I’m upset with you, you C word. I just want…No. I just wanna let you know, I was just conveying how upset I am about this and I’m actually glad you brought it up so that you. That’s the purpose of curse words. Yeah. It was like, it was… The overuse of curse words takes the away the power and the under use, you’re not accessing the power. We’ve actually as we kind of get older… Like, bringing female anatomy into it, I think is… That complicates it. But we’ve introduced like we curse freely in front of the children and have for years. That’s super interesting ’cause back to Link’s upbringing thing. If I as a kid ever heard my parents curse at all and towards me, if I heard them use the F word that would be huge. Like that would devastate me. We’re not really cursing towards them. I’m saying that if I am upset about something or was passionately talking about something or Jessie is, or whatever, it’s just like if I would use the F word or whatever in front of friends, then I will do it in front of my kids, because in my mind it’s just like, first of all, it’s a lot different here than it is in North Carolina. But second of all, A, this is how they’re all talking to their friends already. I already know that. And they’re talking and cursing more than I do in my everyday life. But I’m just saying, this is, I mean when we were with friends we would. We would use some naughty words. In one sense. I’m modeling it, not on purpose, but I’m just like, yeah, I use it when the weight of the word will carry more weight on when I’m communicating. Like, and I tell them And I tell me, if I overhear them talking to their friends and it’s just like “F this, F that” I’m like, “Hey, you know, I don’t have any problem with you cursing. Like cursing is just an way of talking. But just word of advice, if you become someone who is constantly cursing, the cursing will lose its power” and they’ll be like, “Hm, okay.” I don’t know if they curse any less, but I’m saying that’s, it’s not “Don’t curse cursing is bad” ‘Cause why is cursing bad? That doesn’t make any sense. Cursing is a tool. You may misuse that tool, but it’s just a tool. I also think, and. You’re a tool. A way to, you’re talking to the serial killer, back to one of our mini mythical podcasts that we have on “Best Friends Back, Alright!” It’s a way to kind of convey, the tone of this conversation is casual, and friendly, and laid back. That’s true. And that is why, you’ll hear, the use of curse words in this setting. Which I know that you also do a bit on “Ear Biscuits”. Yeah we have a podcast called “Ear Biscuits” where we will curse at times. You know. If you’re into that, if you’re into cursing. Listen to all of our podcasts. Is Trevor cursing on “Trevor Talks Too Much”? I mean, I think that, you know, you’ll have to listen to all the episodes of “Trevor talks too much” Well Megan just gave us a strong nod. My dad will curse on “Dispatches from Myrtle Beach”. On the audio and not the video. Yeah, and people ask “Why do you censor the cursing on ‘Ear Biscuits’ on video or anywhere?” YouTube. That’s why. So if you listen, if you wanna listen to it only well you can hear the dirty words. Stevie since we’re, this is a great conversation, can we deliver on… Let’s just roll through. Rattle these off. This next one, I think you know. No more game. I just want know. So the peace sign. But like, palm facing in, you know this one for UK, Ireland, Australia. It’s two birds. It’s the double bird. It’s like, Yeah, it’s the same meaning as the middle finger. So that’s offensive there. Okay. Does it represent?… It kind of looks the other thing? It looks a little bit like a. A “V” I’m just saying. That’s probably why. This one, this pointing your right index finger at your left group fingertips. This is complex. In many Arab and Caribbean countries. I’ve never seen this before, but it means you have five fathers which alludes to your mother… Oh, it’s like your mama jokes. being promiscuous. Yeah. Yeah. Five. That’s like, you have to go through a lot of trouble to… I think this represents the egg and this represents the five sperms. Alright. And then this one I think you’re probably familiar with as well. The thumbs up in the Middle East and Europe. Yeah, it’s like sit and spin basically. Yeah, it’s like up yours. Yeah. Pfft pfft. Which is even worse than the middle finger ’cause the thumbs got more girth. But two thumbs. Yeah. Yeah. Up ours. Like if you go to the proctologist, he’s like, “Today I’m doing my thumb.” You gonna, He’s like, “It’s thumb Thursday.” Yeah. Don’t show up on Thursdays. So it was you… You don’t wanna go in on a Wednesday, if you know what I mean. Whoa I get it, Stevie. I get it, I get it. You know what, it starts with the W. No, it’s hump day. Oh yeah. Well yeah, yeah. Same thing. Be sure to check out all of our mythical podcasts like “Ear Biscuits”, “Best Friends Back, Alright!” with Stevie, “Dispatches from Myrtle Beach” with Link and his dad and more. All available anywhere you get your podcasts.