what does the gesture used by La Zarra during Eurovision mean?

Saturday night, almost all eyes in the world were on theEurovision . And almost everyone saw the gesture made by La Zarra . Visibly dissatisfied with the result of the votes of the public in each country, the Quebec singer, representing France, first pretended not to be touched or surprised by the 50 points that were awarded to her, allowing her to finish 16th place overall. But in the seconds that followed, the interpreter ofObviously gave way to a sort of middle finger.

Read also“The gesture is absolutely not contempt or an insult”: Did La Zarra give the finger during Eurovision 2023? She explains herself

Since then, the controversy has continued to swell. On the night of Saturday to Sunday, La Zarra split a long message on her Instagram account. “In no way a middle finger. It’s a gesture of disappointment on my part which means “whatever” which could be translated as “so be it”. No more no less”, she ured. In fact, the exact name of his gesture is “toz”. From Arabic, this word, often mistaken for the contraction of “you” and “ose”, is the onomatopoeia of the noise of the fart, the equivalent in French of “prout”. If the toz is rarely used in this sense, it mainly means a formal refusal, a categorical rejection, indifference or exasperation.

The gesture of the toz is also distinguished from that of the finger of honor. Indeed, the toz is done with the middle finger raised but the hand open while the middle finger is done with the hand closed. However, contrary to what La Zarra defends, the toz can also be used as an insult. Some would not hesitate to use it to say “screw you!” or even worse.