Rarely is the gesture of a single finger ever interpreted as anything except someone wishing the worst things to happen to you or your mother. Or both. Regardless of culture, language or age. Except in the country where a single, brief wave of a finger off the steering wheel is understood by rural folk to mean something completely different again. In some respects it is akin a secret handshake. A city driver might see a finger waved in his general direction and think he is not welcome. What could it possibly mean? But for the country driver it is the silent equivalent of a slap on the back by a friend. It says “I see you, and even though I might not know your name I know your rustic delights and I share your country burdens. I know the distances between paddocks and the gaps in the bank statements. I understand the fickleness of seasons and the constancy of steadfast neighbours. I know the dust and I understand the verdant richness of a hearty season. I know you, my fellow traveler, even I don’t know your name and don’t know where you are from or where you are going.”
Of course sometimes you do know it is Fred from the other side of Six Mile Creek. The aforementioned is transmitted and received in the wave of the finger but so too an acknowledgment that generations of farming have bound us together in this place. And that I know your kids are nicking apples from my orchard but since you were kind enough to help me with the rabbit baiting I will keep my mouth shut, and smile as the dust swirls around our vehicles, rapidly hiding us as we slide past each other.
The timing of the lifted finger is a science and art all in itself. Too early and the passing driver will not see it. Leave it until you can see the driver and it is too late – you see his lifted finger and know he has not seen yours – he will think you are rude (perhaps), or worse, a city driver uninitiated into this friendly and open code of greeting. Just how much the timing is critical only really became apparent as I tried to coach Pete in the finer art of the lifted finger. On the long stretches of the outback there are too few vehicles to practise on. And it is not the timing which is critical either. The lift needs to be carefully casual and relaxed. Not a wave. Not two, or three fingers, just one. Hand does not leave the wheel. Country folk are undemonstrative after all, and fancy waving just does not cut any extra ice. All that needs to be said only needs to be said in one digit alone.
I like driving in the country, and lift my finger to it every time I clear city limits.
Hear, hear. I am in total agreement (for the first time). Back in my college days, we would discuss at great length the etiquette of the finger wave. The secret experienced and observed in the country is “less is more”. Too much and the opposite driver can mistake the gesture and be unduly alarmed – thought of as “a few sandwiches short of the picnic”. Not enough, and you run the risk of being thought rude, or worse, a bit of a snob (and before you know it people are talking about you behind your back).
This can be tricky as to who you wave the finger at. If you’re going to work in the country for a period of time, whether you know the person or not, it is polite and good manners to acknowledge any fellow traveler on the road or working in a field. This can be important as you never know when you might have to call on that person for help or assistance.
A slight rise of the index/fore finger helps as an unspoken ice-breaker to a new conversation. “I saw you working the paddock along the road yesterday.” “That’s right, I saw you in your white ute.”
There is one exception to the “less is more” rule. When anyone is driving a tractor or a truck along the road the driver is free to raise the hand off the wheel holding up an open hand. I believe this is a rite of passage for large vechicles on the road, or a salute to fellow workers. It maybe okay to salute a farmer on a tractor.
But be very careful not to cross the line with a truck.
Truck driver are in a class of their own on the road. Unless you are truck stay cool and return the salute with a very polite fore finger point.
Long live the country finger.
So what happens when you don’t get it right and you can ‘hear’ all the comments of the driver who has just passed you? Your ‘ears burn’ and you know that he has glanced in the rear view mirror to check the number plate or dogs tied up on the tray to see if he recognises you. In this day and age you also know that he hasn’t seen your rifle lying hidden under a canvas cover on the dash board so there is an automatic assumption that you are not a local.
The answer? Buy a GME UHF radio, leave it on channel 40, pick it up and have a yarn about weather, where you are heading and have a whinge about those city drivers out here who don’t know how to raise a finger!