A lesson on "gestures" for non-Texans

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Richard Linklater hooks 'emI was reading an AP wire story about Richard Linklater at the premiere of his film A Scanner Darkly at Cannes, and was a little surprised by the accompanying photo. Go have a look.

The photo caption begins: "American director Richard Linklater gestures as he attends a press conference ..."

Pop quiz: What exactly is that gesture? And how difficult would it be for the photographer or writer to figure it out? Couldn't they have asked Linklater?

If you're not a University of Texas sports fan, you might not know that the gesture is in fact the "Hook 'em Horns" sign made by loyal Longhorns everywhere. But I can't imagine that the Longhorn sign is unknown outside the state of Texas. You'd think after the U.S. President flashed the "Hook 'em" sign last year and was misinterpreted, that reporters would have learned about it by now.

I would love to know exactly why Linklater was making the sign during a Cannes press conference. Was it a little secret cheer that he figured only the Austinites would understand? Or was there some other context involved?

Obviously the point of this story is that someone needs to send me to Cannes the next time Linklater, or any other Austin filmmaker, happens to be there.

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