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[untakenusername]

You've all seen it in carvings, and it has been bugging me forever. Exactly what is a plaintive gesture? (I have looked it up every way I know how, to no avail)

[Xantalos]

NO! NO PLEASE DON'T! I HAVE A WIFE AND 4.3 CHILDREN!
Etcetera.

[DWC]

Plaintive means 'sad' or 'mournful', so yeah like xantalos says, especially since it's almost always in the reference of somebody getting killed.

[i2amroy]

It's a pleading gesture such as this:

[Furtuka]

Huh. And here I was assuming that it meant they were flipping someone off! This completely changes the context for me ._.

[DWC]

It's a pleading gesture such as this:

Yeah, like that.

I always imagine it like the naked tormented souls in all the medieval art depictions of hell.

[smakemupagus]

i know it's been answered but

I have looked it up every way I know how

 

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/plaintive

[Swiftling]

Huh. And here I was assuming that it meant they were flipping someone off! This completely changes the context for me ._.

Thats exactly what I thought too. All those engravings make sense now...

[BinaryBeast1010011010]

I always envisioned it either as the medieval depictions or as the bloke getting killed giving his murderer the finger

[i2amroy]

Huh. And here I was assuming that it meant they were flipping someone off! This completely changes the context for me ._.

How did you get that idea?

[Nyan Thousand]

(I have looked it up every way I know how, to no avail)

I'm guessing "every way [you] know how" doesn't involve USING THE FUCKING INTERNET.

[Mr S]

In all fairness, I suppose entering:

"The elves are making plaintive gestures."
"The human is making a plaintive gesture."
"The kobold is making a plaintive gesture."
"The kangaroo joey is making a plaintive gesture."
ad nauseum

doesn't yeild very useful results in Google Images.

[chaosgear]

For some odd reason, I always imagined it was a gesture of uncaring. Like a shrug or something.

[weenog]

Probably didn't think to decouple "plaintive" from "gesture" (which is a strange word choice, "expression" might be better) when doing the research.

This is a poorly-designed engraving of a dwarf and an ale.  The dwarf is offscreen.  The ale is empty.  The ale is making a plaintive gesture.  This relates to the rampant alcoholism of dwarfs.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Loud Whispers]

I always imagined the engravings to be of the entity in question standing up with palms upturned and one arm reaching out at a downwards angle towards the viewer.