I've got your nose

I've got your nose is a children's game in which a person pretends to pluck and remove the nose from the face of a baby or toddler by showing an object supposedly representing the stolen body part. It is meant as an illusion, since a person cannot easily observe the status of their own nose.[1]

"Got your nose" hand position, with tip of thumb representing the stolen "nose." However, this "fig sign" may be interpreted as offensive or obscene in certain cultures.

Description

Typically, the performing 'thief' of the act puts the knuckles of the index and middle fingers on either side of a child's nose.[2][3] The fingers are then withdrawn from the child's face with the thumb of the 'thief' protruding between the index and middle fingers, with the thumb representing the stolen nose. This motion is often accompanied by an exclamation such as, "I've got your nose!"[4]

The child may chase the nose thief to retrieve their nose or may retaliate by stealing the first person's (or someone else's) nose.[5][6] The 'nose' may then be replaced by pressing the thumb to the child's nose and withdrawing the hand, showing the child that the taker no longer possesses the child's nose.[2]

The hand position used when stealing a nose is also known as the fig sign, which can be viewed as an offensive or obscene gesture in certain cultures[7] such as in Japan, where it refers to copulation.[8]

Characteristics

This game is commonly played between children, as well as between adults (e.g. parents, grandparents, uncles) and their young relatives. Young children to the age of 2 or 3 often find the game amusing.[9] Cognitively, this is because three-year-olds have trouble recognising that a thing may look like one thing yet be another, whereas four-year-olds are twice as likely to have that ability.[10] The game is an example of teaching pro-social lying or playful deception to children.[11]

This game is found mainly in the English-speaking world, but also exists elsewhere. For instance in France, it is known as je t'ai volé [or piqué] ton nez ! ('I stole your nose').[12]

See also
  • Fig sign, a hand gesture similar to that used in this game, which may be related
  • Rhinotomy
  • "The Nose", 1836 short story by Nikolai Gogol about a St. Petersburg official whose nose leaves his face and develops a life of its own

References
  1. Barker, K. Brandon; Rice, Claiborne (2019-04-22). Folk Illusions: Children, Folklore, and Sciences of Perception. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-04112-8.
  2. Haws, Ileen. Nothin' 2 Do. 2008. p.46.
  3. Knipp, James (2019-02-12). Stuff Every Grandfather Should Know. Quirk Books. ISBN 978-1-68369-101-3.
  4. Tunneshende, Merilyn (2001-04-01). Don Juan and the Art of Sexual Energy: The Rainbow Serpent of the Toltecs. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-59143-844-1.
  5. Buxbaum, Martin L. (2010). Negotiations with the Sniper: Book One: The Seas of Athanasia. AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-4490-7352-7.
  6. Gooch, Brad (2009-02-25). Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor. Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-04065-5.
  7. Armstrong, Nancy; Wagner, Melissa (2015-05-19). Field Guide to Gestures: How to Identify and Interpret Virtually Every Gesture Known to Man. Quirk Books. ISBN 978-1-59474-849-3.
  8. Doherty-Sneddon, Gwyneth (2003). Children's Unspoken Language. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. ISBN 978-1-84310-120-8.
  9. Jones, Katina Z. The Everything Get Ready for Baby Book. 2007. p.235.
  10. Ostroff, Wendy. Understanding How Young Children Learn. 2012. p.69.
  11. Encyclopedia of Deception. Timothy R. Levine, ed. 2014. p.138.
  12. Moreau, Laurent. Le guide de survie du jeune papa. 2013. p.94.
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