I've got your nose

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. The fingers are then withdrawn from the child's face with the thumb of the 'thief' protruding between the index and middle fingers, with the thumb representing the stolen nose.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!"

The child may chase the nose thief to retrieve his nose, or, if he understands the game is a farce, may retaliate by "stealing" the first person's (or someone else's) nose. 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.

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 such as in Japan, where it refers to copulation, or Turkey, where it is the local version of the Western "middle finger" gesture.

Characteristics

This trick is commonly played by adults or older children (e.g. parents, grandparents, uncles, elder siblings) on their toddler relatives. Young children aged 2 or 3 often find the game amusing, or sometimes mildly distressing if they believe it is real. Cognitively, this is because many two- and three-year-olds have trouble recognizing that a thing may look like one thing yet be another, whereas four-year-olds are twice as likely to have that ability. The game is an example of teaching pro-social lying or playful deception to children.

Young children past toddlerhood may also play this with each other as a game of pretend; in this case they are aware that their nose is not actually being stolen.

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').

References

References

1. (2019-04-22). "Folk Illusions: Children, Folklore, and Sciences of Perception". Indiana University Press.
2. Haws, Ileen. [https://books.google.com/books?id=UgklAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22got+your+nose%22+thumb&pg=PA46 Nothin' 2 Do]. 2008. p.46.
3. Knipp, James. (2019-02-12). "Stuff Every Grandfather Should Know". Quirk Books.
4. Tunneshende, Merilyn. (2001-04-01). "Don Juan and the Art of Sexual Energy: The Rainbow Serpent of the Toltecs". Simon and Schuster.
5. Buxbaum, Martin L.. (2010). "Negotiations with the Sniper: Book One: The Seas of Athanasia". AuthorHouse.
6. Gooch, Brad. (2009-02-25). "Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor". Little, Brown.
7. (2015-05-19). "Field Guide to Gestures: How to Identify and Interpret Virtually Every Gesture Known to Man". Quirk Books.
8. Doherty-Sneddon, Gwyneth. (2003). "Children's Unspoken Language". Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
9. (August 2024)
10. Ostroff, Wendy. [https://books.google.com/books?id=7yxTwdnOLpYC&dq=%22got+your+nose%22+thumb&pg=PA69 Understanding How Young Children Learn]. 2012. p.69.
11. [https://books.google.com/books?id=iRJzAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22got+your+nose%22+thumb&pg=PA138 Encyclopedia of Deception]. [[Timothy R. Levine]], ed. 2014. p.138.
12. Moreau, Laurent. [https://books.google.com/books?id=P--MM6gVS5UC&dq=%22je+t%27ai+pique+ton+nez%22&pg=PA94 Le guide de survie du jeune papa]. 2013. p.94.