Up Yours Josh : How a Sleepy Taiwanese Seaside Village is Learning English

  Pinky fingers in the classic 'up yours' position have revitalized a Taiwanese seaside town in Southern Taiwan, named Fenggang. This is especially great news since Fenggang only had one birth all of last year. 

   The up yours craze has even extended to the village elder.  He was rocking on his  gray and yellow rocking chair while half-asleep and pointed his pinky finger towards the sky when he  saw our team's cameras yesterday afternoon, while lipping some indistinguishable noises. A Junior High student at Frank's Aerodynamic English School, the only student in the high level,said he hasn't seen the town united like this since the day that the same town elder taught all fourteen kids in town how to draw stick figures.

The hysteria around the up yours sign` began when a foreign English teacher was looking for a way to pass his time at a school of thirteen students, Frank's Aerodynamic English School. He usually spent his mornings trying not to laugh when the First Grade class was assigned the monumental task of sweeping the floors. It was always certain within two minutes, Timmy and Sam would utilize their brooms, meant for serious cleaning, to initiate a raucous pretend firefight with each other; as boys in every country of the world tend to do.

Once the pretend firefights and the absurdness of students shorter than the brooms they carried attempted cleaning; ceased to keep Teacher Josh's sanity one morning, his instincts led him to the idea of learning some basic sign language, including the letter J in his name. He learned  immediately that the signing of the letter J looked eerily similar to signing someone up yours.That is because when you sign the letter J you basically write the bottom half of a U with your pinky finger in the air.The idea of students like first graders, who he named, King Ed, John Cena, Coco, and a couple of other raucous farmer kids unknowingly flipping him the bird was the perfect cure to a boring winter Monday in Fenggang. He immediately decided his students must learn to salute him from this day forward by voicing and signing Hello Josh; with the swooping pinky being the most critical component.The prophecies of a Biblical Joshua could never have ventured to predict the ensuing chaos that would shock Fenggang, all from the sign language letter J.

Parents all across Southern Taiwan are 

happy these days about the chaos- happy like they would be if they were told they never have to work again; that is because their kids are speaking the English, as most villager parents put it. The parents are OK with it being just one word. 

From waist-high kids with pirate patches covering one eye for absolutely no health reasons like King Ed, to sixth graders who are overly obsessed with playing the computer game Fortnight and hating the world, kids are saying and singing with their spirally pinky, Josh. The boredom at  Frank's Aerodynamic English school is a distant memory for Teacher Josh, and its students. If you ask any one of the fourteen kids at school, "How are you," as sure as it used to be that they would say ,"I'm fine thank you, and you," they will answer you while saying and signing the letter J, " JOSH!!!"  For added effect, the first and second graders will let their pinky fly as close to the sky as possible when they answer your How are you questions, with a rousing jump and a yell ”JOSH!!!"

The hysteria doesn't just stop with a question and answer of:"How are you: JOSH!!!" If you ask one of those same easy to stumble first and second grade waddlers their name,  surely they will respond , "JOSH!!!" It clearly does not matter to them their answer is irrelevant. 

If teacher Josh turns his back to write on the board, it is absolutely certain that they will all seize this opportunity to turn to each other, and yell and sign, Josh. Some of them have the dearest amount of braveness in their attempts to say Josh, but unfortunately it sounds more like Johhhhh, with a bit of spit parachuting from their teeth, for the grand finale of syllables. Be fully confident that a bit of saliva between the Feng and the Gang on their uniform that jumps down to their chest will not deter them from giving it a second and third slippery attempt. It should also be noted that they are never answering any question that necessitates the word ,Josh; when they valiantly attempt to master that elusive final  -sh sound, in the word Josh.

   As the students climb the age bracket, they are more clearly mimicking a much more derogatory action when their pinky fingers spiral towards the earthquake-damaged ceiling of their English classroom. Teacher Josh believes that them saying "Eff you"with their pinky finger is just a battle not worth fighting . Besides, it is absolutely hilarious to watch their devilish eyes as they realize they are getting away with it.

   The manager at the nearest McDonald's, forty five  minutes away by scooter,chimed in as well. He also reports that the Josh craze has helped their village, of Hengchun. He says that people of all ages are hearing students like King Ed, John Cena, and the rest of the clan speak so much, Josh; that even old ladies are now speaking English. 

Many happy customers are going into Mcdonald's to celebrate that they can finally speak the English; even if it is only one word. The manager did show a bit of disgust however as he recapped  a story of how he tried to find out if two eighty year old grandma's wanted ketchup on their fries, and they just looked at each other with a giggle, and jumped higher than his own head as they signed the letter J while shouting , "JOSH!"

The Josh sign , has also brought joy across entire families. Our favorite Fenggang student,  King Ed, was also recently taken to McDonald's of Hengchun for a celebration; since he is also speaking the English , as his Dad put it. This is especially good news that King Ed is achieving a little bit of success in the classroom. That is because King Ed's PE teacher was rather harsh on him last quarter. His teacher wrote on his progress report that King Ed couldn't catch a set of felt dice if he opened his hands for him, then placed the dice in his hands, and glued his hands to the dice. King Ed would still drop it; and somehow manage fits of laughter afterwards. 

King Ed's Dad was also elated because now King Ed can speak a little English -meaning he can say Josh; so now Dad won't have to drive him ninety minutes by tractor to Hengchun for English lessons.

There you have it. An entire town is saying Josh; mostly because it is an excuse to make the classic `up yours` motion.

By the way, the real location of this town can only be seen on the North Pole.:)